Hurricane Helene Causes Major Broadcast Outages Across the Southeast

Hurricane Helene has caused widespread destruction across the southeastern United States, knocking several radio and television stations off the air and causing extensive damage to broadcast infrastructure.

In Erwin, Tennessee, floods stranded 54 people on a hospital roof and completely destroyed the studios and tower of Jet Broadcasting’s Livewire 103.9 WXIS and Sports Radio 1420 WEMB. Jet Broadcasting owner Maria True expressed her determination to rebuild, stating that the station, a community staple for 68 years, will be restored despite the devastation.

Similarly, Magic 101.3 WTMG in Williston/Gainesville, Florida, went off-air after its tower was destroyed by the storm. In the Asheville, North Carolina area, iHeartMedia’s seven-station cluster has been providing continuous news coverage of the disaster. Meanwhile, Mix 97.3 WKBC-FM in North Wilkesboro and Curtis Media’s stations in Banner Elk and Boone are dealing with power outages and are also offline.

According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), as of Sunday morning, 48 radio stations across Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia were off the air due to the storm. The FCC also reported that six TV stations were affected by outages. The hardest-hit areas include Georgia, with 19 FM stations and three AM stations offline.

In addition to radio and TV stations, nearly 1.2 million cable and broadband customers have lost service due to power outages and damage caused by Hurricane Helene, which made landfall Thursday evening in Perry, Florida. The storm has so far been linked to at least 60 deaths.

While many broadcast stations have backup power sources, smaller stations in rural areas often do not, leaving them particularly vulnerable during extreme weather events. The FCC does not require stations to have backup power, although recent discussions have proposed mandatory reporting of outages to the commission’s Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS).

Radio Insight, Radio World, and the Desk contributed to this report.