Storms Take Pulse Multi-Media Stations Off-Air

BY MELANIE BUCK –

As storms rolled through the county on Friday night, March 24, the KENA AM and STL site on Reine Street were hit with both a power surge and lightning. As a result, all Mena Radio stations, KENA 104.1FM, KQOR 105.3FM, and KENA 1450AM, have been affected and will suffer random outages until new equipment arrives to fix the issues.

Ouachita Broadcasting’s Technical Director Chris Daniel explains, “As is the case with most lightning hits, it takes a while to discover all the damage.” Daniels also said that the station’s internet provider “took a bad hit” with parts of town being without internet service for 24 hours or more. The radio station requires internet service to broadcast from it’s Hwy 71 studios to the STL site and was without internet service for approximately 18 hours.

Citing blown fuses, breakers, and surge protectors, Daniel said the worst part of the damage was found between the router and connected equipment. Although there is no time frame to when it will be completely fixed, Daniel and other radio engineers are continuing to monitor the stations to keep disruptions in broadcasting to a minimum.

About Author

Jeri Pearson

Jeri is the News Director for Pulse Multi-Media and Editor of The Polk County Pulse. She has 10 years of experience in community focused journalism and has won multiple press association awards.

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