Rollins College student radio station WPRK-FM signing off for Hurricane Dorian

WPRK-FM at Rollins College will sign off for Hurricane Dorian, just like it did two years earlier with Hurricane Irma.

WPRK-FM plans to power down for the storm starting Thursday through Sept. 5 at 9 a.m., according to an email from Greg Golden, the director of student media.

Rollins College has ordered a mandatory evacuation of the campus, beginning Sunday. There will be no classes Friday, and the campus will close from 4 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday.

“While we are all hoping for the storm to miss us, this plan was developed by following Rollins’s cancellation of classes tomorrow and its suspension of operations set for Sunday through Wednesday,” Golden wrote in an email to radio staff.

“We will be in touch regarding any postponement of Thursday’s return to air. It will not occur any sooner, but it may occur later.”

It occurred much later when Irma hit in 2017. Staff took down the tower after brackets that had originally held it in in place were damaged and hanging loose. It took nearly a year to get back on air. They were off from Sept. 8, 2017 to Aug. 17, 2018.

But it wasn’t all Irma that caused the delay. After the storm, upcoming construction halted installation of a new antenna. Then after that, a pair of nesting bald eagles took over the spot.

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This article appears in Aug 28 – Sep 3, 2019.