Independent Announces Emergency Alert Service
Provides Email, Text Message, Online, and Radio Messages and Information.
The Santa Barbara Independent has partnered with radio station KCSB 91.9 FM to help the community stay informed during emergencies and public safety challenges.
Using the Independent.com Web site as the hub, IndyAlert will provide email, text message, and radio announcements to subscribers of this free service.
In the event of an emergency, a brief message will be sent to a subscriber’s cell phone or computer. This could be a natural disaster (for example: earthquake, wildfire, high winds, flash flood, or other severe weather conditions), an event with the potential to cause general public harm such as a toxic spill, or a Highway 101 or major traffic artery closure. Any of these problems would prompt an IndyAlert to your phone or in box (or both). And radio announcements will also be broadcast.
“We’re happy to find an dynamic partner like KCSB,” said publisher Randy Campbell, “who brings passion for community service, reporters on the ground covering news as it happens, and a staff broadcasting live 24 hours a day — a rarity in modern-day radio.
“In the past two years we’ve been on the literal front lines of many of Santa Barbara’s disasters and emergencies, with our Web site providing timely coverage we couldn’t achieve with the weekly newspaper. But we sometimes found the immediacy of our Web site was inconvenient or unavailable.
“By adding text messaging and email alerts, we can use the wide availability of cell phones to keep our subscribers informed. Add radio to the mix and we’ve got particularly valuable tools for communication during a power outage or on the go.
“The Santa Barbara Independent staff, online and in print, is committed to producing the best news and information coverage possible, and this just expands our capabilities, reach, and speed of communication.”
“The two-way exchange of resources and information between The Independent and KCSB 91.9 FM will provide a broader, more portable, up-to-the minute source for news and information during an emergency or disaster,” Campbell said.
