WSB-TV "World's Tallest TV Tower" Billboard Picture

[BarryATL]

I found this while looking at pics on website dedicated to the old Southern Airways.

http://www.southernairways.org/atl_city/wsb_tower.jpg

Was it really the tallest TV tower in the world?

 

[bpatrick]

That picture, given Channel 2's logo, has to be from
the '50s, but no earlier than 1951 because WSB broadcast
on Ch. 8 until then. That may have been the world's tallest
TV tower in the early '50s but the KTHI (KVLY) tower in
Fargo, ND, eclipsed them all by the '70s.

 

[daryll]

WRBL-TV/FM and WTVM Columbus moved to a 1,749' tower in Cusseta, GA in 1962. It also made the Guinness Book of World Records as the tallest broadcast structure in the world. Not sure who took the record from the Cusseta tower.

 

[fybush]

WRBL-TV/FM and WTVM Columbus moved to a 1,749' tower in Cusseta, GA in 1962. It also made the Guinness Book of World Records as the tallest broadcast structure in the world. Not sure who took the record from the Cusseta tower.

The 2063' KTHI-TV (now KVLY-TV) tower went up near Fargo in 1963, and held the record until 1974 when the 2100-footer in Warsaw, Poland went up. No taller tower was ever erected in the US, and KTHI/KVLY regained the world crown when the Polish tower collapsed in 1991.

 

[BarryATL]

bpatrick, I think you are right about the timing of the picture.

Scott, what caused the Polish tower to fail? 17 years is short lifespan for a tower.

 

[fybush]

When a tall guyed tower collapses, there are usually only two possible causes. One is ice buildup, the other is maintenance work, especially guy-wire replacement. The Polish tower was supposedly the latter, though I've heard allegations of sabotage, too:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_radio_mast

Back to the WSB-TV tower: if it was indeed the tallest in the world, this picture must date to its earliest days on channel 2, since much taller towers were already going up by the mid-fifties.