UPDATE, Nov. 13, 9:30 p.m.: The radio signals for KUOW and KEXP were back on after 9 p.m. Monday after an outage that lasted about four hours.
Thank you to our great crew for getting us back broadcasting on 94.9!
We'll continue to monitor. Thanks for hanging in there with us. pic.twitter.com/EoLyIo9j0I
— KUOW Public Radio (@KUOW) November 14, 2017
Original story: A powerful wind and rain storm that targeted the Puget Sound region and Seattle on Monday evening took out trees and power lines — and also knocked two of the city’s radio stations off the air.
KUOW 94.9, the National Public Radio station in Seattle, and KEXP 90.3, the city’s public indie rock station, were both reduced to static on radio airwaves as high winds moved into the area in the late afternoon.
KUOW tweeted at 5 p.m. that the station was experiencing issues with its signal. Another tweet closer to 6 p.m. said that engineers were on the way to deal with a down transmitter.
We are experiencing issues with our broadcast right now. You can still listen online while we work to fix the issue https://t.co/VZ23aWAsOo
— KUOW Public Radio (@KUOW) November 14, 2017
Hey Seattle! We're currently broadcasting at low power because of the storm. If you're having trouble with reception, tune in online or via our apps! Thank you! pic.twitter.com/pCoxUSHPpp
— KEXP (@kexp) November 14, 2017
Yes, we have engineers on the way to our transmitter as we Tweet. Streaming is available online at https://t.co/cxI2CIBjMW, but our broadcast is down
— KUOW Public Radio (@KUOW) November 14, 2017
It's our evil conspiracy to make you miss us? Or else lightning may have struck our antenna on Capitol Hill and we're working to get back on air asap! (@anndornfeld's husband was nearby and saw lightning strike tower rt when @kuow went off air) https://t.co/FERY75cDkA
— heyjohnryan (@heyjohnryan) November 14, 2017
We don't yet have an estimate on when we will be back on air.
Meantime, have you checked out our podcasts?https://t.co/d0h3Lmqvb0 pic.twitter.com/r4pqX9QzCb
— KUOW Public Radio (@KUOW) November 14, 2017
KUOW’s website says that its “powerful 100,000 watt signal” originates from a transmitter on Seattle’s Capitol Hill and reaches east to the Cascade Mountains, west to the Olympic Mountains, south into Pierce and Thurston counties, and north into Snohomish, Skagit and Island counties.
Both stations stream their broadcasts online, and that service was uninterrupted during the storm.
We apologize to those desperately tuning to 94.9 right now. We're still working on getting our signal back on air. pic.twitter.com/9ECrIKAqCO
— KUOW Public Radio (@KUOW) November 14, 2017
The National Weather Service in Seattle tweeted numerous updates throughout the day on Monday related to the storm.
Stay safe out there everyone! Over 60K out of power in #Seattle. Gusts of 65-70+ MPH recorded in parts of the city. #wawx #wawind https://t.co/N1cQKXV9i3
— NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) November 14, 2017
A gust of 52 MPH just recorded at #SeaTac Airport. #wawx #wawind
— NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) November 14, 2017