When Lightning Strikes — And What It Can Do [VIDEO]

I’m sitting at my desk, listening in on a conference call with about 60 other people across our company. I can hear the rain, a little thunder — it’s noticeable, but not distracting. I start to answer an email, and needless to say, I experienced something for the first time in my life …

BAM!

I’ve never heard such a sound. My first instinct was, “Someone shot me!” But, unless the turntable on my desk is packing heat, that was unlikely. As soon as I re-situated myself after almost falling out of my chair, I take a moment to notice the lights are out, my computer’s off and my ears are ringing.

But, wouldn’t you know it? The phone’s still on, conference call still in progress. Luckily for comrades across the nation, my speakerphone was muted so they didn’t hear the lightning strike the tower right outside my office window or the subsequent (accidental, I promise, Mom) expletive that escaped my mouth during the process.

Needless to say, the last 20 or so hours at KNUE, Mix 93.1, Hot 107.3 Jamz and 96X have been interesting. After the strike, we started smelling smoke, so firefighters were called, we escaped outside into the rain and eventually returned inside to see the rest of our day was shot. Much of our equipment is fried, so we’re doing radio shows for four stations out of one studio. Morning shows are postponed, and even Kidd Kraddick in the Morning on Mix was struck by lightning in the Metroplex.

The office is still without a network, and no Internet in the 21st Century is like taking the subways out of New York City (I’m stealing Starbucks wi-fi right now). But, thankfully we have the best IT and engineering folks around, and we’ll be fully operational soon.

In the meantime, we’re having to postpone our Secret Sound contests on our stations and will be unable to upload all of our pictures from Women’s Night Out last weekend until our network is restored.

Thank you all for your patience and being great listeners. We love you guys.

And for entertainment value, here’s a sweet video of lightning storms: