Safety instructions will be broadcast on the town's new radio station if necessary.
Westborough's new emergency radio station may get its first big test on Halloween, or one day earlier. Safety instructions will be broadcast on 1610 AM if Tropical Storm Sandy becomes a hurricane and affects the local weather, Police Chief Alan Gordon told selectmen Tuesday night. The storm could hit the area on “Halloween or the day before Halloween,” he said. “We don’t want that,” he said. “Last year, I had to postpone Halloween, and we don’t want that again." Snow struck the region last Halloween, forcing numerous communities to adjust their trick-or-treating plans. Westborough's 1610 AM began broadcasting this summer through a new Region 2 (Worcester County) Public Health Preparedness Coalition grant-funded AM radio transmitter and …
42.26787
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Westborough Police Department
45 W Main St, Westborough, MA
/articles/sandy-might-be-1610-am-s-first-test
805703
/locations/8056450
Grant funds transmitter, antennas.
"Have you ever gone down the road and seen a roadside sign that says, 'For traffic information, tune to 1610 AM'?" Westborough Director of Public Health Paul McNulty asked selectmen Tuesday night. A new Region 2 (Worcester County) Public Health Preparedness Coalition grant-funded AM radio transmitter and rooftop antennas are broadcasting from the Forbes Municipal Building, McNulty said. "If Route 9 is blocked off for hours, people wonder what's going, (they're) stuck in traffic, they could tune to this, and hopefully, we would have a message on," he said. The current "demo" message is a loop telling listeners to "tune into this station for emergency messages and other information" and airing around the clock, he said. Listeners also are …
42.26787
-71.61477
Forbes Municipal Building
45 W Main St, Westborough, MA
/articles/1610-am-signals-new-emergency-message-era-in-westborough
2068518
/locations/7914961
Brent French
6:41 am on Wednesday, September 26, 2012
This is a great communication path if we have the kind of event that bogs down phone/tv/internet etc. In Afghanistan we gave small preprogrammed transistor radios to locals to help keep them informed. I'd love to see some grant money go towards providing town citizens with tiny radios. It would promote awareness of 1610 and help people in case of disaster. more ›