New Orleans, WWL and WWOZ

I have a big batch of MP3 and movie posts to put up here, but Katrina has changed things.

This one hurts.

Where to begin. The humanity? The musicians. The architecture. The culture that's lost. The hell it has become.

There's always been a connection to New Orleans on WFMU, as there would have to be for any station that takes music seriously. As I tap, Monica's doing a great show dedicated to the victims of Katrina. Doug and Spazz both did incredible New Orleans / Louisiana shows this morning and last night. (Doug's archives are here: MP3 | Realaudio and Dave the Spazz's archives are here: MP3 | Realaudio.) Doug aired that incredible interview with New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin, which you can download here: MP3.

Nagin was interviewed on WWL 870 AM last night. WWL's coverage of this disaster has reportedly been incredible.

UPDATE: WWL now was an online stream, as part of a radio consortium called United Radio For New Orleans. Go here and click on "listen live" for a windows media player feed. Thanks Chris T!

As for WWOZ, the great community radio station in new Orleans, I've been in touch with David Freedman, their General Manager. WWOZ's been destroyed - transmitter and production studio under water, no word yet on their main studios, but it seems unlikely to me that they are still in useable shape even if they were above the water. David is holed up in a motel in Arkansas, the closest room he could find when he evacuated. Needless to say, WWOZ is off the air completely, not even their stream is up. The staff is scattered all over the south, some even in the hellhole at the Superdome. They're searching for family members and each other.

And even if WWOZ were to rebuild their transmitter in a year (which is highly unlikely) how much of their audience would still be there listening to their FM signal? The hurricane has destroyed their over the air audience, but it doesn't have to also mean an end to their significant online audience. I'm working with David to help get some kind of temporary WWOZ stream back up as soon as possible, maybe even tomorrow, and then as the WWOZ staff find one another, the station will get back up with a temporary studio. WWOZ's website is till up here and when the temporary stream goes up, there will be links to it there. General relief agencies are listed here. I'll keep you posted about the OZ stream here as well, and if I get a minute I'll put up a batch of MP3s.

UPDATE: The WWOZ In Exile stream is up via the WWOZ Home Page. Thanks to all the FMU staffers who've offered help, and especially to The Professor and Bill Zurat for getting a WWOZ stream back online. In the coming weeks, this stream will be replaced by WWOZ proper, and the folks at WWOZ are already laying out plans for putting up a new temporary transmitter.

Comments

[Philip Silva]

Ken, is WWOZ accepting donations, or is it too early? Is there any way for the WFMU listenership to help out?

[Station Manager Ken]

I just tested it out on their website and it does seem like it's still processing donations, so I would suggest making a donation through their membership page here and I'm working with OZ's manager to check this all out. For now, make credit card donations to them through that page, which looks like the payment processing is being directed automatically to WWOZ.

-ken

[squinchy]

according to democracy now's website ( http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/09/02/1418255 )
FEMA Suggests Donor Gives To Pat Robertson's Charity
Private donors have given over $100 million to charities. On its website, FEMA lists a series of possible charities. The top three charities are: the Red Cross, Operation Second Harvest and Operation Blessing, which was founded by Christian televangelist Pat Robertson. Meanwhile the Red Cross announced last night that its shelters in the region are already at capacity with 76,000 refugees.

Digusting! and then, this about FEMA's current director
from Dailykos and horsesass.org
"...the man responsible for directing federal relief operations in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, sharpened his emergency management skills as the "Judges and Stewards Commissioner" for the International Arabian Horses Association... a position from which he was forced to resign in the face of mounting litigation and financial disarray."
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/9/2/34622/68348

[stapstop]

Wrong dumbass - look for yourself

http://www.fema.gov/

You are just as bad a right winger criticizing MoveOn.org's efforts to help.

ANY charitable organization, no matter what political or religious variety should be applauded for getting help to the hurricane victims.

Playing politics out of this situation is despicable.

Fucking dumbass.

[John L]

All I can say is wow. For FMU to be so significantly helping out my other radio home, that I love warts and all, is amazing. (If you've seen my criticism of OZ, it is "tough love"). Thank you everybody.

[I'm not Lisa]

wwoz is streaming now in exile over the internet. on their maine page they said its thanks to wfmu. on air sound checks also credit this station. you can than sm ken for this. thanks ken.

[jillian]

Oh...THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for bringing back a little piece of Nawhlins heaven.

[Guest]

Seems kind of off-topic, but since you brought it up...FEMA posted the following list that includes Operation Blessing (#4 on the list):

http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=18473

[squinchy]

thanks, Guest and:
sheesh, stapstop...sorry I invoked your ire by 'playing politics'
I guess evengelicals awaiting the rapture need their own charity since heathen orgs like the red cross and the humane society might be secretly supporting abortions or gay marriage or somesuch.
But maybe you're right, $ is $.
Of course you could have been a bit more polite about it.

[Jack]

Resonance FM, London's non-profit experimental art radio station will broadcast a special show dedicated to New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Thursday 8th September 2005 - 7pm-8.30pm London Time (2pm-3.30pm East Coast time).

Listen online at www.resonancefm.com

"New Orleans has probably made a bigger contribution to 20th century music than any other city. From the birth of jazz to Mardi Gras street parades, rock and roll, soul, R&B, funk and hip-hop. The havoc wrought by Hurricane Katrina has shocked the world. Jack Thurston is joined by jazz pianist and New Orleans resident John Richardson, trumpeter John Hoare and Stuart Baker and Pete Reilly from Soul Jazz Records for a celebration of New Orleans music and reflections on the terrible events that continue to unfold."

[Guest]

They're talking about directing funds toward WWOZ, but to finish my hijacking of this thread...

The following site rates the charities for their division of the donations among administrative, fund-raising, and program expenses. It also gives efficiency and overall ratings. I suspect the charities have ways of pumping up their ratings, but it's a start.

http://www.charitynavigator.org

By the way, back on thread, the aircheck last week was of Records from the Crypt on WWOZ - GREAT!

[The Editor]

Gary Giddins: What We Owe New Orleans

The waters that in the first days of September drowned New Orleans are the waters that established the incomparable city as a key port before the railroad replaced shipping as the primary vehicle of trade. They gave New Orleans a unique cultural character, blending elements of the continental United States with those of a Caribbean island. Cradled between the big dipper of the Mississippi and huge Lake Pontchartrain, New Orleans was a locus for the slave trade and also known for cotton, sugar cane, and fishing. Yet to most of the world, New Orleans is chiefly associated with one export that it largely abandoned decades ago: a way of playing music called jazz...
http://oupblog.typepad.com/oupblog/2005/11/only_everything.html