UTICA-ROME -- The celebration on "Keeler in the Morning" on 92.7 The Drive (WXUR) didn't last very long this morning. Shortly after thanking listeners for pledging $15,000 for the American Red Cross to help recent fire victims in Utica, personnel inside Keeler Productions on Genesee Street had to be quarantined due to a terrorist threat.
Host Bill Keeler tells CNYRadio.com the commotion started near the end of this morning's broadcast, when "a piece of mail was opened that carried a death threat and a ‘powder-like’ substance." City police, fire and HAZMAT crew sealed off the building while they investigated. Staffers were kept inside, in case there was any contamination, so it could not be spread outside. Authorities finally gave the "all clear" allowing people to exit the building around 2:00 this afternoon.
You can read more about the scare from the online Utica Daily News, which is owned by Keeler. It was also covered by the Utica Observer-Dispatch.