Bobby G on the Storm of July 18 Part 2

   About 5 pm I was still in my car on the way to WCWP and finally made it to Northern Blvd. The traffic light was working but any cars turning south on Glen Cove Road had to turn into the shopping center because there was no cars getting through the 4 feet of water in front of Dunkin" Donuts. It took 30 minutes to cross the intersection and cover a distance of 100 yards. Northern Blvd. was as bad as Glen Cove Road but there were no live wires that I saw. As I got to the campus, the rain was letting up as I parked by the library - the campus perimeter road was underwater too. At 6 pm, I walked in the station and said hi to Dan, the station manager and deadpanned, "I'm glad I left early so I could kill time reading my book."
   Dan was in and out but we couldn't get the necessary connection to carry the promised concert with Jim Dawson. I did a show with the things I planned to do from 7 to 7:30 and explained to disappointed listeners over the air what was going on with the weather around the station. I called my youngest daughter at home and nothing was a problem there she reported as I played my CDs. I always carry extra material with me and put together the rest of the two hours while Dan worked and kept me company until about 8:45. (The concert was recorded by Scott Perschke and Tony Traguardo and will air August 1 with Scott hosting and Jim calling in on that Wednesday).
  Going home was no problem and Thursday I arrived at the station with no problems to fill in for Bernie Bernard. I opened with "Portable Radio"by Hall and Oates and mentioned tongue in cheek that it was the only way for some listeners to hear us in the dark near or on the Post campus. My prepared show for the night was rolling along until about 8:10 when we lost power and were left sitting in the dark. The lights came back on a few seconds later but the board and computer take a minute or two to boot up. I had just finished a EAS (Emergency Alert System) Test in the last half hour and gotten new info to read over the air from Christina Kay, fellow DJ and Dan's assistant, about what would be open/closed for Friday on the campus. Some buildings had power and others didn't. I got a great deal of help from Jett Lightning and Jay Elzweig who helped copy updated material and made phone calls,etc. (Thanks guys!) Also, special thanks to Zack Parker for getting a bunch of technical problems solved and giving live updates on the air on my show as well as on the Grooveyard with Scott Perschke later.
    I know we provided a service to the college and immediate area because I was getting lots of e mails from listeners as the night moved along. I hadn't had as much activity as a broadcaster in a very long time. I showed Scott my phone e mails from Facebook that night right after Zack did an second update. I was happy to have had a great group of people working with me and knowing people were listening.
   Rg 7/20/12
   P.S. - I am going to think twice before playing "Portable Radio" again!