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Board flags website streaming, phone and backup-power gaps that could hinder emergency broadcasts
Summary
Members and staff reported problems with the station stream on phones and personal devices, gaps in phone/analog line backup, and a delayed UPS/backup-power purchase previously budgeted; suggestions included recruiting city IT help, buying a router/hotspot, and pursuing an analog phone line.
Station volunteers and staff told the board the station’s web stream and site are difficult to operate on phones and personal devices, and the board discussed fixes and short-term workarounds as well as longer-term resilience measures for emergency broadcasts.
Members described user experience problems: the station player is hard to find on phones, the stream may stop when users navigate the site, and the site does not always show song metadata. The board identified the city webmaster (Brewster) and a city IT contact (Ryan) as potential resources to patch specific issues; volunteers said Ryan had been able to solve some problems quickly in the past.
The group also covered emergency communications and redundancy: the station’s backup transmitter is a low‑power 100‑watt unit located at the Public Works Yard and members reported the main tower site loses power in strong winds (anecdotally when wind exceeds 40 mph). Board members asked staff to check on a previously proposed analog phone line (so a powered line could remain available if building power fails), to maintain a station-dedicated hotspot or router at the studio, and to reinstate a dedicated station cell device so volunteers could reach PUD or emergency contacts during outages.
Members said the board had budgeted funds for a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) package intended to provide multi-hour autotransition at the tower site; the meeting noted that procurement slipped before year’s end and the project did not move forward. The previous budget estimate discussed in December was described in the meeting as roughly $9,000 for an extended-run UPS, with a desired runtime of at least four hours to match cellular site backups.
The board asked volunteers to collect device-specific playback problems from DJs and frequent users (iOS/Android/PC variations) and to coordinate with the city’s web/IT staff to create a prioritized list of fixes. No formal procurement was authorized at this session; members said they would return with cost estimates and a short action plan at the next meeting.
