[BC] Newsline January 18, 2002 (Another lame Internet Legend)

[Dave Dunsmoor]

> While I am certainly among the more vocal critics of marginally
> staffed stations and the bureaucratic, ego-driven EAS mess, the
> reference to Clear Channel is almost completely urban legend.
>
> Now, I may have some details slightly off here, but the general
> thrust is that the situation was mis-understood and mis-reported.
>
> While I was not there, personally, in Minot, I was told:
>          1. the local law enforcement had an EAS encoder, but it was
> not set up.
>          2. when they called the station, they did not call the right
number.
>          3. they did NOT send a car to the station to do something as
>                  simple as "knock on the window"
>          4. The station WAS local, live and broadcasting information on
the
>                  local emergency. There was not much staff ... so
answering
>                  the phones was not as easy as one might assume.
>          5. Perhaps there were things CC could have done to handle such
>                  situations better (more people, a plan to get folks into
>                  the studio asap when something happens), but one can
>                  not hang the situation solely on CC.



Yes, this is essentially the way I remember it. That's FIRST HAND folks, I
was there that night. I drove through that cloud of anhydrous ammonia.
I was contract engineer of the CC stations at the time, and here's how I
remember it:


Yes, there was a live body manning the board that night.

He was indeed busy trying to determine exactly what had happened, and
what information to pass on.

He couldn't get in contact with dispatch, phones were busy.

His phone didn't ring....

So when anyone wants to pass on another mis-represented rumor,
about this, send 'em here.

Dave Dunsmoor