C
chrisalcorn
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Just wondering what they are using the old tower for in Garrard County??
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It's my understanding they are dismantling it.
jb_ky said:
Nope, it's a big one built around 1986 when the station signed on the air. WDKY had operations at the tower site back in the day. The WDKY tower is like the WAVE tower in Oldham County, it puts out a great signal but useless over the target. The location required a separate antenna for over the air reception. WUKY moved there in the nineties giving the station a big signal but required a translator in Lexington to overcome shortcomings. Eventually WUKY moved back to Clays Ferry and WDKY also relocated there.
If I remember correctly, WJMM (when they changed frequency from 106.3 to 99.3 [later to 99.1] was briefly on the WDKY tower. Coverage was terrible, so they moved to the Brannon Road tower site in Northern Jessamine County where 102.5 and 95.3 (and later, 107.1) are located. More recently, WJMM has moved to the old WLEX TV tower. WJMM was not on 99.3 very long before switching to 99.1.
jb_ky said:
Wouldn't reach Lexington proper. Plus they already have the analog tower with a tenant.
It's for sale. A cool mil and a quarter will get it.
Hope they don't dismantle it. That tower can be put to GOOD use. Same goes for the old WAVE tower.
KYradioJake said:
Each tower produce amazing results, but neither can serve their respected metro. As mentioned the WDKY tower strobes are seen on the south side of Lexington where the elevation is highest. But the distance is a handicap when the other signals are within five to ten miles. If the tower is used for broadcast television a separate antenna is required. WDKY added a fourth direction when pointing an antenna. Since WLEX moved to WTVQ's tower and WDKY moved to Clays Ferry over the air reception requires only two antennas these days.
WAVE's tower was twenty years too late. If they constructed that tower in 1970 along with an combiner to add the other signals Frankfort might still be part of the Louisville TV market. By the time it was built Frankfort was part of the Lexington TV market and most viewer had cable and later satellite. Plus, like WDKY's tower WAVE's new tower an additional antenna was required.
A similar situation happened when WBIR Knoxville attempted to expand their signal to Southeastern Kentucky and Southwest Virginia. The original plan was to build a tower atop a mountain. Their competitor WATE found out and purchased available land atop the mountain. What land they couldn't acquire WATE convinced those owners a broadcast tower would look bad atop the mountain. The owner of WBIR overcame the challenge and built a tower at the foot of the mountain and achieve the same height allowed on the construction permit. The tower was the tallest structure in the world for a brief moment. However, that tower required a separate antenna and couldn't cover the western part of the TV market. A few years later WBIR moved back to their original site. The tower still stands today as the former WBIR-FM didn't move back with WBIR and is still there today.
It may not be a real practical location for a TV signal, but it could be a great stick for an FM signal (provided that you could magically overcome the minimum separation requirements, etc. that plague the world of FM radio as we know it), because it's really not THAT far from Lexington (hence the fact you can see the strobes from the south side of town at night) and it could cover the entire metro (even the northern suburbs and outlying towns) quite well, and then some.
KYradioJake said:
It had two FM's on it at one time, WUKY and WJMM. But each stations spent only a few years on the tower and moved because of the elevation of south Lexington reeked havoc. Despite the height the distance was a handicap when overcoming that ridge. If you remember WUKY had a translator on 92.1 during that time as to help cover Lexington. It doesn't help when 92.9, 94.5 and 98.1 are blanketing 100kw over everything within New Circle Road. The coverage area on paper looks great but reality is a different story.
...drifting slightly off topic.......
Channel 62 returned to the air as WLKT. It was on the air for less than a year around 1988. IIRC their tower was in eastern Fayette County or western Clark County and was over 1000 feet tall. The tower was dismantled after the station signed off. Does anyone remember the details of the location and height?
Channel 62 returned to the air as WLKT. It was on the air for less than a year around 1988. IIRC their tower was in eastern Fayette County or western Clark County and was over 1000 feet tall. The tower was dismantled after the station signed off. Does anyone remember the details of the location and height?
I remember WLKT. I don't think the tower ever got to 1000 feet, but it WAS in NE Fayette County near the landfill if I remember right. Seems I remember it got to 400 or 500 feet....maybe. Studios were in a strip center on New Circle Road East of the Railroad overpass on the Northside. They had a lousy/snowy signal at my home in SW Lex where I had a rooftop antenna on a rotator. They were never well funded and offered fifth-rate programming... The end came suddenly as I recall, when they had a staff meeting one afternoon when everyone was told to clear out within the hour. Lights out WLKT... A low power Ch 62 came along a few years later, but it never went anywhere, either...
KR4BD said:
Thanks. Even though I was around the area I don't remember much about the technical details. The only place I could receive WLKT well was on the fifteenth floor of Keene Hall at EKU.
Channel 62's return to the air took forever due to a fight over the license. By the time they did fire up the transmitter WDKY had a couple of years to gobble up revenue and programming. The audio and video quality was pale compared to the other stations. One thing I do remember revolved around their STL. The dish was just high enough to make the transmitter site built on a well made tower atop the store front studios. But gusty wind and other factors produced intermittent results. Engineers added residential grade tower to the well made tower to add about fifteen to twenty feet of height.
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