The Lancaster Newspaper – me at a campaign rally for a candidate for Governor in November of 1978

I remember the TMI accident like it happened yesterday. I was the News and Public Service Director at WLAN AM and FM97. The accident happened and there was massive confusion coming from officials at the plant. We had reporters on the scene.

At the radio station people were very nervous. The news line never stopped ringing. Mothers with little children called hysterically crying and begging me to tell them what to do. Stay or leave, including my sister who had a newborn baby. I told them if they had someplace to go away from the plant they should go. Better to be safe.

Nothing like this had ever happened before. Everything was a learning experience. Ironically I had a Geiger Counter thanks to a Science Fair experiment my sister had conducted in high school. So I went out on the radio station roof on a regular basis to take readings. All were in the normal range which we reported.

Meanwhile the networks were calling. They were also not reporting completely accurate information. This is how it continued for days until the head of the NRC came to Middletown and took charge.

Mothers with little children called hysterically crying and begging me to tell them what to do.

Evacuation plans had been drawn up. We were VERY close to calling for an evacuation. At the last minute that did not take place.

At the same time we were doing round the clock news to keep everyone informed. The station was not a 24 hour station in those days. TMI changed that.

Also at the exact same time “The China Syndrome” opened at  the movie theater down the street from the station. A couple of us walked down to see the film which was irony in all ways.  Halfway through the station called and said get back quickly.

Confusion reigned for days during this accident. The info trickled out of officials at the plant for a long time after the initial accident. Studies of the cause and effect of the accident continued for years. My job was to bring our listeners accurate info to the best of our ability from health concerns to hard news from the plant. Considering that nothing like this  had ever happened before we all did the best that could do. I think we did great work.

Ellen

Ellen in the Lancaster Newspaper around 1979