Channel 17 Tower Article

[RoddyFreeman]

Here's a link to an article about the Channel 17 tower at 10th and Peachtree, which was recently dismantled. And since this is a radio board, I'll mention that for a long time, the tower held the antenna for 99.7 FM.

http://midtown.patch.com/articles/tv-tower-stood-for-ted-turners-early-days

 

[jabba17]

I thought the tower was originally built for WAGA-TV and WJRJ or Turner made it much taller...although how that would work with a freestanding, non-guyed tower I don't know.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

I thought the tower was originally built for WAGA-TV and WJRJ or Turner made it much taller...although how that would work with a freestanding, non-guyed tower I don't know.

When WAGA moved its tower to Briarcliff Road around 1959, the top of the original at 10th Street was sliced off. The structure then became a big WAGA ad. That was a different tower than the one later built there for Channel 17.

 

[musicfan101]

Why was it dismantled? What tower Peachtree TV using??

 

[historybuff]

Why was it dismantled? What tower Peachtree TV using??

Great article but the picture looks like a nearby cell tower and not the massive structure that just came down. The old WTBS tower was painted and it's base must have been 2 or 3 times as big as the one shown. I once worked for Eathel Holley at WNEA-Newnan. He shared many interesting stories about the tower after he had moved the WLTA 99.7 signal there. Eathel thought it's construction was far superior to some of the guyed sticks around town. He also mentioned locking into a rediculously low lease payment with Turner back in the early, pre TBS/CNN days. Apparentley that lease was transfered to Susquehanna when he sold and TBS was locked in for the next 20 years or so. Don't know all of the details or how true but Eathel did tell me that back in the early 1980's. Like many I will sure miss the tower's imposing presence over the Atlanta skyline.......

 

[trusty]

When WAGA moved its tower to Briarcliff Road around 1959, the top of the original at 10th Street was sliced off. The structure then became a big WAGA ad. That was a different tower than the one later built there for Channel 17.

That clears up one question; I THINK I remember the WAGA tower having four legs; the recent channel 17 tower had three.
(But my memory is a little foggy... 8)

 

[OgOgglby]

The pic is definitely a cell tower...not the old channel 17 tower. I think this cell tower is adjacent to the old 17 tower, though. And another minor point, towers aren't outdated technology. If you want to reach metro Atlanta with an over-the-air TV signal, you'd better have a tall tower.