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Radio World readers may know Inrush Broadcast Services for its consulting and installation services, but the company recently added a service called InrushVoice that connects directly to a station’s VoIP talk show system over the internet.
When Hurricane Helene tore through Tampa, the devastation was immediate and widespread. Roads were flooded, power was down, and, most critically for broadcasters, phone circuits failed.
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While their resilient infrastructure kept them on the air and connected to their local TV simulcasting partners, Cox Media Group’s studio phone lines went down with only hours before hosts were set to resume live in-studio coverage. On Friday evening, with no estimated restoration time from local carriers, CMG Tampa’s Director of Engineering Dylan Scott contacted Inrush for help.
While he and his team worked tirelessly in the field — clearing paths through debris to reach transmitter sites, coordinating fuel deliveries, and troubleshooting storm damage — Inrush got to work remotely restoring phone service.
Korey Brooks was the primary on-call Inrush engineer that week. He deployed InrushVoice and configured the station’s Telos VX system to connect to it, bypassing the damaged telco infrastructure entirely.
By Saturday morning, CMG Tampa’s lines were ringing again, just as calls from listeners in need and emergency officials with critical updates began flooding in.
With the phones handled, Scott and his team could stay focused on the bigger battle: keeping their stations on the air despite wind damage, power outages and flooded access roads.
“Having Korey and the Inrush team on hand to help us pivot quickly and restore our connection to our listeners was key during an extremely stressful time,” he said. “Callers were able to share key information on fully restored phone services across our multiple radio stations.”
“Dylan isn’t just responsible for Tampa; he manages multiple markets, including Orlando, which was also impacted,” said Roz Clark, executive director of engineering for Cox Media Group.
“InrushVoice helped his team maintain regional business continuity during the storm, and continues to serve our daily telephony needs as we expand its use across our markets.”
InrushVoice is a phone service designed for broadcast talk show systems, but it also was a tool that let Dylan Scott’s team focus on the work of keeping the Tampa Bay community connected when listeners needed it most. While traditional telecom networks were still assessing damage, CMG Tampa was already back in action.
