[Kirkwood]

AM radio provides a useful service during large scale emergencies. When local FM stations are knocked off the air, powerhouse AM stations can be pulled in by portable radios, particularly at night. After Hurricane Katrina, many victims in the affected areas were relying totally on AM radio for information for weeks. Likewise, when all of the emergency services towers were knocked down, police were using AM radio to broadcast messages to their officers in the field.

[ASOC]

ah - so deska. Emergency support from outside of the disaster area.

Case in point -- KSL, 1160 kHz a regional (and FCC Class A) AM station. Normally the power is 50kW into a 5 antenna array. allowing it to be reachieved over most of the Western US at night. IIRC, it can put out 1 MW in an emergency.

Also, in an emergency, the station can narrow its signal to 15 degrees, significantly raising the ERP, as seen the Teton Dam disaster.

When traveling in the west, the first thing we set on the rental car is the radio - 1160 AM and 720 AM (KSL and KDWN) -- you know, just in case.

[libtoken]

And here in DC, one could follow the "play by play" action of WWL in the wake of Katrina (and for a long time after the national media pulled out of doing constant coverage).

[FreedomCalls]

AM radio provides a useful service during large scale emergencies. When local FM stations are knocked off the air, powerhouse AM stations can be pulled in by portable radios, particularly at night. After Hurricane Katrina, many victims in the affected areas were relying totally on AM radio for information for weeks.

Yup. WWL did a bang-up job in the weeks after Katrina staying on the air and could be heard anywhere in the affected regions. No FM station could have done that, even if they wanted.