After Lightning Strike, WPPB Gifted Big Donation

It seems that lightning does indeed strike twice.

Six days after WPPB 88.3 FM, Long Island’s only NPR station, incurred severe damage via a lightning bolt that knocked out its broadcast transmitter, internet and satellite feed, an anonymous donor gifted the station $15,000 to help compensate for the losses.

“It’s probably going to come out to be a little more expensive,” Wally Smith, the general manager of WPPB, which is based in Southampton, said. “But to have that when we don’t have much of a reserve fund that we can depend on, is a very, very big and helpful gift.”

On the afternoon of Friday, June 9, an abrupt thunder and lightning storm struck in the areas of Shinnecock Hills and the Shinnecock Reservation. WPPB’s transmitter, from which it sends out its broadcasts, and satellite dish, from which it receives national NPR packages, both located at the Stony Brook Southampton campus, were critically damaged.

“I’ve been in earthquakes and the building I was in didn’t shake as much as it did from the percussion of that thunder clap,” Mr. Smith said.

The station was briefly inoperable and subsequently off the air for roughly 12 hours over the weekend.

WPPB’s engineers worked throughout Friday night to address the technical issues and successfully reestablished an internet connection. NPR shifted its delivery program from satellite-based to internet-based, allowing WPPB to receive national programming. The station is back up and running, albeit by different means.

“We were able to function,” Mr. Smith said. “But it was awkward for a little while.”

Somewhat conveniently—if a rogue lightning storm may ever be deemed convenient—WPPB, a nonprofit reliant on donations, had previously scheduled a fundraising effort the week of the lightning strike.

Although the fundraiser was postponed a few days while the station sorted out its lightning-induced turmoil, it was enacted as planned and is extended to last nine or 10 days, as opposed to the traditional five.

“It was just our typical June fund drive to raise money for our operational budget,” Bonnie Grice, the host of WPPB’s “Bonnie in the Morning,” said. “Then we got hit by lighting on Friday. Unbelievable.”

To help out with the extenuating circumstance, Nancy Atlas, a Montauk singer-songwriter, offered to play a private concert for anyone who donated $15,000 to WPPB, a proposition announced on Thursday’s “Bonnie in the Morning” show. The offer was not pre-ordained and Ms. Atlas had not been privy to the lightning calamity until informed while live on-air. On a whim, she offered her services.

“[WPPB has] been supporting local music and musicians forever,” Ms. Atlas said. “They are really, truly the voice we have out here to get on mainstream radio. Bonnie and I go way back, And whenever her and Wally call me to fundraise, I try my hardest to at least put in a day to do it because they do so much for us.”

At around 11:45 a.m., just before “Bonnie in the Morning” concluded at noon, someone bit the lure.

“We just went, ‘Oh my God,’” Ms. Grice recalled. “We just couldn’t believe it. We’re just a little public radio station. I don’t think we’ve ever gotten anything even close to that as a single donation. That’s usually what we make in a single drive.”

”Yes,” Mr. Smith said when asked if he expected the donation. “This community is very generous and there are people who would step up, but I wasn’t counting on it because it’s a voluntary decision that the donor makes.”

Since electrical mishaps have derivative effects—corruption follows down the trail of connections between equipment—WPPB is still assessing its total cost of damages. The station is also unsure how much, if any, it will receive in insurance claims.

“They don’t know if the number is $20,000 or $50,000,” Ms. Atlas said. “The reality of it is, there is probably going to be need for one or two more big donors for them to get back on their feet.”

Ms. Atlas is unsure if the donor, who wishes to remain anonymous, will accept the private concert. If she chooses not to, Ms. Atlas will place the $15,000 offer right back on the table, in hopes of gleaning a second $15,000 donation for the station.

“We’re in as good as shape as we’ve been,” Mr. Smith said. “Like most of the nonprofits, we’re not in as great shape as we’d like to be in, but we’re still moving forward and living within our means … except when lightning strikes.”