Cecil, W6DXP wrote:
"Well, it was re-enacted on the Discovery Channel."

There were no mountains around the medium-wave broadcast plants where I
worked, but I can testify that atmospheric electrical activity there
often started well in advance of the storm arrival while the sky
overhead was still blue. Notably, tower guy insulators flashed over
repeatedly. Transmitter overloads tripped the transmitters off the air
for an instant to clear r-f arcs which followed the arc paths created by
the static discharges.

Bolts do come out of the blue but do no damage in a well designed radio
station.

Best regards, Richard Harrison, KB5WZI