Well, it happened today. A major power outage downtown Regina that affected a number of businesses, including ours. At approximately 9:30 a.m., as we were in Flea Market mode….boom…..the lights went out. Fortunately for our business we have back up generators and transmitters to make sure we don’t lose any time on air. You have to be set up like that for situations like today. We have an obligation to the listening public and to our advertisers that the message gets out.
Now with all of the computerization, not ALL areas of the operation survived the bump. Each work station is supposed to have back-up power sources for instances like this. For whatever reason, many failed. You are now at the mercy of the power company (Sask Power).
You never think about not having power until it’s not there. We live some fairly intricate lives when it comes to technology. It all depends on an energy source..power. When it goes down…now what? As a youngster, I can remember power being out in the country for long periods of time. We had our own back-up plan. We had wood/coal stoves for heat in winter and either battery or oil lamps…or even candles if they were needed. We could still go out and pump fresh water. Life could carry on. However, today everything depends on power. You could be locked out of your house with modern day electronic devices. All of your appliances won’t work. The list is endless. I remember when we were heading into the new millenium the concern was about major failures in all systems. Portable generator sales went through the roof. Fortunately none of that happened. Even campers in modern day RV’s have a full service environment that requires power. They have a battery option and many are buying generators. When it was the good old tent…you actually roughed it.
It was a huge sigh of relief when power was restored at the studio at approximately 11:30. The next days programming was on hold until all the servers and computers were functioning properly. Like Mr. Edison, it was nice to see the light!
