During his 6 p.m. newscast Thursday, the NJTV anchor Mike Schneider got a little cranky on the air, after twice trying, unsuccessfully, to interview Representative Frank LoBiondo, Republican of New Jersey, over a patchy cellphone line.
“I’m going to make an executive decision here right now, control room,” Mr. Schneider said. “We’re going to just basically move on.”
His annoyance was understandable. He and his minimal staff at the public broadcaster had been churning out up to three live newscasts, many news breaks and several official news briefings daily since Oct. 28, the previous Sunday, to try to keep up with Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath.
NJTV’s efforts, all of which were also streamed on its Web site, were modest compared with the major commercial broadcasters in New York City, which were on the air around the clock. But they were a leap forward for NJTV, which does not have live transmission trucks and is not set up for covering a statewide disaster.
The storm was the first major test for NJTV, which WNET, the New York public broadcaster, has operated since July 2011. The change occurred after Gov. Chris Christie, despite criticism, dismantled the New Jersey Network, the state’s public broadcasting operation. The network’s public radio stations were sold to WNYC of New York and WHYY of Pennsylvania, and the contract for the television operation went to WNET.
Critics said they feared the outsiders would not devote resources to cover New Jersey. Many of those critics did not respond or declined to comment on NJTV’s storm coverage.
For its newscasts, NJTV turned to its three reporters and a freelancer. They used rented $30,000 backpacks with live uplink capabilities and cellphones to file reports. The backpacks had been rented for NJTV’s election coverage. “We don’t have the money to buy them,” said John Servidio, general manager of NJTV.
NJTV also relied on the New Jersey News Commons, a nascent coalition for online news — commercial, nonprofit and volunteer — based at Montclair State University, in Montclair. The school was an unsuccessful bidder for the NJN television operation, but since then has created a campus hub for statewide news coverage. NJTV and WNYC are basing operations there.
The storm was responsible for the coalition maturing “from infancy to adolescence” in one week, Mr. Servidio said.
“This has been the opportunity for it to jell,” said Jim Schachter, vice president for news at WNYC, which also tapped into News Commons’ resources for storm coverage.
Debbie Galant, director of New Jersey News Commons, put a trial version of the new site up just before the storm. All week it pushed out links to NJTV’s Web streams of news conferences by Mr. Christie, hyperlocal news sites and statewide newspaper coverage. It also served as a Twitter clearinghouse for news from the volunteer Jersey Shore Hurricane News, the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management and Bob Ingle, senior political columnist for Gannett New Jersey Newspapers.
By the end of the week, the site had registered more than 200,000 page views, Ms. Galant said. An official Web site will begin Monday, much sooner than planned, at NJNewscommons.org.
With much of the state without power, NJTV’s newscasts could not be seen everywhere, and battery-powered radio filled the void. Because the hurricane was a regionwide event, WNYC, which was operating on generator power in Lower Manhattan, started simulcasting coverage on its New York and New Jersey radio frequencies. WNYC has two full-time New Jersey reporters and added a freelancer; it also deployed other reporters to the state, Mr. Schachter said.
Since WNYC bought four of the NJN radio stations, Laura Walker, WNYC’s chief executive, has raised $1.57 million from foundations to expand those operations. Two reporters will be added soon, Mr. Schachter said.
The storm “affirms the need for much stronger New Jersey coverage,” Ms. Walker said. “I only wish we were totally at full force, which we’re not quite yet.”
The week’s coverage has not come cheaply. Ms. Walker estimated WNYC’s costs for covering the storm at $300,000 to $500,000, and perhaps $300,000 for repairing its AM transmitter, which sits in a tidal swamp and went off the air in the storm. Mr. Servidio declined to put a price on NJTV’s expenses.
Some costs will be defrayed by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which on Monday will announce grants of $250,000 each to WNYC and WNET for the unexpected expenses, said Michael Levy, a spokesman for the corporation. Ms. Walker said she has also been talking to station supporters about picking up some costs; the station has not yet decided whether to solicit listener donations.
Storm Poses First Big Test for NJTV
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Storm Poses First Big Test for NJTV
