Preparation Ahead of Sandy Important, Broadcasters Say; Google and NYFD Highlight Social Media Response

Preparation for Superstorm Sandy’s landfall was key to New York-area broadcasters’ efforts to disseminate news and information to the public, said executives from Clear Channel Media and WABC during the FCC’s second hearing Tuesday on the storm’s communications impact. Others testified how Google and Twitter helped to fill the void left by outages in the area’s wireless and wireline communications networks.

The U.S. needs to improve the robustness of its communications infrastructure, particularly focusing on creating “an emergency response infrastructure with zero gaps-one that leaves no one behind,” said Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government Chairman Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., in written testimony to the FCC. “During Sandy, we saw once again how critical it is to have functioning communications networks. Families must be able to contact each other. Those who need help must be able to access 911 call centers. And first responders must be able to communicate with one another -- a capability that would be more reliable with a robust public safety network."

Clear Channel prepared its stations along the East Coast for a possible Sandy landfall; in the New York area, Clear Channel made sure its backup resources were in place well before the storm’s arrival, and placed eight “dark sites” with additional disaster assistance and recovery resources at the anticipated western edge of the storm’s impact, said Clear Channel CEO John Hogan. Clear Channel was able to continue broadcasting throughout the storm, he said. While the company lost one broadcast tower in New Jersey, it was able to switch to a backup there as well. Employees “literally camped out at our stations for days” during the storm, with on-air broadcasters sometimes running shifts of up to 14 hours, Hogan said. Clear Channel stations switched to an all-news and information format during the storm, periodically bringing in public officials to give updates. After Sandy exited the region, Clear Channel began directing its audience to emergency resources, including food and fuel; its stations continue to do this now as the region continues to recover, Hogan said.

WABC began preparing for a possible Sandy landfall 10 days before the storm actually hit, WABC President and General Manager Dave Davis said. The station began testing its existing backup resources at that point, including backup generators at its transmission towers atop the Empire State Building and 4 Times Square, as well as equipment at a backup broadcast site in New Jersey, Davis said. The station also arranged for sister radio stations to broadcast its content to members of the public who lost power during the storm, he said. The station began warning its audience early about a possible Sandy landfall, and switched to a continuous news and information format once New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority shut down service within the city prior to the storm’s landfall, Davis said.

The New York Fire Department used Twitter to communicate with the public throughout the storm, said Emily Rehimi, the department’s social media manager. In the hours after Sandy made landfall, NYFD tweeted out safety tips and emergency preparedness information, she said. But beginning at the height of the storm, she began fielding what amounted to tweeted 9-1-1 calls -- requests for help from people who had lost power and did not have the ability to call 9-1-1. Rehimi said she repeatedly urged the department’s Twitter followers to use the 9-1-1 system if they could, and relayed information to dispatchers from users who had no other way to get help. Once the storm passed, she began tweeting out information to people who had lost power. Rehimi said she also worked with NYFD’s press office to validate and invalidate information being disseminated on Twitter to avoid “unnecessary panic.” Rehimi urged the FCC to look into ways to make Next-Generation 9-1-1 social media-accessible.

Google also deployed emergency resources during Sandy, said Nigel Snoad, product manager for Google’s Crisis Response team. Google deployed its Google Public Alerts service four days prior to the storm’s landfall, he said. The service placed official federal and local emergency information and other resources at the top of any web search for “Sandy,” Snoad said. Google originally developed the Public Alerts service in response to its experience during the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami, when users in Hawaii filled Google with searches for tsunami information, Snoad said. Google also deployed map layers to provide users with information about available emergency resources, including fuel and food distribution locations, he said.

Communication challenges in Hoboken, N.J., also required alternate forms of communication, said Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer. Ninety percent of the city lost power during Sandy, she said. Since cell service in the city became “spotty at best” after the power loss -- with intermittent service outages on wireline as well -- social media became “incredibly helpful” to communicating information, Zimmer said. Volunteers also posted information on whiteboards at 10 locations throughout the city, while city officials provided a daily update at Hoboken’s city hall, she said.