Despite suffering a brief power outage this afternoon – and the continuing threat posed by abominable weather – the show is soldiering on at KSUT-FM, an affiliate of National Public Radio based in Ignacio.
Around 2:30 p.m. Friday, KSUT’s usual programming was interrupted when the station’s power went down, possibly due to a power surge, said KSUT’s membership manager, Chris Aaland.
“It caused the power to flick out for probably 10 seconds,” said Aaland. The station’s computers shut down, the staff was plunged into sudden darkness and KSUT’s listeners were subjected to the unthinkable: silence.
The crisis was short. Aaland said the station was only off-air for 8 to 10 seconds.
The event probably spooked the few KSUT employees who are manning the station ahead of Memorial Day – all the computers in the office went down, an apocalypse in any office. But listeners who braved out the pause were rewarded with an exciting announcement from KSUT host Chris O’Shea not long after the show resumed.
When the station came back on air, unflappable broadcaster O’Shea told listeners she thought the station had just been struck by a lightning bolt.
“We’re up and running though. Like a phoenix, we’ve risen,” O’Shea said, before playing a soothing track in which a young man expertly warbled about love, life and loss – a staple of KSUT’s Afternoon Blend.
For listeners who’d been tuning in since lunch, O’Shea’s live speculation about lightning was all the more dramatic amid an afternoon radio broadcast that had already spent many minutes dwelling on the Four Corners region’s soggy weekend weather forecast.
In an interview this afternoon, Aaland assured the Herald that O’Shea’s lightning theory was the deft improvisation of a consummate radio professional, not a verified act of God.
“We didn’t get struck by lightning,” said Aaland. “Once the computers all went back on, Chris (O’Shea) immediately went back on air.”
He said though the power surge appears to be over, rain and hail continue to batter Ignacio.
“It’s thundering, but it’s a beautiful thing. It’s nice to see the grass and trees – they look really happy right now,” he said.
