Stations Planning Hurricane Coverage Over Weekend

Arkansas TV News has dropped the TV stations in Arkansas and Shreveport an e-mail asking about their Hurricane Rita coverage as the storm will be affecting the state over the course of the weekend. So far a handful have replied to ATN's e-mail:

> KFSM 5 News Director Dale Cox says,"KFSM is gearing up to provide coverage as necessary. We will be expanding our normal weekend staff by 300% beginning with our morning news at 6 a.m. on Saturday. All news managers, including our chief meteorologist, will be on duty through the weekend.

At this point, there are too many potential tracks and variables to know exactly where the storm will go, but if our coverage area begins to experience severe weather, we will interrupt programming as necessary and should conditions warrant have a plan in place to go into "wall-to-wall" coverage. We also anticipate streaming live weather coverage on the internet at www.5NEWSonline.com.

In addition, we have opted to join CBS News for a special report from 8 a.m. until 11 a.m. on Saturday morning from the strike zone on the Gulf Coast.

We are prepared for the worst, but hoping for the best."

> KARK Assignment Manager Greg Yarbrough says the station is still putting its plan together.

> KSLA/Shreveport Managing Editor Robb Hays says his station plans extensive coverage.

We will be adding to this post as more stations respond.