4-24-13
This is the NextMedia building in Lake County Illinois. GM Karl Wertzler tells Radio Ink, The recent flooding from the storms turned his Waukegan radio stations WLXC-FM and ESPN Deportes into a radio island. "Throughout the mess, many of the staff members stayed in the building to lend a hand with bailing and sandbagging and the efforts paid off. WXLC remained on the air while Deportes was down for only a brief period of time."
Wertzler added, the parking lot was just under waist deep at its peak and the floors were saturated inside the building. "I think we have officially made up for the drought conditions on our local level. While the standing water will remain for several days, we are in pretty good shape overall. I understand this is the worst flooding we have had since 1986."
WERV-FM General Manager Scott Kosak says his station fared OK but listeners had many more challenges to face in their homes, their neighborhoods, and on their regular routes of travel. "We were regularly announcing road closures and school closures in local areas in the western suburbs. The same was true for various stations who super serve defined suburban areas in the Northern, North Western, and South Western suburbs of Chicagoland. It's times like this where, in a major market like Chicago, our hyper-localized suburban based power proves its' value in keeping our listeners as updated as possible in their immediate area."
Reach out to Karl Wertzler at kwertzler@nextmediachicago.com
Reach out to Scott Kosak at SKosak@NextMediaChicago.com
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