In Case of Emergency- Part 2

White Paper courses of Steve Moravec- Phoenix Media

Part Two of Valerie Geller’s Series: “In Case of Emergency”:

This is the story of two small radio stations in Fargo, North Dakota. Without the benefit of a fully staffed or provisioned news department, that, during a crisis, (AM1100 “The Flag” and Eagle 106.9 FM) creatively found ways to serve their communities vital news coverage.  Not only did their website win awards, the station forged corporate sponsorships during the time of crisis that have benefited them to this day.  They eclipsed the established news leader in the market with their coverage.  You’ll learn how, with a little ingenuity and dedication, even without a traditional news staff, these radio stations managed to find ways to fill the need for up-to-date accurate information when the lives, homes and safety of the people in their listening area was at stake.

On March 28, 2009, in Fargo, North Dakota the Red River, driven by snow and rain, running over frozen ground, crested at nearly forty- one feet – twenty-two feet past flood stage. As the Red River began to rise, station owner and talk show host, President/CEO of Great Plains Integrated Marketing and SMAHH Communications Scott Hennen, understood the magnitude of the job ahead.  He recalled the last time he’d been involved in a flood disaster. It was back in 1997, in Grand Forks. Hennen, then a program host on KCNN, would never forget broadcasting live in studio as flood waters were rising and a raging fire burned a few blocks away. At the time, a young student he’d met while guest-lecturing at the University of North Dakota had been a tremendous help.  Mark Pfeifle volunteered by helping with late night air shifts and on the ground coverage. KCNN won an Edward R. Murrow award for the coverage that year.   Now without a news staff, to help with coverage and the Red River rising, Hennen knew he needed some help.

SCOTT HENNEN & MARK PFEIFLE

Hennen reached out again to that same young man.  Mark Pfeifle, now Vice President, S4 Inc, Systems Media Group, then in Washington DC, having just served as deputy national security advisor for communication and global outreach at the White House.  Pfeifle got on a plane immediately, bringing along others, including a web expert.   The goal: To re-invent what radio had been doing for years—take the message directly to the people who had little other means of communication.  They needed to know where the water was cresting, and where sandbags had to be filled.  Hennen and Pfeifle would mobilize a team to inform terrified North Dakotans and Minnesotans about what they could do to stay safe or to help.

Hennen set the team up using the traditional tools supplied by his radio stations—AM 1100 “The Flag” and Eagle 106.9 FM. Mark Pfeifle’s crew of political campaign experts added expertise with new media: a new web site and tools like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Flickr. “These guys are rock stars when it comes to campaigns,” Hennen says. “[And] this was a campaign of sorts. We had to move quickly. The water was rising.”  They dubbed their effort, “The Flood Channel.”

In 48 hours, the team was able to launch the Flood Channel Network, a website carrying live updates, streaming video and announcements from FEMA officials and members of the city council. North Dakota State University journalism students, armed with mobile Flip-cams, personally purchased for the students by Hennen, were able to provide first-hand reporting from the disaster area. “It turned into C-SPAN for floods, essentially,” Pfeifle says. “Student reporters were covering stories from places like Valley City, fifty miles away and posting on the website.  We also got dramatic video from listeners.  One showed a family rescued by helicopter as they were trying to save their house. They’d gotten trapped as their house became an island.”

The effort worked far better than anyone had hoped.  The station provided a round-the-clock forum for discussion, emergency information, news-you-can-use, numbers, places to go and what was happening.  Hennen, Pfeifle and their team did more than reporting on the need for sandbags and the cresting water, they helped to assemble an army of volunteers to fill sandbags, reinforce levies and build emergency dikes.  They got word to the community about impassible roads and traffic conditions.  Hennen recalls, “We had traffic jams in a city that has no traffic jams.”

Corporate sponsors like Verizon and Sprint pitched in by supplying phones for emergency workers. McDonald’s brought hamburgers and drinks for volunteers and workers. Wal-Mart contributed supplies the volunteers needed to fight the freezing temperatures and rising waters.  “We were able to get actionable information out quickly and reliably at low cost, in a flexible and unique way,” Pfeifle remembers, “There were thousands of hits to the Flood Channel website and the ratings skyrocketed.”

Their efforts earned them a National Community Service Award from “Talkers Magazine.”  Now they are looking to take their project national. Hennen says the channel is in talks with Wal-Mart, Verizon, Sprint, State Farm Insurance and Bobcat to explore how their model could work nationwide when disaster strikes.  Jason Griep, a field consultant for State Farm, told ‘Politics Magazine’: “What Hennen, Pfeifle and their team put together “has got the potential to [cover] natural disasters across the country, because its immediacy takes the old model of gathering around the AM radio during times of disaster and brings it into the new age.”

Mark Pfeifle sums up his experience with The Flood Channel this way: “The Flood Channel was an amazing experience – and a model to help people, drive listeners and create new revenue by combining the immediacy of radio, the flexibility of the internet, and cutting-edge social media capabilities.”

SCOTT HENNEN’S TIPS:

• Before the disaster strikes: Take the time to cultivate relationships with professors teaching communications or journalism at local colleges or universities. In time of crisis, you may be able to recruit the best students to potentially become reporters for your station.

• Spend a little money if you have to. Have a budget for emergency supplies and equipment, or a trade account at a place where you can get them.  Scott Hennen’s purchase of flip cameras for each of the students was an investment that paid for itself many times over by allowing “boots on the ground coverage” for the Flood Channel, on-air reports and community goodwill.

• Clients will want to help and foster goodwill in the community.  Contact your best clients during the time of crisis and see what they can do to help.  Don’t forget to ask what you can do to help them.

• Use all media: video, web, radio, phones. You can set up a Flood Channel, an Earthquake Channel or any other emergency channel within hours.

• Use students, volunteers and all your relationships to call in whatever help/experts are available.

• Get out your PDA or your contact files and remind yourself of whom you know.  Friends and business associates will all want to help, and some of them may be experts. (Scott Hennen called the former Governor of North Dakota who was happy to step in and anchor shifts and help with flood coverage.)

• During the heat of the crisis, drop regular programming – go to full coverage of what is happening.

For emergency coverage without a traditional news staff, Jerry Bell, Managing Editor of KOA Radio News in Denver, offers an advance preparation tip for music stations, or any other station without a news department:  Get a press pass.  “If you have van you use for remote broadcasts, promotions or sales events, consider getting closer to the scene and anchoring coverage from there… many cities require a press pass for vehicles to get to a disaster scene. Make sure you have such a permit. Local press passes for some of your staff are also a great idea”

After the crisis has peaked, and you return to regular programming on-air, maintain coverage on your website. Let listeners know where they can go to get continuing information.  Once on-air programming went back to the regular schedule, The Flag used The Flood Channel website, for additional 24/7 coverage so listeners had a place to continually access all the latest information.