The emergency LPFM station set up in Houston to serve those displaced from New Orleans by Katrina ran for just five days. Due to the consolidation of the remaining evacuees into one of Reliant Park’s smaller arenas, on-site media were asked to move to a different parking lot. Instead of deal with the hassle, KAMP volunteers decided to pack it in after power was cut to the station Saturday morning.
A KAMP spoke has nothing but high praise for the local authorities (a somewhat surprising turn of events), and wants to make sure they suffer no blame for the station’s premature sign-off:
Not having live programmers also hindered fresh content because many people who run the programming do the help announcements, put it on automatic pilot with something long, and then go out and get interviews while the long piece is playing, Since we had doubts about our ability to staff it 24/7, because folks had already taken off work and had other obligations like school, etc. we decided it was best to pull the trailer.
Here’s hoping some of the thousands of dollars raised for KAMP can be put to use on other microradio projects springing up within storm-damaged areas: two stations are now reportedly operational in the New Orleans metropolitan area and more gear is on the way. There’s been an amazing amount of grassroots aid surging into the area, especially into the places the government and corporate interests continue to neglect.
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