They need extra power just to tell people they're having technical difficulties? Sure, why not. Makes good bureaucratic sense to me. :)Reminds me too closely of a story from my own experiences in AM broadcasting. Similar stories have been told so often that this tale is now considered a mere "urban legend," but it did actually happen at least once in real life, at WLAG in LaGrange, GA, during late spring of 1972.
The City of LaGrange operates their own electric and natural gas utilities, along with water and sewer, and normally does a fine job with them. The station studios were downtown, while the transmitter was located several blocks east in a less densely built up neighborhood. One fine afternoon, the air monitor at the studio suddenly went dead! A quick check with the remote control system suggested there was no power at the transmitter, so instead of rushing over there in a vain attempt to "fix" something that might not be broken, I first called the city, who confirmed they had lost a transformer in the neighborhood where the tower was. We were going to be off for a couple of hours.
The DJ fielded numerous calls that afternoon, patiently explaining the situation to listeners who, for the most part, seemed to understand. But a few didn't. After looking baffled by one caller who apparently wouldn't allow him to complete a sentence, Chris put the particularly irate woman on speakerphone so those of us in the control room could share the, er, experience.
When it was my turn as the engineer to try explaining the matter, I broke it down into the simplest and most logically connected steps I could think of. (Logic almost never worked in LaGrange, as I later learned. Ask me about NOAA Weather Radio and the K-Mart store sometime.) I explained:
- Yes, we have electricity downtown, so we can answer the phone.
- But we don't have our tower downtown because there's not enough room.
- Our tower is on Greenville Road, but there's no electricity there now.
- We can't talk or play music on the air without power to create radio waves.
- As soon as the city gets the neighborhood powered up, we'll be right back on.
She indignantly declared before hanging up, "Well, young man, I realize all that! But you should still make an announcement that you have technical problems!"