Steve Trevilese shares his experience with Superstorm Sandy and how he was a witness to the bond between the station and our listeners.

Belmar boardwalk after Sandy
Belmar boardwalk after Sandy (YouTube)
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For me Sandy started the day before which was a Sunday and I was all set to watch the Giants play the Cowboys at 4;30. I received a call from our brand manager Eric Johnson who asked me to come in and go on at 7 to prepare people for the storm. He was stopping for food on his way down and when I got to the station around 4 it is was loaded with pizza and other delivery courtesy of our sales manager Lorenzo.

As I watched the game, Jim Gearhart came in, then Alan Kasper and Eric. I remember being on the air and out of the corner of my eye watching while the Cowboys were driving for what would be the game winning touchdown only to have the receiver ruled out of bounds and the Giants win. Eric and I stayed on until midnight then I drove home.

While home I sat with my family waiting and listening to our hosts tell everyone not to go out knowing I was going to join them. Had I not been married with children, I would have stayed the night. When I returned the station was loaded with practically every employee prepared to stay at least the night. There were sleeping bags and staked out territory everywhere.

Governor Christie was scheduled for ‘Ask The Governor” that night and he assured us he was coming up from Atlantic City. I followed him at 8 and was supposed to stay on until midnight taking calls with Ray Rossi from people who were without power but with New Jersey 101.5.

Sometime that night we lost power ourselves but the backup generator kept the studios running. Later the transmitter went down but we still had to remain on the air for the people around the country who listen to us on the radio pup. Ray and I took calls from places like Washington and  Colorado explaining to those who had relatives here what was going on.

So here we are at a radio station full of people with no power that can only broadcast over the internet, What else could possibly happen? Be careful what you ask for. Around 3am the engineers came into the studio to tell Ray and I that the phones had gone out and we must do the last 2 hours until “First Jersey” just talking to each other.

This would begin a time for me that would bring New Jersey 101.5 closer to our listeners than any other time since I had been there. In all my years of radio, I’ve never seen a station bond with it’s audience like we have with you ever since that night. We definitely took our relationship to the next level and it’s been that way ever since.

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