Something you think would likely never happen in your town happened on December 10, 2021, in Princeton, Kentucky, home of WPKY. A historic tornado wiped out 300 homes and killed four residents of Caldwell County in a matter of three minutes. The highest wind ever recorded in the state of Kentucky blew through the small county of 12,747 leaving it in shambles. WPKY is the only radio station licensed to Caldwell County, and the standalone 250 watt AM with a 250-watt FM translator was desperately needed to communicate quickly and effectively with people from all over the world.
WPKY was in a rebuilding phase, becoming a part of The Edge Media Group exactly 3 years prior, 2 of which were COVID years. The news department was thin. Community support was slowly being earned one listener at a time. On the night of the tornado, 4 of our 5 staff members went door to door searching for friends, neighbors and family in the rubble, as part of the rescue team. We quickly learned that two our staff members had lost their homes, but their lives had been spared. When the sun came up, WPKY gathered the necessary equipment (still no power) and the people to provide wall-to-wall coverage for 14 solid hours…interviewing tornado victims, city and county officials, weathercasters, emergency management officials, and even the coroner who emotionally described in detail what it was like to conduct a massive search in his home county, knowing that his only son was also unaccounted for at the time. The next day, we were asked to serve as the Public Information Officer for Caldwell County, a major step up, when prior to the tornado, we could not garner a seat at the table with many of our county officials. We literally went days without playing a single song and weeks without a “regular” newscast or morning show. Our role was forever changed.
The team at WPKY was asked to partner with a large radio group in Louisville, KY to pull off a Christmas miracle for our kids. We had less than 10 days. Our team literally unloaded a semi-truck of toys and then planned the distribution at a Christmas celebration in downtown Princeton. NPR showed up for the party, and our community was showcased on National Radio. Other national media such as Poynter Institute recognized the amazing work of our team, providing some much-needed energy to an exhausted crew. We then learned of a second semi-load of toys that had been turned down at a neighboring community, and we pulled off a second toy distribution with less than 12 hours’ notice. It was the most amazing Christmas ever!
Outcome: WPKY expanded its local news coverage permanently, providing listeners with the most in-depth local and regional news in its 72-year history. We are now emailing news headlines to 3000+ subscribers daily, and our website traffic has more than doubled since the December 10th tornado. In a time when stations are reducing or eliminating local news, WPKY is taking news coverage to a new level. We have redefined community service with members of OUR team serving as Chamber President (collecting and distributing over $100,000 in donations for tornado victims, Permanent PIO for Emergency Services, Long-Term Recovery Team Publicity Chair, and most importantly, community leaders and volunteers.
View Stories, Videos and Photo Galleries of Tornado Coverage by WPKY Staff
– Beth Mann | Princeton, Ky.
Beth Mann is owner of WPKY in Princeton, Ky.
You were just glued to the screen. That song came on the radio. The best NAB Show you ever attended.
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