Who's tower is it?

[KOOL Listener Lauren]

I was on my way to the Cardinals vs. Rams game yesterday, and going southbound on Loop 101 Agua Fria, which I rarely use that stretch of the 101. You could see from the freeway, off towards the west, a Lumberyard-style radio tower. Or, I'm guessing it was.

The location was somewhere between Thunderbird and Olive. Does anyone know what I'm talking about and who's it is?

 

[oldiesfan6479]

Stumper! Unless it's an old stick that has yet to be dismantled,
or a tower for a broadcast service other than AM or FM.

Could it be the old KWAO/KMZK 106.3 Sun City tower site?
The current KOMR 106.3 site is between Castle Hot Springs
and Wickenburg, way out there NW of where you were.

If you search Sun City (AZ) on radio-locator.com...

http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bi...27&is_lic=Y&is_fx=Y&is_fb=Y&is_cp=Y&sort=freq

...there don't seem to be any stations in that general area.

The 11-mile distances are Shaw Butte, the 23s are South Mountain,
the closest site is the eight miler, but that is the three sticks of
KRUX KPXQ 1360 Glendale at 7401 West Camelback.

There are several in the White Tank Mountains (17-mile distance from
Sun City) which is more or less west of the area described, but that's
probably too far to eyeball.

 

[KeithE4]

Could it be the old KWAO/KMZK 106.3 Sun City tower site? The current KOMR 106.3 site is between Castle Hot Springs and Wickenburg, way out there NW of where you were.

The original tower site for 106.3 was in the oldest part of Sun City near 107th Ave. & Grand, in or near the shopping center on the SW corner of that intersection. It was the home of the short-lived KTPM in the early '60s, lasting maybe a year or two before KWAO went on the air a decade later from the same site.

 

[phil]

If you got to www.maps.google.com and put in 108th Ave and Oakmont Dr, Sun city and get the aerial, you can see a tall tower. Is this the tower you saw?

It could be the tower of KONC back in the 70's, then owned by Larry Mazurky, I think. The County Assessor's office shows the land is owned by a private trust.

 

[KOOL Listener Lauren]

Ah-ha! That's got to be it!

Thanks Keith and pberger. That's the one I saw. And a special thanks on the brief history of the site, too.

 

[KOHS]

KLL, You nearly discovered the undisclosed location of the Buckeye Media Hut!!!

Closed Circuit to Akbar/Jeff: Better take down the tower of your pirate radio station lest you are discovered!!! While I think year-round Christmas music is a sure-fire winner, you don't want everyone to find out the location of the Buckeye Media Hut, do you? ???

 

[DrAkbar]

KLL, You nearly discovered the undisclosed location of the Buckeye Media Hut!!!

Closed Circuit to Akbar/Jeff: Better take down the tower of your pirate radio station lest you are discovered!!! While I think year-round Christmas music is a sure-fire winner, you don't want everyone to find out the location of the Buckeye Media Hut, do you? ???

Nope...we don't have green colored gravel, a one car carport or plastic pink flamingos at the Media Hut. You must have us confused with a Sun City lumberyard. No wonder you had to drop out of your pursuit of higher media education at the Buckeye Media Hut..it's in Buckeye!!

 

[50kguy]

That is indeed the tower that was home to 106.3 for many years. It is one of the tallest free-standing towers in the state. The "transmitter shack" is actually built into the tower base, a nice piece of architectural work.

The saga of KONC in the early 90s is a sad one. A Chicago group wanted to expand its signal. Reception in downtown Scottsdale was spotty off the Sun City site. They took a two-way attack: they dropped ERP and hung a one-bay antenna off the KMLE backup site on Shaw Butte while buying the 106.3 license in Arizona City. As KONC/KONZ, they hoped to make up for the lost territory. Another move was increasing the ERP in Arizona City and building a 500-foot tower west of I-10.

None of it really worked. The 106.3 site moved from Shaw Butte to an AT&T site near Lake Pleasant after a planned site in Wittman fell through. The Arizona City license switched to 106.5 and back to its original site east of I-10 near Casa Grande. The 500-foot tower sections and a trailer that held the transmitter were stored at the 1360 site on Camelback Rd for a time.