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Miami/Fort Lauderdale WQAM 560, old tower in Biscayne Bay

A

alok

Why did WQAM 560 Miami move out of Biscayne Bay, they were right near The Miami Hearld Building, in the water. Looked impressive!
What year did they move?

The area today, I am pretty sure this was "the mount" the tower was on, near the 15th Street Bridge, (West Venetian Causeway Bridge), looks like the old Miami Hearld Building is gone too, I recall that was right on shore to the right.

Street View · Google Maps
 
alok said:
Why did WQAM 560 Miami move out of Biscayne Bay, they were right near The Miami Hearld Building, in the water. Looked impressive!
What year did they move?

The area today, I am pretty sure this was "the mount" the tower was on, near the 15th Street Bridge, (West Venetian Causeway Bridge), looks like the old Miami Hearld Building is gone too, I recall that was right on shore to the right.

Street View · Google Maps
Click to expand...
WQAM was on Virginia Key as the primary site as of 1985, but I can't say for certain if that was the year they moved from the Herald site.

I've read over the years the Herald site remained active as a backup site for a time and may have also had FM antennas on it as well (not sure of those were backups or simply abandoned.) I'm sure there people better versed on the history on this board.
 
alok said:
Why did WQAM 560 Miami move out of Biscayne Bay,
Click to expand...
You got my curiosity going on that one.

You are correct about the footing for the old tower. There's a fan site with pictures and history of the old tower.


WQAM History

History of WQAM
www.560.com

Storz Broadcasting sold the station in 1985 to Sunshine Wireless.

They apparently moved the tower to Virginia Key in 1988, and then moved from there in 2019 when the lease ran out.

radioinsight.com

FCC Report 12/29: WQAM On The Move

AM Changes Entercom Sports "560 The Joe" WQAM Miami has applied to relocate from its tower site on Virginia Key
radioinsight.com radioinsight.com

When Storz sold the AM, it was combined with WKQS (now WKIS), so that was probably when the tower moved.
 
WQAM was combined on the same tower at Virginia Key I believe as WKAT 1360. It had nothing to do with the sale and everything to do with signal loss from the new high rise buildings which sprang up surrounding the tower behind the Miami Herald Building. Today 560, 1360, and 1450 share a tower on NW 71st Street in Miami.

Old timers may remember the old NW 71st Street site once belonged to WOAH (1220) later was home to WLTO (1220) WCMQ (1220) and WOCN (1450).
 
Mike Sheridan said:
Old timers may remember the old NW 71st Street site once belonged to WOAH (1220) later was home to WLTO (1220) WCMQ (1220) and WOCN (1450).
Click to expand...
My first memory of the WQAM tower behind the Herald was on a 1962 visit to WFAB which was just up Biscayne. My second memory was in early 1964 when I visited WQAM's studios in the McAllister on Flagler at Biscayne and met Todd Storz just a few days before his untimely death.
 
Here is what I learned, it looks like they (WQAM) had no choice, they had to move the transmitter site out of Biscayne Bay, my guess is they are revitalizing the area? Even the old Miami Hearld Building is gone today, which was right near the tower site.
This per a technical person at the station.

Now, if you look at "historical aerials", the tower seems to be there to about 2013/16, in some pictures you can only see a shadow from the sun of the tower but from 2013/2016 on it looks gone.

below is historical aerials website address . . . enter in MIami, FL , then choose the area on map (may have to move to the right of map pix, to the Biscayne Bay) locate area between Venetian Way West Drawbridge and the Trooper Robert G. Smith Bridge (on the westside of Biscayne Bay, you'll note tower location in water (even though it is gone today), again westside of Biscayne Bay) . . . now choose aerials and the year/s desired.

Historic Aerials: Viewer
 
alok said:
Now, if you look at "historical aerials", the tower seems to be there to about 2013/16, in some pictures you can only see a shadow from the sun of the tower but from 2013/2016 on it looks gone.
Click to expand...

According to this, it was demolished in 2015:

WQAM Tribute - The Storz Years

This is a tribute site for WQAM Radio in Miami, Florida during the period of the Storz Broadcasting ownership 1955-1980, the glory years of Top 40 radio.
www.560.com

1952-1988 (Demolished in 2015)Pedestal in Biscayne Bay between Venetian and MacArthur Causeways380’ Lehigh self-supporting vertical radiator
Click to expand...
 
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