[BC] AM band and the rules........rant

[Scott Fybush]

Steve Ordinetz wrote:
> Robert Meuser ranted...
>> Since you are representing the power industry, please explain why you
>> cannot keep the lights on in the Northeast. Why do we still have an
>> antiquated AC power grid when the inter tie proved its worth in the last
>> black out? Why are we demolishing power plants in NYC when more should
>> be built? Why are you bending over to environmentalists instead of
>> standing up for the survival of the country?
>>
> 
> Chill out man.  I don't know what part of the Northeast you live in, but
> I'm in northern N.H. and power outages here are few and far between.  I
> think our electric utility is doing a great job.

With the exception of a huge ice storm in 1991 and the regional blackout 
in 2003, our utilities here in western New York have done pretty well, too.

But if I had to keep an important broadcast facility on the air, I'd 
sure have a generator at hand, anyway. I've been following some of the 
reports out of Iowa, and I'm amazed at some of the big stations out 
there that apparently don't have a working generator. WMT in Cedar 
Rapids was off the air for at least a day, and KXEL in Waterloo has been 
off since Sunday. It doesn't speak well to the ability of radio to be an 
essential service in times of emergency when THOSE signals are dark at a 
time like this. If I were sitting in eastern Iowa waiting for the power 
to come back on, I'd be looking to those signals to keep me informed. 
Shame they're not there when it really matters.

s