Agreed, no revenue. But if you're sitting in your home freezing in the dark, with all your utilities out (possibly including your phone) with a days-long storm raging outside, nothing can replace a battery operated radio to keep you informed about what's going on. Don't they have a responsibility to the public as a licence holder to serve that public?

Entirely possible. But if the network goes down, then what? Does radio just ignore the emergency and we get The Best Of John Moore?

Storm wrote:

What about communities like mine - Guelph. There is no local news on the weekend, except 570 Kitchener which has local coverage from 7AM to noon Saturday & Sunday. if the power is off, we're dead. we do have one radio that will function without power, but it's reach is only local.

That certainly speaks to the state of radio. There would have been a time when Guelph would have been served by its local media. Now it's just a computer regurgitating the same music over and over. Usually, it's easy to overlook because there are so many options. 

But in an emergency when networks are down, radio is the shining light in the darkness. Unless it's not there because ownership doesn't care and claims it's unaffordable. 

But my contention is there's responsibility that comes with that licence and on the odd occasions when it's necessary, they'd better be there.

In the end, nothing bad may happen this weekend. I'm writing this on Thursday, so we don't know. But wouldn't it be nice to be aware there's someone you can count on if disaster strikes? Any Quebec resident who recalls the Ice Storm in 1998 is well aware of how vital communication is from officials and emergency personnel.

Hope Guelph is spared the worst of it. But if not, your user name is certainly appropriate!

Personally, I think the City of Toronto will get plain boring rain. However areas to the west of the city and anywhere north of Hwy 7, freezing rain is much more likely.

markow202 wrote:

Times have changed - I dont think people will be waiting around on their tv or radio and if they do we have channels like CP24 and 680 News - for social media its Instant Weather Ontario page on Facebook which is top notch 

Agreed. But what if your Internet and power both go out because of the storm? Or the outage is prolonged and your phone runs out of juice? Then where do you turn? The only answer is radio. That's why I argue they have to be there in a weather emergency. 

Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans was the perfect example. With almost everything out or destroyed, it was WWL that came to the rescue for hundreds of thousands without power, phones or anything else.

RadioActive wrote:

Agreed. But what if your Internet and power both go out because of the storm? Or the outage is prolonged and your phone runs out of juice? Then where do you turn? The only answer is radio. That's why I argue they have to be there in a weather emergency. 

Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans was the perfect example. With almost everything out or destroyed, it was WWL that came to the rescue for hundreds of thousands without power, phones or anything else.

It irrelevant, Hurricane Katrina was decades ago now.... most people do not have radios in their homes anymore. Perhaps some people would sit in their car.... but I bet a lot of young people don't even realize that radio continue to work in a wide-scale power outage. Furthermore nobody should "have to" provide any such service, save for maybe the CBC. 

torontostan wrote:

...most people do not have radios in their homes anymore. Perhaps some people would sit in their car.... but I bet a lot of young people don't even realize that radio continue to work in a wide-scale power outage. Furthermore nobody should "have to" provide any such service, save for maybe the CBC. 

And yet, if you believe this new research...

Radio isn’t dead yet — 78% of Gen Z claim they’re still tuning in

It's most likely just going to rain a lot.

If the weather becomes newsworthy, they can call people in.

Me cell has never gone out due to the weather.

This idea of people without power for days huddled around a battery-powered AM radio isn't happening.

My parents near Ottawa were without power for nearly two weeks a few years ago after a bad storm. Their phones worked the entire time. They're in their 70s and don't own a battery powered radio.

betaylored wrote:

Note to self: buy the darn battery operated transistor radio and a supply of batteries.

If this were 1969, you'd only have to buy a few records from this place and you'd be finished!

torontostan wrote:

most people do not have radios in their homes anymore. Perhaps some people would sit in their car.... but I bet a lot of young people don't even realize that radio continue to work in a wide-scale power outage. Furthermore nobody should "have to" provide any such service, save for maybe the CBC. 

Honestly, this isn't even a new problem.  During the 2003 blackout, I was still living at home and had to go out to the car to listen to the radio because my parents didn't have any battery powered radios in the house.  When I did sit in the car with the radio on, all the usual music stations were playing music so it was 680, CBC, CFRB for information.

I'm not any better though since I don't have a battery powered radio either except for this old small portable radio that I've never tested.  I should check it out and see if it works and look at getting a replacement if it's no good.  I could run the home theatre receiver off a UPS in a pinch too but the tuner in that thing is awful.

As for the weather so far this weekend, it's been a nothingburger where I live.  Out of curiosity, does 680 still do the "Extreme Weather Centre" thing?

So far it's been only moderate rain between home and work this weekend at most.  The drive in and drive home weren't much more than a drizzle with a bit of rain shortly after I got home so it's more an early start to April showers than any kind of stormageddon.  We'll see what happens tomorrow but I think we'll all emerge from the weekend ok unless there's a nasty surprise over the next 24 to 36 hours.  Northeastern Ontario sounds like it's another story though.

If we do get stormageddon here during the winter and the power goes out, my plan has always been to relax on the couch by the woodburning fireplace.  And if things get really bad, I've got plenty of cast iron that can be used in that to cook food.

turkeytop wrote:

I'm old. I don't have a cell phone. But I have a house full of battery powered radios and all kinds of spare batteries. If the outage really reall really lasts, I have a couple of wind up radios.

I have a Grundig RF-200 Crank Radio. For such a small radio, it is pretty good for AM DX. Not so much for FM and SW. But it wasn't designed for that purpose. Nice choice of colours too. Yellow, Red or Blue.

turkeytop wrote:

mace wrote:

turkeytop wrote:

I'm old. I don't have a cell phone. But I have a house full of battery powered radios and all kinds of spare batteries. If the outage really reall really lasts, I have a couple of wind up radios.

I have a Grundig RF-200 Crank Radio. For such a small radio, it is pretty good for AM DX. Not so much for FM and SW. But it wasn't designed for that purpose. Nice choice of colours too. Yellow, Red or Blue.

I have that radio too. I love it.
 

I bought one after the '03 blackout. It was a good radio for the price. I eventually replaced it with a Tecsun Voyager, which has also proved to be pretty good.
 

I'm a radio geek, a flashlight geek and  a battery geek. I'm never without an ample supply of any of those in the house.

My weather map app showed lots of pink around Toronto but just green for the city. Judging from the news reports I saw, lots of power outages in Peterborough. Little wonder considering how much ice was caked on the trees and hydro wires.