The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
Township residents looking for information during emergencies now have another outlet, an AM radio station.
WRBX 655 AM 1630 has been live for a couple of months, the end result of an effort started in 2017 by Mayor Phil Kramer.
In August 2017, the Township Council awarded a $73,018 contract to a Michigan-based company for the station’s equipment and maintenance.
The township already had an FCC license, it just lacked equipment to start the station.
Kramer said there are two antennas broadcasting the station, one located between the municipal building and police headquarters, and another near the Trap Rock Quarry.
“Those two antennas can reach the whole town,” he said.
Kramer said the idea for the radio station came to him while he was campaigning for mayor.
A resident of Society Hill told him that during Superstorm Sandy, she expected to hear from the Mayor about conditions in the township, but never did.
“We all think about cell phones and reverse 911 and all high-tech, sometimes the relatively low-tech is the last to be available,” he said. “Going back to Sandy, with the power failure, cell towers may be out, people may not be able to use their cell phones, we have a radio station with a generator, and people have their cars and we can talk to them.”
When it’s not being used to broadcast emergency information, the station is broadcasting information about the township and a welcome message from the mayor.
The station can also be accessed on the World Wide Web by clicking here.
