KWVH’s ingenuity wins state-wide award

The weather has been miserably hot and humid. Running indoors to cool off is essential and even going out to the truck to grab something can be a sweaty experience that requires a cold drink.

But here’s a chilling thought. Remember the snow-storm-power outage? No one went out, staying in bed to stay warm for way too many hours, going out only to check on neighbors. Most will shiver just thinking about it.

But during this particular emergency, roads were closed, some people had water and some didn’t. The same goes for electricity, and the most essential commodity needed was information. What was open in Wimberley, what was the weather going to do in Wimberley, what other information did people need in Wimberley?

The media has taken a lot of hits in the past few years, but locally, the media is a wealth of information. One of the reasons for the local radio station was the need for an over-the-air outlet locally, especially after the floods of ’15.

The FCC put Wimberley and KWVH on a fast track and the low-powered FM station was then heard throughout the valley, a result of the floods. The snow-storm proved, once again, that locally it was needed. The station remained on the air throughout the snowstorm, and through the efforts of one man (cue the superhero music), the station did stay on the air to serve the community with reports on roads and which stores were open. The extraordinary commitment, and the ingenuity necessary to pull it off, helped the station win a state-wide award.

Brach Thomas is the local Chief Engineer responsible for making sure the station is on the air and the quality of the station’s signal. When the snowstorm hit, the station went down, too.

He has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to audio, a result of what most would consider his ‘wasted youth’, rigging up raves with electricity, lights, music anywhere they could meet such as an abandoned warehouse, buildings, parking garages, out of the way spots where they couldn’t be shut down. That ability came in handy when nobody could get to the station’s headquarters when everything was frozen.

“Ken Strange dropped me off here in the morning. I got here via the EMS… We have power, everything is good. And then halfway through the morning show, we’ve lost power and I’m on battery power at this point. So 20 minutes later, we die completely,” said Thomas.

What to do is the only question, one that everyone in the valley without electricity asked. Light bulbs went off in his brain. There would be power at his home in Woodcreek on his personal generator, although there would be no water. His generator would supply all the electricity needed.

Two questions remained: How would he get transportation to Woodcreek, and which portable broadcasting equipment should be taken? The equipment choice was easy, although the bare minimum. He also set up the studio to be run remotely so that when the temperature rose there, he would know the studio had electricity. The station part was done. Now the transportation issue was at the top of the list.

“I waited for the best four wheel drive to come by, and I waved down this Jeep. Of course, I don’t have anything in my hands here. Hey, guys, can I get a ride back to Woodcreek?” he asked.

“Oh sure, no problem… I started loading their Jeep up with all this stuff in it. I mean it really was a lot of stuff. Also there was some water because I was out of water at the house.”

He gets home. He and his wife set up the never-run-before generator, then wires from outdoors into the house. Luckily the Internet worked once it got electricity. The ‘station’ was streaming over the Internet and then through Thomas’ magic, he got the real radio station back on the air. Things were set up remotely back at the station, all he had to do was plug into his remote system and KWVH was back on the airwaves in the valley.

“So I was using that thermostat out there as an indicator to tell me when the power was back on. But the thing isthat the power of the station and the power of the transmitter site are on two separate circuits. When the power was on here, (at the station) and the power was on at the transmitter that we would actually get a signal out via FM, but I would say 80% of the time I was transmitting on both FM and stream.”

The right person at the right time at the right place is a way to look at it. But something like this was way beyond the scope of his job. Everyone at the station was amazed at how they stayed on the air.

Tim Kiesling, Station Manager, related the story to the Texas Association of Broadcasters, the authority on the broadcast airwaves in Texas. Formed in Texas in 1953, they represent the interests of 1,200 plus free, over-the-air radio and television stations

According to their webpage, “TAB strives to promote and protect a favorable economic and regulatory climate for broadcasting and educate members and the public at large about the opportunities available and advances possible through the efforts of free, over-theair broadcast operations.”

Just like locally, the TAB was impressed. So impressed that the small station will receive the 2021 Bonner McLane Public Service Award to KWVHLP-FM Wimberley for the small market radio station/ Outstanding Service to the Local Community. Up there with the big guys from Houston and Abilene.

“Texas Association of Broadcasters members are known for their service to the community… Work with a generator running just because he can’t move the equipment. He found a way to cobble things together to keep us on the air. It was a combination of his equipment and his generator at the time and the equipment that he grabbed and threw in the back of a SUV.” Kiesling continued.

“What he did to keep this community safe to keep this radio station on the air was nothing short of genius.”

The award will be presented at a breakfast during the Texas Association of Broadcasters annual convention, which is the first week of August.