From the start of COVID-19 iHeartMedia of the Hudson Valley has been working hard to keep the local community informed and together during these times.
Rich Kleban reached to get a little more detail and did this awesome posting about all our informative list.
"Since the pandemic has started, back in March, iHeartMedia of the Hudson Valley has working to keep the local community as informed as possible.
We have found the best way to reach our neighbors is through the power of radio, having our on-air staff point the community in the right direction to find the information, as well as including important updates featured across our social and websites.
One of the first things iHeartMedia did as a company when the pandemic began was put together is a Coronavirus Update microsite across the company including here in the Hudson Valley. This site can be found on all our websites, under the tabs “Connect” or “In Your Town”. This site has articles about COVID-19 and all the adjustments that we have made as a society along the way, in addition to articles and blogs about the coronavirus impact locally.
We began to utilize lists of information. Our first one was for the Hudson Valley restaurants that featured takeout and delivery when the closure of seating at restaurants occurred. Here is an example article:https://wrwdcountry.iheart.com/content/2020-03-17-local-restaurants-who-are-still-serving-take-out/
As the need grew, we added local farms that were also doing take out and delivery on this list as well.
The second list we did was for essential workers who were working in our local grocery stores, gas stations, hospitals and more. Here is an article for Helper of the Day, which was started by Q92’s Annie & Ryan:https://q92hv.iheart.com/content/2020-03-18-q92-helper-of-the-day/
The next list came around Easter, when places of worship were not able to be open for attendees to be together. We created a list with links and information about how someone could still attend worship services: https://q92hv.iheart.com/content/2020-04-09-worship-churches-services-live-streams/
After that we decided to make another list for people who were still hiring during these times. Called “Keep Hudson Valley Working”, this list has been growing and contains local businesses that are hiring, especially as the regions phases back into the new normal:https://wrwdcountry.iheart.com/content/2020-04-22-keep-hudson-valley-working/
The list that has taken our stations by storm is our list of graduates which has easily grown to over 1,000 names of students from all over the Hudson Valley. Our air staff looks at this list daily and shouts out names of students from all different high schools around the Hudson Valley and beyond. This also includes college graduates and other specialty graduates: https://q92hv.iheart.com/featured/coronavirus/content/2020-04-22-class-of-2020-graduating-seniors/
Annually, iHeart has an event called Nurses Night Out to show our appreciation for the local nurses during Nurse’s Week. Due to the pandemic and restrictions we were unable to do that event this year, so similar to our graduate effort, we made a list honoring local nurses and made the month of May Nurses Month:https://q92hv.iheart.com/content/2020-05-01-nurses-recognition-month/
Lastly, we have started a new list since Phase 2 has begun for our local region which includes the return of outdoor dining in the Hudson Valley! This list is brand new as of June 9th, but it already has started to react with our community as this list, similar to the Takeout and Delivery list, features local Hudson Valley restaurants that are open for outdoor dining:https://wrwdcountry.iheart.com/featured/coronavirus/content/2020-06-09-outdoor-dinning-in-the-hudson-valley/
If you would like to add to any of these lists, please reach out to Felicia Kirschner, via emailFeliciaKirschner@iHeartMedia.com.
On behalf of all of us here at iHeartMedia of the Hudson Valley, be well and stay safe!"
Thank you Dutchess County Chamber for the amazing partnership and the write up! :)
To check out the write up click here