Channel 8 ( Poland Spring, Portland,ME ) WMTW, Mt. Washington transmitter site story

[alok]

This mountain top has been in the news recently with the cold weather back east,

This is a good story, I hope you all enjoy. Click on the two bold character sentences in story for even more pictures.

Channel 8 moved off of Mt. Washington in 2002 as you will learn.

This is a far cry from when I did transmitter maintenance at KQED Ch. 9 San Francisco, at Sutro Tower for my last 15 years at the station (15 of 31 years).

I recall my first job in TV, in Bakersfield our transmitter site was half-way up the mountain at about 3500 feet, but two other stations were all the way at the top (around 7500 feet) and used snow cats in the winter.
Bakersfield sites were remote controlled by then (early 70's) but prior to that the two sites at the top (about 7500 feet) had engineers living up there.
At Sutro if you were at the studio and you had transmitter trouble, it was a "quick ride" from the studio up Market Street in SF to Sutro Tower!

again, I hope you all enjoy this,

WMTW's history on Mount Washington

Al

 

[Kemosabe]

Marty Engstrom served as WMTW's engineer and weatherman atop Mt. Washington for 38 years.

'Marty on the Mountain' talks about years atop New England's tallest peak

When you talk about WMTW Channel 8 and Mount Washington, the one person that comes to mind is Marty Engstrom, also know as Marty on the Mountain.

www.wmtw.com

 

[alok]

I got curious and found that to this day there are at least 2 FM stations still transmitting from Mt. Washinton, WHOM 94.9 and WPKQ 103.7.
You see what looks like 3, maybe 4 FM (???) transmitting antennas, 2 for sure are WHOM & WPKQ.
Don't know about 3rd or 4th, if I am seeing them correctly???
I noted on FCC website that these two stations might have 2 each, individual antennas on different towers, maybe as backups. I might be wrong on this but just a thought per coordinates of one particular station and other info on FCC site for these two stations.
maybe the old Channel 8 antenna is still up too ???

at the the top in 2011 per google . . . use your mouse to move around

Google Maps

the cog train that can get you to the top, as well as driving a car to the top,

Google Maps

Al

 

[Oldie919]

AFAIK.......there is no TV equipment left on the summit.....
The original Alford antenna and the RCA Pylon have been gone for some time now...
Power for the transmitters now comes from "below the top" --- no more huge diesel generators on the "Rock Pile"!!
RE; the FM antennas....unless someone else has claimed the "high ground", WHOM and WPKQ are still the only 2 FMs there....
Given the summit weather --- it's a safe bet that BOTH FMs have backup equipment!!

 

[Mikey Radio]

This mountain top has been in the news recently with the cold weather back east,
This is a good story, I hope you all enjoy. Click on the two bold character sentences in story for even more pictures.
Channel 8 moved off of Mt. Washington in 2002 as you will learn.
again, I hope you all enjoy this,
WMTW's history on Mount Washington
Al

I remember the hoopla when "Marty on the Mountain" retired, and the fact that he was a minor celebrity for his weather reports from the transmitter site, delivered in a rather dry manner with a strong (somewhat odd) accent, and then his bright smile that he quickly flashed at the end.

What I didn't know before reading this article is that the entire WMTW Channel 8 facility was abandoned in 2002 and was completely destroyed by a fire about a year later. Here's a post with more details about the fire, along with some before and after photos of the facility:

Mt Washington Fire

 

[boiseengineer]

When the generator overheated and caught fire it also burned the adjacent WHOM facilities.

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

I don't understand why some stations on mountains that are so inaccessible in Winter don't have Auxiliary facilities that are more accessible. Some stations have moved off of accessible towers that they still own, to inaccessible locations, but haven't kept an AUX there, which would easily cover their COL and surrounding area and not extend their 60 dBu contour.

 

[Kelly A]

I don't understand why some stations on mountains that are so inaccessible in Winter don't have Auxiliary facilities that are more accessible.

Because that means the coverage is different to potentially some important communities or drive time routes. Management doesn't like that.

Some stations have moved off of accessible towers that they still own, to inaccessible locations, but haven't kept an AUX there, which would easily cover their COL and surrounding area and not extend their 60 dBu contour.

Usually because of additional cost.