News

Rebuilding New York Broadcasting

New York City (October 14, 2003)--In a special session that took place on Friday (October 10), several prominent members of the New York television and radio broadcasting community, who helped restore service after most of NYC's television and radio transmitters were destroyed on 9/11, shared their advice on contigency planning for disasters. Panelists included Herb Squire, DSI; John Lyons, the Durst Organization; Thomas Silliman, Electronics Research; Joe Giardina, DSI; Steve Shultis, WNYC; and Mark Kordash, ABC.

Howard Price, contingency manager for ABC O&O stations and co-organizaer of the session, summed up the main points of the panel in his opening statement. He said the lesson of 9/11 to all broadcasters should be that contingency planning is not a secondary priority. "You need backups for your backups and your backups," he said. "You have to think beyond which your mind can conjure."

--Sarah Stanfield