Blizzard puts new WALK radio studio to test

It's not much to look at - an unfinished 8-by-20-foot room that used to be a photography darkroom when Suffolk County's Emergency Operations Center served as a Cold War-era fallout shelter.

But with the installation of $20,000 worth of computers, a sound-mixing board, two microphones, speakers, a cable modem and satellite link, radio station WALK/97.5 FM has turned the room into a backup studio. The facility in Yaphank allows the station to stay on the air if its primary studio in Patchogue goes off-air from a flood or other disaster, or if the station wants quicker communication with county officials at the emergency center.

While the backup studio was ready in March, its first real use comes Monday. Starting at 5 a.m., News director Donna Vaughan will be at the facility to better coordinate with the county and transmit weather information to the public from there.

WALK, Long Island's largest radio station with a weekly audience of 700,000 listeners, has been designated by the Federal Communications Commission as the "local primary alert system provider" for Nassau and Suffolk counties.

That means when emergency broadcasts must be made, officials provide the information to the station, which then forwards it to other media outlets. "We're the only radio station on Long Island that has an emergency backup studio," said Jim Condron, WALK's general manager.

The Patchogue studio is "actually in a flood zone about a foot above sea level, so it's a dangerous spot if anything over a Category One hurricane hits us," Condron said. "When Gloria came through in '85 we were pushed out of our studios and went up to our tower at Bald Hill in Farmingville and broadcast from there. But there's no studio there."

The station approached County Executive Steve Levy more than two years ago about creating the backup studio. The basement room is about 100 feet from the county emergency center. The station's staff can be briefed by county officials and go to air immediately.

Marcus Xenakis, WALK's chief engineer, said the backup studio can send its signal directly to the Bald Hill transmission tower through either a cable modem or a satellite dish. There is also a two-way radio link to Nassau County's emergency operations center.

John Searing, Suffolk deputy commissioner of fire, rescue and emergency services, said before giving the space to WALK, the room served as storage space. The county has two backup electric generators to keep the emergency operation center and the WALK studio operating if power fails.

"From the county's point of view, this will get out information very quickly," Searing said. "When major emergencies happen, they'll be here so we can get an immediate feed out without going through a lot of people first. That's very important when we're trying to get the message out about an evacuation or get people to take certain actions."