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WSRZ’s David Jones stands outside a fallen tree in his mother-in-law’s Venice, Florida neighborhood after Hurricane Ian. (Instagram)

“I just want to tell you, the first thing I heard was your voices the next morning,” said a caller, her own voice wavering. “Oh shoot. And it made me cry, the comfort of hearing your voices.”

David Jones and Meredith Michaels are not breaking news reporters. They didn’t file stories from the businesses or homes hit last week by Hurricane Ian. They won’t spend the coming months interrogating evacuation orders or recovery efforts.

But last week, they were there for listeners in ways they’ve always been and in ways they’ve never had to be before.

Jones and Michaels are the hosts of “Jones and Company ([link removed]) ,” a morning show from Sarasota’s WSRZ ([link removed]) , part of the iHeartMedia network. Normally, their work includes playing music, taking calls and brightening up listeners’ mornings.

Last Friday, after Hurricane Ian shifted south and devastated southwest Florida, the two stayed on the air for 12 hours talking with callers, finding answers and crowdsourcing information.

What roads were closed?

Where could people find gas?

Who had ice?

On Monday, their show ran for six hours.

Jones’ voice has been part of Florida’s Manatee and Sarasota Counties for 35 years. In the ’90s, he had a TV show ([link removed]) in Tampa Bay. Being a morning show host is a lot of fun, he said. But last week was a wake-up call.

Living in a place, knowing the streets, the landscape, the history and the people — and being known as part of the community — is also a critical part of the job.

The two heard from a woman stuck on the second floor of her flooded home with no power. They heard from a veteran who’d lost his home and just wanted to hear familiar voices.

“Radio is that medium, we are a companion medium,” Michaels said. “We’re in the empty seat next to them every morning on their way to work.”

And when that routine got dangerously disrupted last week, Jones and Michaels and commercial radio hosts like them were still there.

At WCTQ ([link removed]) , a Sarasota country radio station also part of the iHeartMedia network, morning show hosts Lulu Soeder and Maverick Johnson ([link removed]) understood their roles.
"During the storm, we were able to be on the air and we got information and updates and also were kind of a comfort to people," Soeder said.
And after?

“I think we take a lot of responsibility in the after,” Johnson said. “We still have almost 100,000 people in the two counties that still don’t have power. The only way they're getting information is through a radio.”

The stations are also available through an iHeart app, and many people listened in and called in through their phones. Regardless of the device, radio is free, easy and all around you, said Frank Harris, iHeartMedia Sarasota’s senior vice president of programming.

“You just turn it on and it's there.”

In December, Poynter’s Al Tompkins visited Kentucky after it was hit by tornadoes to report on how journalists there were covering the story. Tompkins wrote about Tess Cowan, an AM radio host who offered information and comfort to her listeners. ([link removed])

“We are community stewards,” station owner Beth Mann told Tompkins. “We will connect the dots for people. We will help the government agencies tell people what is going on and we will help people find what they need to rebuild. In times like these, a local radio station can bring a community together.”

In Florida, Harris, Johnson and Jones all remember 2004’s Hurricane Charley ([link removed]) , which devastated Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda. They know there’s long work ahead for the places hardest hit last week. That work, for the morning show hosts, will include sharing the stories of people helping each other, offering resources and celebrating each time a listener’s power comes back.

Jones and Michaels even have a snippet of music ready to play for those celebrations — Snap’s “I’ve got the power.” ([link removed])

“You guys, thanks for being on the air,” another caller told the duo. “It’s nice to hear a voice we know.”

Early this week, I asked on Twitter what work from local journalists deserves recognition after Hurricane Ian. Here’s a running, and growing, list. If you see something I should add, please let me know.
* Poynter’s Angela Fu wrote last week about the journalists from the Tampa Bay Times (which Poynter owns) and USA Today Network newsrooms who were covering the hurricane. ([link removed])
* Poynter’s Tom Jones wrote about the local TV, radio and newspapers ([link removed]) covering the story and about the journalists who were covering the hurricane’s aftermath while dealing with it in their own lives ([link removed]) . ([link removed])
* Vanity Fair wrote about local reporters who covered Ian ([link removed]) .
* Capital B’s Margo Snipe wrote about Black residents in Fort Myers ([link removed]) .
* The Miami Herald’s Omar Rodríguez Ortiz visited Naples and wrote about damage in a historically Black neighborhood ([link removed]) . (Rodríguez Ortiz is part of our Poynter-Koch fellowship ([link removed]) .)
* Deadline wrote about the Fort Myers TV station that kept reporting after flooding hit the studio ([link removed]) .
* And the Tampa Bay Times’ Leonora LaPeter Anton and Lane DeGregory brought stories from how the storm hit attractions along the Tamiami Trail ([link removed]) .
* If you want to help journalists in Florida, the Florida chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists has a fund to help local journalists ([link removed]) .

That’s it for me. My family, home and neighborhood made it through the storm mostly unscratched, for which we’re so grateful. Thanks for reading.

Kristen
Kristen Hare
Faculty
The Poynter Institute
@kristenhare ([link removed])

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