It was only a few weeks ago we addressed the issue of Mary Beth Garber's response to a New York Times' article titled "Satellite Radio Takes Off." Pulling one sentence from my comments demonstrates why this headline first appeared: "Besides creating the Amber Alert system ... what is it that radio has done since consolidation began which can be considered responsive to community needs?"

We had a monumental example of how radio is lacking in this area as the weekend came to a close in Northeast Ohio.

"In between the two to three sentences in each newscast that told of a major power outage there was no sound bite from electric company personnel in any of the newscasts I heard."

No matter where you live you heard about "the storm, a record-breaking snowfall covering the midwest." While the metropolitan Cleveland area did not get pounded, the area south and east of the city did, with 198,000 homes losing electricity. Here's where this story begins: 9:30 Sunday evening under the weight of over a foot of snow, trees broke and power shut down - an understandable inconvenience.

As Monday morning started, with power still out, I turned to a transitor radio for details thinking there'd be updates to help me get a grip on the problem. With radio's newfound awareness of the need for "local" coverage, it seemed a no-brainer that I could rely on this media to supply information. I thought it probable that radio would expand coverage with sound bites from an electric company spokesman, too. After all, no electricity means no TV or broadband for nearly 200,000 families.

As my radio mind saw this, here was an opportunity for the industry to prove it indeed offered the community a service. My ears discovered quite a different story though, and what makes this a story is that this degree of non-reporting is sure to be duplicated in many cities. Radio stations do not operate in a vacuum. Take Jack as an example.

First stop, the only news station in town, Clear Channel-owned WTAM where the slug line is "If you need to know, depend on us."
I did. They didn't deliver.

In between the two to three sentences in each newscast that told of a major power outage there was no sound bite from electric company personnel in any of the newscasts I heard. Nor was there evidence of digging for information to reveal the true extent of the damage. School closings, resting at over one hundred, got a frequent mention. I also heard, repeatedly, up to two minutes of news on the preceding day's football draft. At one point WTAM featured a six-minute interview with Tony from the TV program "24." Too bad they couldn't get someone from the electric company to tell me if there would be electricity to watch the show.

Other CC stations gave even less news regarding the storm's effects.

Now here comes the real telltale sign: Clear Channel offered more on this major power outage than our Infinity, Radio One, or Salem-owned stations. There was no depth in details anywhere, a point I discussed with a VP of one group's stations later in the day.

So, back to Ms. Garber. The next time she writes a letter to the editor of the New York Times, condemning its failure for "checking the facts," perhaps she should get her facts in order, and they boil down to this: A radio license is granted to "serve the community interests." In Cleveland the industry fell down in a major way on this aspect of why a station holds a license to broadcast, and I'm willing to bet it would have been a similar scenario in many other cities.

There was so very little response to 198,000 families' "community needs" at a time when this community needed to know - which is why the public is not depending on radio anymore, and satellite radio is reported to be taking off*.

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