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KLTV Off Air

C

Chuck

Early reports say that the KLTV transmitting tower fell this morning. No word about injuries or damage, but if it is true, it can't be good news. Hopefully, nobody was hurt or killed. In any case, the station is off the air this morning.

My thoughts are with our friends at channel 7.

Chuck
 
> Early reports say that the KLTV transmitting tower fell this
> morning. No word about injuries or damage, but if it is
> true, it can't be good news. Hopefully, nobody was hurt or
> killed. In any case, the station is off the air this
> morning.
>
> My thoughts are with our friends at channel 7.
>
> Chuck
>
No mention on their website. Very bad timing with Sweeps underway. The other stations stand to pick up viewers. Hopefully NO one was injured in this mishap.
 
> > Early reports say that the KLTV transmitting tower fell
> this
> > morning. No word about injuries or damage, but if it is
> > true, it can't be good news. Hopefully, nobody was hurt
> or
> > killed. In any case, the station is off the air this
> > morning.
> >
> > My thoughts are with our friends at channel 7.
> >
> > Chuck
> >
> No mention on their website. Very bad timing with Sweeps
> underway. The other stations stand to pick up viewers.
> Hopefully NO one was injured in this mishap.
>
Just saw a press release on their website stating no one was injured (thank God), and their analog transmitter was undamaged. Engineers are trying to dismantle it and move it closer to Tyler to try and partially restore their OTA signal. Right now only Cox Cable subscribers are seeing them.

Sucks to have it happen this close to the Super Bowl.<P ID="signature">______________
"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity." - Robert Heinlein

dan</P>
 
> > > Early reports say that the KLTV transmitting tower fell
> > this
> > > morning. No word about injuries or damage, but if it is
>
> > > true, it can't be good news. Hopefully, nobody was hurt
>
> > or
> > > killed. In any case, the station is off the air this
> > > morning.
> > >
> > > My thoughts are with our friends at channel 7.
> > >
> > > Chuck
> > >
> > No mention on their website. Very bad timing with Sweeps
> > underway. The other stations stand to pick up viewers.
> > Hopefully NO one was injured in this mishap.
> >
> Just saw a press release on their website stating no one was
> injured (thank God), and their analog transmitter was
> undamaged. Engineers are trying to dismantle it and move it
> closer to Tyler to try and partially restore their OTA
> signal. Right now only Cox Cable subscribers are seeing
> them.
>
> Sucks to have it happen this close to the Super Bowl.
>
The station is scheduled to carry the Super Bowl on Sunday afternoon. Cox Cable in the Tyler area continues to carry the station's programming, and newscasts will be available online.
 
> >
> Just saw a press release on their website stating no one was
> injured (thank God), and their analog transmitter was
> undamaged. Engineers are trying to dismantle it and move it
> closer to Tyler to try and partially restore their OTA
> signal. Right now only Cox Cable subscribers are seeing
> them.
>
> Sucks to have it happen this close to the Super Bowl.
>
If they can salvage the transmiter, they may be able to move it to their old tower on The Loop near Highway 31. I think there is still an antenna in place on the tower. It would sure beat no signal at all.

And they just got their full power HD feed running from their Hawkins tower site. It was looking great.
 
> If they can salvage the transmiter, they may be able to move
> it to their old tower on The Loop near Highway 31. I think
> there is still an antenna in place on the tower. It would
> sure beat no signal at all.
>
> And they just got their full power HD feed running from
> their Hawkins tower site. It was looking great.

Any idea on the signal quality from the Tyler tower site we can expect?
 
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcon...s/stories/020406dntextylertower.6869b18f.html

800-foot TV tower collapses near Tyler

11:37 AM CST on Friday, February 3, 2006
Associated Press



TYLER - An East Texas television station was off the air Friday morning after its transmission tower collapsed in a rural area.

Tyler ABC affiliate KLTV is the only VHF television station in that part of East Texas.

No injuries were reported, but the collapse took down the station's analog, digital and high-definition antennas on the tower.

The station's Vice President and General Manager Brad Streit said in a statement that the 800-foot tower collapsed about ten miles north of Tyler about 7:30 a.m.

The weather was cloudy but tranquil at the time, and Streit said no cause has been determined for the collapse.

Streit said there was no apparent damage to the transmitter building next to the tower, and efforts are being made to move transmitting equipment to the station's downtown Tyler studios in the hope of using a shorter tower as a temporary solution.

The station is scheduled to carry the Super Bowl on Sunday afternoon. Cox Cable in the Tyler area continues to carry the station's programming, and newscasts will be available online.

On Thursday, Raycom Media completed its purchase of KLTV and 14 other stations from Liberty Corp.









> Early reports say that the KLTV transmitting tower fell this
> morning. No word about injuries or damage, but if it is
> true, it can't be good news. Hopefully, nobody was hurt or
> killed. In any case, the station is off the air this
> morning.
>
> My thoughts are with our friends at channel 7.
>
> Chuck
>
 
> On Thursday, Raycom Media completed its purchase of KLTV and
> 14 other stations from Liberty Corp.

Wow! Raycom buys the station on Thursday and the tower collapses on Friday. Is that incredible bad luck for Raycom or what? Especially with the Super Bowl in 2 days.

****
2/3/2006
PRESS RELEASE FROM KLTV
KLTV’s main broadcast tower collapsed this morning. The tower is located in the rural community of Red Springs, approximately ten miles north of Tyler . The tower was approximately 800 feet tall.
The structure carried the main analog, digital, and High Definition signals for KLTV, Channel 7. No one was hurt when the tower fell. People living nearby said they heard the sounds of the metal collapsing just before 7:30 a.m. The cause of the incident is under investigation.

Only subscribers to Cox Cable can currently see KLTV programming.

KLTV Vice President and General Manager Brad Streit says, “It is too early to tell what impact the loss of our tower will have on our programming schedule for the next few days”. Streit went on to say, “KLTV is scheduled to broadcast ABC’s coverage of the Super Bowl this Sunday. “Our hope is that we will be able to find a temporary solution to this problem and we are looking at other alternatives for carrying our TV signal.”

KLTV’s analog transmitter which was housed in a building next to the tower does not appear to be damaged. Engineers are dismantling the transmitter this morning and preparing to move it to a smaller tower near downtown Tyler . If the transmitter is still working, KLTV’s broadcast signal could be partially restored in the next few hours.

The KLTV tower at Red Springs was approximately 25 years old. In late 2005, workers installed KLTV’s new Digital and High Definition TV antenna on the tower.

KLTV is owne d by Raycom Media of Montgomery , Alabama . Raycom currently operates 53 TV stations in the United States . Engineers from other Raycom stations who have had experience with similar tower problems are being flown by Company jet to East Texas to assist KLTV.

***End of press release***

It's speculation at this point as to the cause, but I am sure that the investigation will look hard at the work that was done on the tower a few months ago when the digital antenna was installed.
 
> > If they can salvage the transmiter, they may be able to
> move
> > it to their old tower on The Loop near Highway 31. I
> think
> > there is still an antenna in place on the tower. It would
>
> > sure beat no signal at all.
> >
> > And they just got their full power HD feed running from
> > their Hawkins tower site. It was looking great.
>
> Any idea on the signal quality from the Tyler tower site we
> can expect?
>


Their stick in east Tyler is only about 400 feet AGL, IIRC. Chuck may know more about it.<P ID="signature">______________
Failure to plan on your part doesn't constitute an emergency on my part.</P>
 
> Any idea on the signal quality from the Tyler tower site we
> can expect?

That's going to depend on lots of variables. IIRC, the tower is about 400' and has their original RCA Bat Wing antenna on it. In the old days, you could pick it up OK in Henderson, Tyler Jacksonville and Longview. Of course, in those days, everyone had an outside "East Texas Special" antenna mounted on a telephone pole in the back yard. Rabbit ears didn't do the job.

When they switched to the new tower, it was a big improvement. They may not be able to run at their authorized power either. Moving a huge transmitter is a really big job, and connecting it to the old transmission line may not be as easy as it sounds.

The good news is any signal they can get on the air can probably be rebroadcast by the various cable companies as well as DirecTV and DISH network. A lot of people get their TV that way. Less and less people are dependent on OTA sources.

I think KVNE FM was also on the KLTV tower. Maybe they can also move to the old KLTV tower. I think they were there at one time.
 
> It's speculation at this point as to the cause, but I am
> sure that the investigation will look hard at the work that
> was done on the tower a few months ago when the digital
> antenna was installed.

Perhaps it couldn't stand the additional weight load, despite what engineering and structural calculations were made.

I suppose vandalism can't be ruled out yet, but anyone stupid enough to think about doing such a thing is not going to be smart enough to actually pull it off. It's happened with much smaller radio towers, but I've never heard of a TV stick falling victim.
 
> > It's speculation at this point as to the cause, but I am
> > sure that the investigation will look hard at the work
> that
> > was done on the tower a few months ago when the digital
> > antenna was installed.
>
> Perhaps it couldn't stand the additional weight load,
> despite what engineering and structural calculations were
> made.
>
> I suppose vandalism can't be ruled out yet, but anyone
> stupid enough to think about doing such a thing is not going
> to be smart enough to actually pull it off. It's happened
> with much smaller radio towers, but I've never heard of a TV
> stick falling victim.
>

Either that, or it was a victim of age.....KLTV did say the tower was about 25 years old....

And KLTV has just posted the first pictures of the wreckage on their website.
 
The AP statment is wrong. The tower is 1000 feet not 800 feet.
It was topped with a Stacked VHF Hi antenna system with a total antenna height of 78 feet.
 
The feedline could be in shotty shape, however you can run a decent sized coax up the tower to get a low powered signal back on the air in less than a DAY.

Some companies (Like PCI ) have all kinds of emergency parts on hand including antenna harnesses and feedline parts to get a station back on the air.
 
> > > It's speculation at this point as to the cause, but I am
>
> > > sure that the investigation will look hard at the work
> > that
> > > was done on the tower a few months ago when the digital
> > > antenna was installed.
> >
> > Perhaps it couldn't stand the additional weight load,
> > despite what engineering and structural calculations were
> > made.
> >
> > I suppose vandalism can't be ruled out yet, but anyone
> > stupid enough to think about doing such a thing is not
> going
> > to be smart enough to actually pull it off. It's happened
>
> > with much smaller radio towers, but I've never heard of a
> TV
> > stick falling victim.
> >
>
> Either that, or it was a victim of age.....KLTV did say the
> tower was about 25 years old....
>
> And KLTV has just posted the first pictures of the wreckage
> on their website.
>
I believe that tower went online in late 1984 or early 1985. I worked in master control and production at KLTV at the time, and was part of the crew that moved the transmitter from the old airplane hanger out to Hawkins. The engineering staff, led by Butch Adair, had everything ready to go. We signed off at 10:30 after the news on a Friday night, disassembled and loaded it all into trucks, then reassembled at the new site. We signed on, on-time, at 7 a.m. Saturday morning.

(Just a few weeks later, again on a Friday night, we lost control of the transmitter during a storm, just as we signed off for the night. A dish on the studio-transmitter link was bent. Another all nighter. I made a dub reel of the Saturday commercials. The production manager lined up a c-band dish we could use to receive ABC. My roommate and I drove a live truck to the transmitter to serve as a temporary switcher. With Butch in the lead again, we got it all ready, but signed on about 20 minutes late that Saturday morning. Barry Hanson (now the East Texas angler) made a live announcement about the reason for the late sign-on. Then we operated for several hours from the live truck while the engineers fixed the STL.
 
> The AP statment is wrong. The tower is 1000 feet not 800
> feet.
> It was topped with a Stacked VHF Hi antenna system with a
> total antenna height of 78 feet.
>

KLTV's direct statement confirms the 1,078 tower height....
 
> > > It's speculation at this point as to the cause, but I am
>
> > > sure that the investigation will look hard at the work
> > that
> > > was done on the tower a few months ago when the digital
> > > antenna was installed.
> >
> > Perhaps it couldn't stand the additional weight load,
> > despite what engineering and structural calculations were
> > made.
> >
> > I suppose vandalism can't be ruled out yet, but anyone
> > stupid enough to think about doing such a thing is not
> going
> > to be smart enough to actually pull it off. It's happened
>
> > with much smaller radio towers, but I've never heard of a
> TV
> > stick falling victim.
> >
>
> Either that, or it was a victim of age.....KLTV did say the
> tower was about 25 years old....
>
> And KLTV has just posted the first pictures of the wreckage
> on their website.
>
In 1977, the KSLA Channel 12 tower near Shreveport sustained what was later described as structural failure. An inquiry determined that excessive strain generated by a "galloping guywire" overcame the tower's resistance to swaying motion created by the alternate tightening and loosening of one or more guy cables that developed standing waves along the length of the cables.

The investigation of the KLTV incident will prove intriguing. Small comfort to the station, though, , words of this nature, in such a moment.
 
> In 1977, the KSLA Channel 12 tower near Shreveport sustained
> what was later described as structural failure. An inquiry
> determined that excessive strain generated by a "galloping
> guywire" overcame the tower's resistance to swaying motion
> created by the alternate tightening and loosening of one or
> more guy cables that developed standing waves along the
> length of the cables.
>
> The investigation of the KLTV incident will prove
> intriguing. Small comfort to the station, though, , words
> of this nature, in such a moment.
>

I don't know if I would call it a small comfort.....after all...they're facing rebuilding a tower from scratch and replacing millions of dollars worth of equipment (most likely it was insured, I'm guessing.)

Unless they can get full power from another tower immediately, which is doubtful, those of us who are stuck with getting KLTV OTA may have a long wait. I predict that it'll take KLTV until at least April or early May to get fully back on-air to the level that it was before the tower collapse.
 
> I believe that tower went online in late 1984 or early 1985.
> I worked in master control and production at KLTV at the
> time, and was part of the crew that moved the transmitter
> from the old airplane hanger out to Hawkins. The
> engineering staff, led by Butch Adair, had everything ready
> to go. We signed off at 10:30 after the news on a Friday
> night, disassembled and loaded it all into trucks, then
> reassembled at the new site. We signed on, on-time, at 7
> a.m. Saturday morning.
>
> (Just a few weeks later, again on a Friday night, we lost
> control of the transmitter during a storm, just as we signed
> off for the night. A dish on the studio-transmitter link
> was bent. Another all nighter. I made a dub reel of the
> Saturday commercials. The production manager lined up a
> c-band dish we could use to receive ABC. My roommate and I
> drove a live truck to the transmitter to serve as a
> temporary switcher. With Butch in the lead again, we got it
> all ready, but signed on about 20 minutes late that Saturday
> morning. Barry Hanson (now the East Texas angler) made a
> live announcement about the reason for the late sign-on.
> Then we operated for several hours from the live truck while
> the engineers fixed the STL.

Those were the days.....back before cable TV was widespread and fiber-optic delivery of programming to the cable headends.....and ABC on C-Band....I remember those days...my family had a C-Band TVRO for 17 years (it got hit by lightning about 4 years ago, and ever since then we've had DISH) and ABC was one of the network feeds I watched the most (if I recall correctly, they had been started using satellite delivery about a year or two before the late tower had signed on) before they scrambled all the network feeds in the early 90s.

But going back to KLTV and the first tower incident you described....these days it's much more simpler than how you described it. It's just a sign of how much technology has changed in the last two decades.
 
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