A storm that made landfall along the U.S. Gulf Coast on Friday led to one broadcast television station and four radio stations being knocked off the air temporarily, according to updated figures released by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
The update contained revised figures from one released on Saturday, hours after Hurricane Isaias made landfall as a Category 2 storm near Dustin, Florida. The storm impacted communications infrastructure across four states — Florida, Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi — around 24 hours after it crossed onto land. An earlier report from the FCC said no radio or TV stations were offline, though the statement was based on preliminary information and took into account the possibility that some broadcasters may not have been able to communicate their outages with the agency due to power and telephone outages.
The stations knocked offline were not identified by the FCC, but Nexstar-owned WHNT (Channel 19, CBS) in Huntsville, Alabama said its broadcast signal was unavailable throughout the weekend for viewers who use an antenna. Engineers worked on the issue throughout the weekend, and its signal was restored late Saturday evening, according to a person familiar with the situation. Cable and satellites subscribers who had service were still able to watch WHNT’s programming, and the outlet streamed its local newscasts via the WHNT website and app.
The four radio stations that were impacted could not be immediately identified. The FCC said all four offline radio stations broadcast on FM frequencies.
Wireless phone and broadband service continues to be the most-impacted by the storm, with 9.8 percent of wireless transmitters knocked offline, the FCC said. That figure was down from 15.5 percent of wireless transmitters that were offline on Saturday, based on preliminary FCC data. Most of the transmitters were offline due to power outages, not infrastructure damage. The three major wireless operators — AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon — have committed resources to restoring service in the affected areas, and the FCC has mandated disaster-related rules that require temporary roaming agreements in areas impacted by the storm.
Cable and land-based broadband and phone outages climbed as the storm moved through the Gulf states and into Tennessee and Kentucky throughout the weekend, with nearly 194,000 cable and land-based telecom customers without service, the FCC said. That figure was a drastic increase from the 45,700 cable and land-based telecom subscribers who were without service as of Saturday morning. The FCC said cable TV and broadband service was counted, but didn’t provide specific information about which services were unavailable or where.
The storm is among at least three that impacted North America over the weekend. In California, residents and businesses along the southern coast of the state are cleaning up after Tropical Storm Rachel made landfall on Saturday, causing damage in the heavily-populated area of Long Beach, according to KTLA (Channel 5). Another weather system, Tropical Storm Simon, has yet to make landfall but is spinning off the western coast of Mexico, impacting cities and resorts there.
