[BC] Comments about Meridian MS

[Ballard F. Fore, Jr.]

 To Jerry and all the other CE's that have gone thru and will go thru
Hurricanes:

I store 6 MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat) and water in my Trail Blazer and the
same at every one of my sites. Keep in mind that most of the MRE's contain
up to 3000 calories each.

One more thing....get some VERY tall boots. You know you are in trouble when
you are wearing 14 inch tall boots and you step in a 20 inch deep hole.

BEEN THERE DONE THAT ! ! ! 


Ballard Fore
Vero Beach, FL


-----Original Message-----
From: broadcast-bounces at radiolists.net
[mailto:broadcast-bounces at radiolists.net] On Behalf Of Jerry Mathis
Sent: Monday, October 10, 2005 2:12 AM
To: broadcast at radiolists.net
Subject: [BC] Comments about Meridian MS

Well, it's been interesting to read all the posts over the weekend
concerning the Meridian MS radio market. I've learned a lot about what has
gone before me here. As Spock would say, "Fascinating". I'd heard some
"comments" from the staff about some of the other broadcast owners from days
gone by, and, well.....if you can't say anything good about somebody,
then...you know.......

I've been the Engineer here for Clear Channel since Feb 1 if memory serves. 
I've been through two hurricanes (Dennis and Katrina), and a devastating
lightning strike from a third (offshoot of Rita) that we're still recovering
from. I've done more physical work during this time than the previous 7 or 8
years combined, I'd guess.

Yes, I take care of a lot of stations, but it's been pretty focused. As Mike
Gideon pointed out, I don't have all the responsibilities of a large-market
staff. It hasn't all been Radio Engineering, though; in Tupelo, I wired the
new studio/office building addition for telephone and LAN services.

Hurricane Dennis was bad, but Katrina was a downright disaster. I haven't
talked about it much, because it was so much worse further to the south. But
Meridian was reduced to pretty much 3rd world conditions for about a week
after Katrina. There was practically no power in Meridian for almost 48
hours after the storm. Getting around was difficult because of the trees and
power lines across the roads. The power being out meant no stores open,
including gas stations, grocery stores, restaurants, fast-food outlets,
pharmacies, etc. I went 36 hours with no food, because there was none to be
had. When a Winn-Dixie finally opened, I stood in line for an hour to get
some basic nourishment: bread, tuna, peanut butter and jelly, mayonnaise. No
meat or fresh vegetables available. The stores all threw it all out because
the power failure had spoiled it all.