Very nice first post. Thanks for taking the time to record the lessons you learned from your own experiences.

I think I would be very annoyed, too, that the major radio stations were basically acting as if everything was fine since the area immediately surrounding the stations were relatively unaffected.

Actually, since so many radio stations these days have been gobbled up by giant companies like Clear Channel and basically turned into automated broadcasting operations with little staff--and no local news reporters--I wonder if that affects how useful local radio is these days? I mean, just because there's a DJ talking about the local weather on the Seattle radio does not mean that the person is even in Seattle. Scary, isn't it? Could be some guy in Kansas who just does "local" weather for stations all over the country.

I think that being able to watch/listen to broadcast TV is becoming a necessity during disasters. Although the information is often wrong or overhyped, at least the big TV stations have staff that can actually go out and collect information, unlike so many radio stations now. A fire may only merit a ten-second mention on radio since it only affects a tiny, isolated area, but on TV, they'll cover the same fire continuously for 30 minutes just because it looks so dramatic on screen. Anyway, my battery-powered radio also gets TV band for this reason.