Ian Forces Ft. Myers CBS Affiliate Off-Air

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WINK overwhelmed by high waters; both radio and TV are down

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(Image credit: WINK)

FT. MYERS, Fla.—As broadcasters banded together to report on one of Florida’s most devastating storms in its history, one TV station was taken off the air due to high winds and flooding from Hurricane Ian.

As of 8 PM Wednesday evening, WINK-TV, the CBS affiliate in the hard-hit community of Ft. Myers was no longer broadcasting. According to the station’s website, the power went off around 5 p.m. EDT.

“Right now, we are working as fast as we can to get back on the air,” said  Tom Doerr, director of local news and content at WINK News. “It’s complicated by high water. Once we get our generator back up, we will be able to broadcast on our TV station and our radio stations.”

A tweet from the station meteorologist Dylan Federico showed how fast rising water was threatening the station’s building.

The station said it would use all other outlets including social media to keep its viewers informed. 

“We are going to be back providing the best news and information to Southwest Florida and we will be here helping the area recover,” Doerr said.

Tom Butts
Tom Butts

Tom has covered the broadcast technology market for the past 25 years, including three years handling member communications for the National Association of Broadcasters followed by a year as editor of Video Technology News and DTV Business executive newsletters for Phillips Publishing. In 1999 he launched digitalbroadcasting.com for internet B2B portal Verticalnet. He is also a charter member of the CTA's Academy of Digital TV Pioneers. Since 2001, he has been editor-in-chief of TV Tech (www.tvtech.com), the leading source of news and information on broadcast and related media technology and is a frequent contributor and moderator to the brand’s Tech Leadership events.