Pagers Silent In Satellite Snafu
Millions of pagers that keep doctors and loved ones in touch sat silent Wednesday and some radio and TV programs were interrupted because a $250 million communications satellite lost track of Earth. Some public radio stations went off the air for lack of programming.
The owner of the satellite started transferring services to other satellites Wednesday and decided to move another satellite into position in orbit. The company stopped short of saying when all paging and media feeds would be restored.
CBS News space consultant Charles Harwood reports that Galaxy IV is among more than 100 satellites orbiting at that altitude. The penetration of the new communications technology into U.S. society is so widespread, Harwood reports, that the failure of just one satellite has widespread ramifications.
The Galaxy IV satellite stopped relaying pager messages and media feeds at about 6 p.m. EDT Tuesday when its onboard control system and a backup switch failed and the satellite rotated out of position.
As of mid-day Wednesday, technicians had been unable to restore Galaxy IV's attitude control systems and restore its orientation toward Earth, said Robert Bednarek, senior vice president and chief technology officer for Greenwich, Conn.-based PanAmSat, which owns the satellite.
He said the orbit of another satellite, Galaxy VI, will be changed over the next six days so it can take over operations of the crippled Galaxy IV.
The company has 17 satellites in orbit, said spokesman Dan Marcus.
Paging companies' voice-mail functions were still operating, but pagers didn't beep or vibrate to indicate a message was received. People with pagers had to call to check for messages.
Some paging service was switched to other PanAmSat satellites, Marcus said. There was no indication when all paging and media feeds would be restored.
PanAmSat would not disclose its customer list, but Scott Baradell, a spokesman for PageNet, one of several paging companies whose services were interrupted, estimated that 80 percent to 90 percent of the 40 million to 45 million U.S. pager users lost service.
"This is the first time in 35 years that pagers have gone silent," said John D. Beletic, chairman and chief executive officer of Dallas-based PageMart Wireless Inc. "Virtually all paging companies have been affected."
Baradell said it would take about a day for his company to finish switching service for most of its 10.5 million customers. The only customers not affected were those whose connections are through ground-based radio transmitters, he said.
The pager problem was of particular concern to doctors. Dr. Steve Dickens, a cardiologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said he spent the night at the hospital because of the problem.
"I have to tell (the hospital) what to do and how to respond," he said. "We have a good support staff, but protocosays they can't make a decision without first calling the doctor."
Dickens' brother is an obstetrician. "He's got eight ladies in labor right now. Thank God for cell phones."
Some radio stations had trouble receiving feeds. Six of the nine National Public Radio affiliates in West Virginia shut down Wednesday because they received their feeds via the stricken satellite. The three other stations had not yet switched to Galaxy IV.
"My stations are off. Nothing," said Frank Hoffman, general manager of WVPN-FM in Charleston, W.Va. "This is the first time this has happened ever."
Some other NPR stations switched to telephone lines. "The quality isn't the greatest, but it's usable," said Fred Marino, station manager at WSCL-FM in Salisbury, Md.
Some television programs also were transmitted on Galaxy IV, but it was not clear what if any TV transmissions were actually affected.
CBS, ABC and NBC said they were not hampered. The Chinese Television Network and CNN Airport Network used Galaxy IV.
Galaxy IV was launched in June 1993. Its coverage area is primarily the United States and Caribbean, according to PanAmSat, which is 81 percent owned by Los Angeles-based Hughes Communications Inc.