Henderson County radio station keeps cut-off community connected through Helene
(QUEEN CITY NEWS) – Nearly three weeks later its presence lingers, taking the shape of severed trees piled outside of the WTZQ radio station in Flat Rock.
It is a small yet powerful reminder of what this community has gone through.
"We knew it was going to be bad," co-owner and co-host of WTZQ radio station Mark Warwick said. "We've had them here before, but you don't know how bad until it's done and it's over."
"That was eye-opening. Eye-opening," Warwick said.
For decades, he and his staff have used their voices to connect listeners, but in the days following Helene connection was their biggest obstacle. "That was something because we can't give information if we can't get information," Warwick said.
An entire region was without internet, power, or cell service. Many were stuck in their homes alone and isolated without a way to communicate with the outside world."
"And that can be challenging for people. There are people that are sitting alone in the dark by themselves, with no sound, no noise, no information, not knowing what is happening," Henderson County resident and Executive Director of United Way of Henderson County Kat Carlton said.
"Once we did and I turned that on, by candlelight in the dark at night and my three-year-old heard the music, and just started dancing," Carlton said.
It wasn't just music filling her candle-lit home. In between songs were the voices of Warwick and his co-house Paige Posey. "It was a lot, but we took the information as we got it, we tried to verify it as we got it, and sometimes we said things wrong," Posey said.
After days of relying on sporadic text messages and local Facebook groups to update listeners, the radio hosts were contacted by the city. A group of first responders under one roof with lifesaving information with no way to get it out to the public.
"They were at the new fire station, and he said, 'Can you bring the station here and broadcast so that we can get information out?' And I said, 'Brian, I would love nothing more than to be able to do that, but I have no internet and no phone. There is no way that I can get connected back here to the station in order to broadcast. He said, 'If there was a way that we could get you connected, would you be willing to come?' And I said, 'absolutely'," Warwick said.
The Hendersonville Fire Station One turned operations hub and WTZQ temporary headquarters. "I think it's, yeah, I would consider that I recognize the great responsibility now. It makes you feel good," Posey said.
The husband and wife co-host with a makeshift studio, live interview guests, and a constant stream of information were reaching those who felt cut off. "The radio station has been a lifeline of information and sanity and music and feeling connected with the outside world," Carlton said.
Friday was WTZQ's final broadcast from the operations hub. Now, they are back at their station in Flat Rock with each broadcast beginning with a deeper understanding of just how much their voices were needed. "From my perspective, this just reminds all of our staff even more that even when there are not problems like this, that what we do every day is very important," Warwick said.
