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Broadcast Hill

J

JayDavis

My wife were driving up from Midlothian this afternoon into downtown Dallas and saw all the towers at the area that is semi-formally known as Broadcast Hill. It is located in Cedar Hill, TX, from what I understand.

Neither one of us are in the TV/Radio broadcast business and wondered how Broadcast Hill was formed. We are from West Texas and from what we remember, each TV station had their own TV tower right next to their buildings. Why do most, if not all the TV and radio stations have their towers at Broadcast Hill for the DFW area?

Just curious.
 
First of, "Broadcast Hill" is the area off Barnett Street in east Fort Worth overlooking I-30 that is home to KXAS-TV's studios and a small tower complex that includes what was the original tower supporting the antenna of WBAP-TV when it signed on in 1948. That tower also originally supported WBAP-FM (now KSCS). WBAP 820 and WBAP-FM (KSCS) maintained their studios in a building at the base of that tower until 1993 when they moved to Lamar Blvd. in Arlington.

The area you refer to is generally called to as the Cedar Hill Antenna Farm. It now is home to 11 tall broadcast towers. The first was built in 1955 as a consortium between WFAA-TV and KRLD-TV (now KDFW). They formed the Hill Tower Corporation to cooperatively build one of the first "candelabra" towers in the nation, therefore ensuring that neither station had a height advantage. The Cedar Hill location was chosen because it is the highest point in the north Texas area, providing stations clear reach of both Dallas and Fort Worth (it became apparent in the 1950s that the two cities would be one single television market, so a station's tower would have to be centrally located to ensure full coverage.)

As TV was booming through the 1950s, the FCC and FAA helped ensure that the sites of these tall towers were not spread throughout a metropolitan area, but were instead concentrated in one area so as to be less of a navigational hazard to aircraft. WBAP-TV moved to the 3rd unoccupied arm of the Hill Tower from Broadcast Hill in the 1960s when NBC threatened to pull its affiliation if the network was not on equal footing against the CBS and ABC affillates in the market (the Cedar Hill location covered the entire DFW market much more effictively than WBAP-TV's east Fort Worth tower.)

Cedar Hill did not start to become the "tower farm" that it is now until the 1960s, when additional TV and FM operations necessitated new towers. Channel 11 moved from its own east Fort Worth tower onto a new tower shared with Channel 13. Doubleday built a tall tower for its new Ch.39, and another candelabra for UHF operations went up in the 70s for Channels 21, 27 and 33.

The original Hill Tower of WFAA/KDFW was struck by a Naval training jet in 1987, and left precariously imbalanced. The top 300+ feet of the tower was eventually removed and a "New Hill Tower" was built for WFAA and KDFW. At this time, Channel 5 opted out of the New Hill Tower, and constructed its own new tower.

The newest towers included a DTV candelbra (the southernmost tower and only one in Ellis, not Dallas, County) and the new CBS Radio tower which is only 3 years old.

Here's a quick summary of who is on what tower... (at least for the time being)

1. NEW HILL TOWER 1578ft. 3-arm candelabra KDFW Ch.4, WFAA Ch.8 and their DTVs.
2. OLD HILL TOWER 1240ft. Carries 5 backup FMs
3. SUSQUEHANNA TOWER 1558ft. Originally built for Ch.39, now carries 3 FMs: KPLX-99.5 at the top, and KDGE-102.1 and KDMX-102.9 further down on the side.
4. THOMAS TOWER 1029ft. Shortest major tower in the 'farm'. Carries 2 non-comm FMs: KNON-89.3 and KVTT-91.7
5. MILTON TOWER 1532ft. 3 TVs on its short candelbra: KTXA-21, KDTX-58 and KDTN-2; and one 3-FM panel: KLNO-94.1, KCBI-90.9 and WRR-101.1
6. COWBOY TOWER 1646ft. Another short candelbra with 3 TVs: KFWD-52 and its DTV and KPXD-68; along with the market's major shared FM antenna that carries 7 signals: KZPS-92.5, KLTY-94.9, KEGL-97.1, KLUV-98.7, KVIL-103.7, KKDA-104.5 and KHKS-106.1
7. KXTX TOWER 1535ft. Ch.39 and the DTV for KXAS
8. KXAS TOWER 1536ft. KXAS-5 and 2 FMs: KSCS-96.3 and KBFB-97.9
9. CBS RADIO TOWER 1731ft. The newest and tallest tower carries 3 of CBS' FMs: KJKK-100.3, KLLI-105.3 and KMVK-107.5
10. CBS TV TOWER 1587ft. KTVT-11 and KERA-13 and their DTVs along with KERA-FM 90.1
11. RICHLAND TOWER 1635ft. This candelbra is the southernmost tower and is now all-TV: KDFI-27, KDAF-33, KSTR-49 and their DTVs, along with numerous auxiliary facilities.

The above list is far from comprehensive, as there are also numerous LPTVs on the Cedar Hill towers, and I'm sure there have been some other facility changes that I can't recall off the top of my head, but that should give you a decent overview of things.

For more info and some great pics, you can also check out this great site: http://www.fybush.com/site-021031.html (it's actually the first page of a four-part series on DFW tower sites!)
 
Interesting this was brought up today of all days. 12 years ago today the KXTX tower collapsed killing three tower workers.
Dana Campbell, Joseph Kelly and John Stinson lost their lives while trying to hoist a gin pole up the tower.
You can read more about the accident here: http://www.exponent.com/KXTX_tower_collapse/

I visited the site a few months later and it was one of the most devastating things I've ever seen.
I don't work around these towers much myself. I'm one of the guy who makes a show that gets broadcast through these towers. It's always good to go down and see just what an awsome amount of work it takes to put up these things and do what we do for a living. I think we frequently forget how dangerous it can be. The KXTX accident had a very direct effect on me and I've always tried to convey to others in my business just what a remarkable set of people it takes to build and maintain these towers. Whatever they're paid, it's not enough. I don't risk my life going to the office, they almost always do.
 
That was the tower accident that knocked KYNG (and others, I would bet, but just don't remember) off the air for quite a while. KYNG's Young Country format temporarily moved to sister station KEWS 94.9, which was not doing well at the time...and that sealed KEWS's fate. By January, 1997, 94.9 was traded for 1190, and I believe that's when The Word began broadcasting at 94.9.
 
MikeShannon914 said:
That was the tower accident that knocked KYNG (and others, I would bet, but just don't remember) off the air for quite a while. KYNG's Young Country format temporarily moved to sister station KEWS 94.9, which was not doing well at the time...and that sealed KEWS's fate. By January, 1997, 94.9 was traded for 1190, and I believe that's when The Word began broadcasting at 94.9.
Click to expand...

I was doing a remote for V100(KRBV) that day. I was out at Payton-Wright Ford setting up and I was trying to get the station on the digital tuner. Every station I tuned into was off the air. The other stations that were affected on the Channel 39 tower were KRBV and KOAI. The engineers got The Oasis back on the air first, and V100 was next, with significant power loss. That killed any and all momentum that V100 should and would have had. It was a mess......
 
Great summary of info Domingo about who is on each tower. Explains some of the signal variations I get from channel to channel in my attempts to get reliable OTA DTV reception.
 
I remember Bill Mack giving the current time or temperature "on the hill" back in the good ole days. I've been to the old WBAP studio on Barnett & it had a nice view of Fort Worth off to the west.

The Cedar Hill antenna farm is also a cool sight to see, especially if you have a good camera.
 
I used to live in CH and always could see the antennas from my house. I also saw the tower tumble back in the 90's as I was sitting on my roof that morning...took me a few moments to realize what happened...
 
While Channel 11 moved from East Fort Worth to their (then) "Tallest Tower in Texas" at Cedar Hill in 1964, it wasn't until about 1970 that Channel 13 was added to that tower.

Did Channel 39's tower collapse a previous time? I seem to remember as a kid watching the Bozo Show when it was KDTV that they were on low power for quite a few months.
 
I lived in Arlington back in 1976-1978 and recall four to five at Cedar Hill back then. That would have been three very tall towers and one of two shorter towers of about 500 feet or so. Dose any one know for sure
about how many towers were standing at the Hill back in 1976?

KXTX has some major transmitter problems back in 1977 and was on low power for several months during
that period. Their Klystron failed and they had problems obtain another one for some reason. This is when the
station was owned by the Christian Broadcasting Network, aka CBN. I was in contact with one of the KXTX
transmitter operators at the time and inquired about the signal problems.
 
I live near a broadcast site for a local AM station, what is the difference in a single antenna and a multi antenna array? What are the effects of living near a tower site for a long period of time?
 
MikeShannon914 said:
That was the tower accident that knocked KYNG (and others, I would bet, but just don't remember) off the air for quite a while. KYNG's Young Country format temporarily moved to sister station KEWS 94.9, which was not doing well at the time...and that sealed KEWS's fate. By January, 1997, 94.9 was traded for 1190, and I believe that's when The Word began broadcasting at 94.9.
Click to expand...

Actually, KEWS was doing very well. (I worked there) The problem was that the owner of KEWS (I can never keep it straight: Infinity or CBS or both) had to sell one FM frequency after the merger. Infinity/CBS put out word that all their FM stations were available and accepted bids. (ABC made a play for Young Country) The only one that made sense was Salem's bid for KEWS with the 1190 frequency thrown in. Before the tower fell, the folks at KEWS had been told the station was sold and they were going to be out of a job by the end of October. (They found out a week before they were to move into their new state-of-the art studios - CBS/Infinity wouldn't have put the money into the studios if station wasn't doing well) The weekend the tower fell, KEWS had already started to transition away from 24/7 local news by running CNN Headline News all weekend. The tower falling hastened the demise of KEWS by about 2 weeks. After that, CBS/Infinity started running satellite delivered talk on 94.9 until it moved to 1190 in January 1997.

The lesson for all on this is: don't put your main and backup transmitters on the same tower like KYNG did.
Ultimately the loss in signal they had for months after they got back on 105.3 caused them to lose a lot of listeners. It probably hastened their demise as well.
 
radioguyntx said:
I live near a broadcast site for a local AM station, what is the difference in a single antenna and a multi antenna array? What are the effects of living near a tower site for a long period of time?
Click to expand...

AM stations use multiple towers if they want to limit or expand coverage in certain directions. Sometimes they have to "protect" an adjacent frequency so they will null their signal in the direction of that station. Or they may expand the signal in more populated areas, and cut coverage to rural areas. An example would be KFXR 1190 who uses 4 towers during the day but 12 towers for nighttime coverage. It has a null toward San Antonio to protect 1200 WOAI, among other augmentations to its pattern. See for yourself: http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=KFXR&service=AM&status=L&hours=N

A single tower will put out an omnidirectional signal on AM. More towers, more directivity.
 
Lancer said:
I remember Bill Mack giving the current time or temperature "on the hill" back in the good ole days. I've been to the old WBAP studio on Barnett & it had a nice view of Fort Worth off to the west.

The Cedar Hill antenna farm is also a cool sight to see, especially if you have a good camera.
Click to expand...

I had a job assignment in Dallas or maybe Plano that time back in 89 or so and decided to go out to WBAP one night and I met Bill Mack.
He was most gracious. I'm glad I have the memory, it was a fine looking radio station. Must have been one heckuva good reason to leave that studio!
 
Bill Mack is a very nice guy, I have met him also. He always had great stories of celebrities who would come by the studio.

Ronnie Milsap drove his bus out of the studio lot & it astonished everyone - he is blind. Someone was sitting next to him telling him to turn left, brake, etc. Bill said it was an interesting ride down Oakland.

I miss hearing Swanson The Butler or Ed in the boiler room. Good clean fun.
 
Lancer said:
Bill Mack is a very nice guy, I have met him also. He always had great stories of celebrities who would come by the studio.

Ronnie Milsap drove his bus out of the studio lot & it astonished everyone - he is blind. Someone was sitting next to him telling him to turn left, brake, etc. Bill said it was an interesting ride down Oakland.

I miss hearing Swanson The Butler or Ed in the boiler room. Good clean fun.
Click to expand...

Bill is still on XM 171, along with his son Bill Mack III...
 
Just want to say thank you very much for all this very interesting bits of information about the antenna farm in Cedar Hill.

I just assumed that since it was in Cedar Hill, that it was also Broadcast Hill.

Appreciate all the replies.
 
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