Plain Old Radios a 'Lifeline' in June D.C. Storm

That’s the take of Federal Communications Commission Commissioner Ajit Pai on the June storm that knocked out power and phone service for days across a wide swath of the greater Washington area.

Pai, in a statement released Thursday at the monthly FCC Commissioners meeting, said old-fashioned radio broadcasters played a critical role in relaying information to those impacted by the storms. “When electrical power, cell sites, and broadband networks went offline, battery-power radios served as a lifeline connecting many of us to the outside world,” he stated.

And, plain vanilla radios are cheaper than iPhones.