With the IP networks down in Japan and prorities on more important things while the rest of the world watches live coverage of the earthquake and tsunami, J1's average listening was down as much as over 55% during some portions of the broadcast day in the hours that followed the original 8.8 quake off the coast of Miyagi-ken.
In a statement read over the air, REC's Michi Eyre stated that while Japan is still in a state of recovery, the world can not stand still and we must move forward. In her on-air statement, Eyre refers to a decision whether to update the station and produce a weekly music chart despite being less than 24 hours after a major crisis. She felt that in order for Japan to rebuild and the world to heal, J1 must remain "business as usual".
"As a westerner looking in on Japan, I feel that if we stop this movement, it will stop the progress"
During the J1 New Music Show, there was a moment of silence at 2:46 PM Japan time, exactly 24 hours following the recorded time of the original earthquake. J1's outreach of information to both Japan and the world was done mainly through social media channels and not over the air. "We felt that there were plenty of terrestrial sources [radio and television] in Japan to receive emergency information and in the best interest of conserving bandwidth on the IP networks, it was in everyone's best interest that we did it this way." Eyre further substantiates the decision to keep music on J1, "There are times that those watching the coverage need to escape for awhile. Keeping the music on J1 symbolizes the fact that despite a major disaster, Japan will remain strong and bounce back. Many FM stations in Japan, especially in the unaffected areas went back to music well within hours of the original tremor.". J1 continues to operate normally and the social media channels on Facebook and Twitter are periodically being updated as new information comes in. J1 can be found on Facebook at http://facebook.com/j1radio and staff messages can be found on Twitter at http://twitter.com/j1_staff
