Online Newspaper Went Offline This Morning

Six Rivers News was offline this morning due to a power failure in Ontario. The site’s host in southern Ontario was without power for nearly four hours.

Morning Talk, the live radio program on the Six Rivers Radio Network, continued as usual, but many listeners use the online community newspaper as the access point for the three radio stations on the network.

Radio host Bill Martin says, “We received calls and email messages from people who said they could not listen this morning because they could not click the online links at sixrivers.ca.”

Martin added that there are other ways to get to the internet based radio stations. He noted a free app for Android that allows people to listen on mobile devices. An app store version for Apple devices is in the works.

He also suggested people could add bookmarks or favourites linked directly to the stations:

All Hit Radio — https://usa10.fastcast4u.com/sixrivers

Country Radio — https://usa10.fastcast4u.com/rgpfuiey

Hope Centre Christian Radio — https://usa10.fastcast4u.com/atmserko

Six Rivers News, Radio, and TV uses a number of back-up systems across the globe, but Martin added, “Today’s disruption shows our dependence on electrical power and internet services is not just local.

The Six Rivers studio and editor’s desk are in the Hope Centre in Pugwash with internet sending and receiving by satellite. The radio stations stream over the internet from a service in Montreal with backup in Europe. The online community newspaper, the source of today’s interruption, is hosted in Woodstock, Ontario.

Martin says, “Today’s break in service is rare but none-the-less disturbing. No system can be completely guaranteed but we are always adding to our capacity. The next major piece should be power backup at the Pugwash studio and newsroom.”

Add your comments below.