Thursday, February 5, 2009

Thursday OverThink #5, courtesy of KUAF 91.3 FM

**UPDATED**
Please read the comment left by KUAF news director explaining the station's absence due to power failure.

When the ice storm hit on January 27, Fayetteville was hungry for news. The local newspapers, the TV stations, the radio stations: all had lost power, like the rest of us. The only thing we knew for days was silence and cracking branches. Then, the whole town started coming back to life, including our news sources, with one notable exception.

KUAF 91.3 FM, our local National Public Radio affiliate, remained silent. KUAF is housed on the University of Arkansas campus, which never lost power. Did you catch that? The university campus is one of the precious few areas whose power lines are underground; hence, they never lost power. We could see the lights of campus, mocking us, every night from our cold, dark house. I fail to understand exactly what the hell KUAF was doing when its community needed it most.

KUAF finally came back on the air Monday, three days ago. The first thing I heard when I tuned is was a request for money. Really. Because we rely on them. Really?

I checked the website today for an explanation or an apology...or to learn that the station is back on the air, but running at reduced power.

KUAF, you might want to rethink your tagline: “KUAF is your indispensable connection to the world.”

While on the site, I also found a five-minute piece on Mount Sequoyah recorded the day after the ice storm.

The Winter Ice Storm of 2009
FAYETTEVILLE, AR(2009-01-31) The morning after one of the most devastating weather events in recent memory, we take a walk....
Visit this link for the full story:
http://publicbroadcasting.net/kuaf/news/content/1464162.html

2 comments:

Kyle Kellams said...

Believe me, we as frustrated as anybody we were off the air. Parts of campus did lose power (our building, on campus, had no power from Tuesday afternoon through the wee hours of Friday).
The transmitter site, covered by a different utility company than campus, did not get power restored until last night (Thursday the 5th). We operated on back-up generator at reduced power for several days. We hate that we were off the air and appreciate that you missed us and we are deeply grateful for the support and patience the community has shown the past twenty-four years.

Kyle Kellams, news director, KUAF.

Quattro Stelle said...

I thank you sincerely for your explanation.