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Roanoke County electrical short quiets 5 Wheeler radio stations

Star Country, Q99, Vibe, K92 and a talk radio channel had all been out for part of Friday.

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Ralph Berrier Jr. | 981-3338

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Some of the Roanoke Valley's most popular radio stations went silent for much of Friday because of a power outage.

All five of the stations owned by Mel Wheeler Inc. were knocked off the air when their studios lost electricity around 9 a.m. The stations are all housed under one roof on Electric Road in southwest Roanoke County.

Top-rated Star County (WSLC-FM, 94.9), Q99 (WSLQ-FM, 99.1), Vibe (WVBE-FM, 97.7/100.1), K92 (WKLK-FM, 92.3) and talk radio WFIR-AM (960) were all affected by the outage, which was caused when an underground cable near the stations shorted out, said Kevin Scott, program director for K92, Q99 and Star Country.

A back-up generator failed, as did battery power, Scott said. Engineers were able to run power from unlikely sources - the Star Country bus and Q99 "diner" on wheels, two promotional vehicles that are often seen at concerts and festivals.

Those vehicles supplied enough power to keep the stations on for part of the day, although problems persisted. Around 4:30 p.m., K92 had sustained another outage that knocked it off the air briefly. Scott said that Appalachian Power crews had been working on the problem with the cable.

Other business functions were affected, such as receiving emails, operating the studio consoles and recording telephone calls for broadcast.

Teresa Hall, Appalachian Power spokeswoman, said that about a dozen customers were affected by the morning outage. Power had been restored for most of them, she said.

"We're just now starting to get some stability," Scott said around 5 p.m. Friday.

Saturday, September 14, 2013