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Tower down

H

Horns

Guest
One of the AM towers by Lake Seminole was knocked down by a construction crew Sunday night. The tower pretty much fell on itself, but damaged the transmitter building. New homes are being built under the towers. It is the tower site for WWBA 1040 am, but also the site for the Greek station on 1520 AM. I think that's the tower that fell, because that station was still off the air as of Tuesday. The tower was pretty tall, about 500-600'.
 
I dont notice any difference in 1040's signal here in Sarasota. Will have to drive up and take a picture
 
I was with two engineers doing some work at another station after they got 10:40 back up. IIRC, they said WWBA is running 1kw, ND-daytime for the time being. I'm not sure what they're running at night. The issue with 1520 was with the transmitter.
 
I heard 1520 on the air yesterday with a weak signal in Pinellas Park. They had some guy doing a talk show at noon, he said he was naked and doing the show from Hillsborough Community College and you could go to a web site and see him doing the show naked. :eek: About a year ago, I drove through this neighborhood of over-priced homes in a flood zone and couldn't believe they were building directly under the towers. I told my wife, "somebody is going to hit something and bring one of these towers down one day."
 
That wasn't Geoff Charles doing a talk show naked, was it? He was famous for doing that on WNWS 790 (now WAXY) in Miami. -- Jason
 
Speaking of down towers... old 102.5's is HX.

Speaking of downed towers... the old 102.5 tower (650') in east bradenton (off 27 Street East - Across from Pirate City Complex ) has been taken down. Where the base & guy wires were are new condos almost completed...This is the one used when Ted Rogers owned both WQSA am-1220 and WQSR 102.5 FM... Jimmy Grant was the Chief engineerback then, and while I worked @ WBRD/WDUV about a quarter of a mile away, we were always amused at how often THEY got knocked of the air with lightning, and the DUV didn't... Bobby Nelson put the antenna about 3 feet BELOW the tip of the tower, then grounded the hell out of the tower, so IT (the tower) took the hit rather than the antenna.... They figured the loss in signal from the 3' was well worth the the added lightning protection...later...walt- bradenton
 
...and yet even more tower news. CC's Gandy Bridge towers replacement's are almost done. The south tower is done and they began work on the north tower this week. Smaller and sleeker I suppose. :D
 
Does anyone know which stations use which towers at Lake Seminole. There's a small self supporting tower (looks like a cell phone tower) with no antennas on it but a fence around it so I assume it is part of a directional pattern. Next there's a regular tall AM tower near the old/studio transmitter building. Then, the tower that fell with a building that looks like a transmitter building that took a hit from the fall. Finally, there's another tall AM tower near the water's edge with a building under it. Radio-Locator shows both 1520 am and 1040 am use this site. I was wondering which station uses the tower that came down. 1520 was off the air for a few days and still has a very weak signal, even a few miles from the transmitter site.
 
IIRC, the middle tower, and the tower nearest the small tower--along with the small tower--are part of WWBA's nighttime array. I got some clarification on the 1520 issue. Apparently, they were diplexed on the tower that came down. The engineer I worked with on a job with later that day, told me they had to move 1520's transmitter to another tower, but had some high VSWR problems. I think they may be on at reduced power now.
 
I went and saw the site where the downed tower was. I cant believe Genesis allowed this construction without taking care of their towers. There are NO fences around the guy anchors. The ground system has been all torn up by retention ponds. The wood fences around the towers are not secure, and there are holes in the fences, and all kinds of vegetation growing up around the towers. These towers and guys are in backyards and are a real mess. This site is begging for an FCC visit. WBRD in Bradenton just got nailed a big fine for the fence issue around the towers. This one is asking for a hit. I expected to see this site much better maintained.....
 
sbe1, as an ex-engineer, I agree with you. I went by the site a few months ago and ask in the real estate office. The lady said, "those towers are going to be moved soon." I became obvious she was just saying what someone had told her to say. She said, "the guy who owned a small radio station made a bunch of money by selling the land for houses and now he is going to move the towers." Yeah, right. If they were going to move (I don't think either station has a CP) they wouldn't have spent the money to re-do the guys for that first taller tower to the north.The place is a mess and those folks payed too much money to live in the middle of an RF field.It was the first time I'd ever seen a fallen tower, in person. (I've seen pictures) The twisted mess was really something to see for someone like me who spent about 10 years putting up towers and working around them.
 
I also took a look at the site today. It's been about 3 years since I was back there and wow... I can't believe what I saw. For those who haven't been back there or haven't been in sometime.... the road used to dead end at the old studio building with only that 1 house to the south. Now I see they've basicly added a few more north/south streets right THROUGH THE TOWER FIELD, with some homes built directly under the guy wires. SBE is right, that site is ripe for an FCC visit. It would seem to me that investing in simply some new fencing and maintence would be more than worth the price than dealing with the results of an FCC visit. As for the people who are buying those homes.... they must have been given some BS story concerning those towers. NO WAY would I ever buy at those prices with a 500' tower next to my driveway or guy wires criss-crossing above my property. And even if I bought with the intention of the towers remaining, the very least I'd demand is some new fencing and paint for them. And speaking of those guy wires, they're awfuly close to the roads and I'm wondering if a truck clipped one which brought the tower down. They must have taken the tower away because the only thing left was the little shed where I believe it stood.
 
I can see them have a real problem getting a building permit to put the downed tower back up. The new nimbys in that subdivision will complain to high heaven that those towers are unsafe and could fall on their homes. KFI a 50 kw blowtorch class 1A in Los Angeles lost it's tower a couple years ago when an airplane hit it and they still are fighting to get a permit to put another back up.... I just hope whoever caused the tower to fall, has plenty of liability insurance. It is going to be expensive. WGUL has a similar tower situation in Safety Harbor off McMullen Booth Road where the streets in an industrial park wander through the near field. At least everything there is properly fenced.
 
Billalm,I saw the story on Bay News 9 the evening it happened. I went down and looked at the site the next day. At the house across the street (not one of the new houses, looks like it has been there for some time) they had a front-end loader/tractor and were doing some lawn work. It appeared on the video on TV that he just backed into the guy wires. That must've been one hell of a "woops!" That tower came straight down on itself. The next day, there were still guy wires everywhere. It is amazing one of those guy wires didn't kill someone. The tower didn't come down as a section or two. It looked like a bowl of spaghetti, amazing how all of that steal could just twist and fold.
 
I saw this article in the Times Wednesday and I'm wondering if it's about this WWBA tower. It doesn't say anything about it being a radio station tower, the owner being Genesis, or even if this is the same location. However, it's Seminole and everything about it sounds exactly like what happened with this tower. Did this happen twice in the same area? And... it sounds like it someone is in big trouble. Check the article out here:http://www.sptimes.com/2006/05/24/Neighborhoodtimes/Story_of_tower_turns_.shtml
 
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