If the block was only 15 minutes somebody was on call. Actually I’m pretty sure it’s against FCC rules to not have somebody that can run the antenna on site at all times. And he’s probably the guy that had to drive to the studio (which are almost never anywhere near the antenna for some strange reason) to fix the program.
The blocks ends at exactly 15, 30 minutes, etc., because the programming finally catches up and synchs the correct feed to the channel requirement. No engineer is within even 45 minutes driving distance of the tower and shack and these are many times inaccessible for days at a time in the winter.