A great piece from the LA Times on the important role local radio is playing as the community struggles to come to grips with the aftermath of the worst tornado in over 60 years.
Reporting from Joplin, Mo.–Radio host Rob Meyer — homeless and haggard since a tornado destroyed his house Sunday — had another shift coming up soon. He had slept for only five of the previous 48 hours, filling the rest with coffee and soda. And talk.
Hours and hours of talk, in fact, many with the confused and enterprising residents of Joplin. Callers’ voices broke as they asked if anyone had heard news about their daughters, friends and nephews who had disappeared during the storm or its aftermath. Others asked seemingly unanswerable self-help questions, such as: If the bank is destroyed, how can I get my safe-deposit box?
“We’ve just been answering phones live and seeing what people have to say,” Meyer said.
[…]
Classic-rock jocks and news talk-show hosts have become on-air first responders.
“All of a sudden, it turned into people looking for loved ones,” said Meyer, assistant operations manager. “And we just let it grow.”
On late Tuesday night and early Wednesday, questions on the show focused on logistics. Where do I get a permit to enter damaged areas? How do I make a FEMA claim? Callers also passed along the latest survivor tips or staked righteous attempts at fighting misinformation, including one woman who called to say that she and her family were not dead — as had apparently been rumored on Facebook.
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