WWNO

WWNO's weekday schedule has several programs from National Public Radio including All Things Considered, Morning Edition, Here & Now and Fresh Air with Terry Gross.

Miller and the staff found themselves hunkering down in the station the Saturday before Katrina hit with sleeping bags and non-perishables to broadcast through the storm.

Four WWNO staff made it to work during the early morning hours of Sunday, August 28, 2005, Miller, Fred Kasten, James Arey and Jack Hopke.

When the storm was over, Miller and his team made calls to NPR and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) to seek support for WWNO's restoration.

Georgia Public Radio officials agreed to welcome WWNO to their studios until the station was able to return to its location on the UNO campus.

However, challenges remained with getting a non-profit station back on the air while its staff was scattered all over the country, its studios on the campus were inaccessible and its transmitter was disabled.

WWNO Chief Engineer Robert Carroll was able to reach the crippled transmitter site on the West Bank of the New Orleans area with enough equipment and supplies to repair the facility and bring it up to operation.

GPB spent about a week getting the studio ready along with fulfilling WWNO's IT requests while CPB worked on getting the fly-away downlink sent to New Orleans.

WWNO's chief engineer, Robert Carroll drove with police escort to see the station's transmitter site in Gretna.

When the equipment arrived, Carroll and operations manager Ron Curtis set up and aimed the downlink at the GPB satellite.

The station kept its connection to the Crescent City via Program Director Fred Kasten, who built a studio in his home in New Orleans after returning from the evacuation.

WWNO returned to the air on September 2, 2005, from the studios of GPB in Atlanta, using the NPR downlink tied to the station's local transmitter and tower just outside New Orleans.

Miller, Music Director James Arey, Announcer/producer Farrar Hudkins and Announcer/producer Jack Hopke worked double shifts for three months, broadcasting by satellite from GPB's studios.

Program director Fred Kasten set up a small studio in his damaged uptown home and assembled a team of feature reporters who helped WWNO paint an authentic picture of New Orleans' recovery from the scene.

On Friday, September 23, less than one month after the devastation caused by Katrina, Hurricane Rita headed for the Gulf in the general direction of New Orleans.