WMAO 90.9 FM, the radio station for Mississippi Public Broadcasting in the Delta, is off the air.
A storm March 30 crippled the antenna on the side of the transmission tower near Inverness, and the antenna cannot be repaired but must be completely replaced, said Scott Colwell, MPB’s chief technology officer. The task could take as long as two to three more weeks.
“The antenna kind of sticks out the side, and the wind was strong enough that it’s bent,” Colwell said. “Basically it makes a hole in the line that goes up to it. The signal is not making it to the antenna, just reflecting off the tower.”
The 1,000-foot transmission tower is one of eight for MPB’s stations across Mississippi.
Colwell said he had a tower crew out to the site this week, and they “figured out what all’s broken.
“We’re trying to expedite this and get it fixed as fast as we can,” he said.
Colwell said this kind of total outage over such a long period is the first in the state that he and his crew have experienced in their time at the public broadcasting entity.
Complicating matters is the fact that a replacement antenna is not just sitting on the shelf somewhere ready to purchase; it must be assembled. The parts have been ordered, and Colwell said he should have a time frame for delivery within the next 24 hours.
The parts are made by Jampro Inc.. a company located in Sacramento, California.
Colwell said he will also have to locate a tower crew to replace the antenna.
“We have several crews that we try to use. There’s one in state and several that are out of state,” he said. “It’s just us putting out calls to see who’s available.”
These crews are specially trained in climbing and safety and must also be versed in working with electrical currents or, in this case, radio frequency signals.
In some parts of the state, local emergency management agencies and law enforcement share these towers for emergency weather broadcast information.
David Burford, emergency management director in Washington County, said that other than any weather watches or warnings that are actually sent by Mississippi Public Broadcasting, emergency weather radio signals from the National Weather Service “should still be good.”
“This should not have any impact,” he said.
Colwell said that until the antenna is fixed and FM 90.9 is back on the air, listeners have several options for tuning in to MPB Think Radio.
“We’re reminding people that we do have an app if they have a smartphone,” Colwell said.
Listeners can stream MPB programs with their computers through www.mpbonline.org.
Additionally, television viewers who get MPB over the air can tune in to the fourth sub-channel to listen to radio programming. Locally, the main channel is 23, so 23.4 supports the radio frequency.
“In the car, the only option is to stream through the app,” Colwell said.
A small message posted at the top of the MPB website, highlighted in yellow, will keep listeners updated on progress, Colwell said. At the moment it says: “Signal Outage: HDFM WMAO/Greenwood (Inverness) Is Currently Off The Air.”
• Contact Kathryn Eastburn at 581-7235 or keastburn@gwcommonwealth.com.
