According to the FCC’s latest report, ending Dec. 31, 2016, there were 15 fewer AM broadcast stations in the past year. However, there has been an increase of 1,365 broadcast stations during 2016. FM commercial stations added 45 to their ranks with the nation’s count totaling 6,746, compared to an AM station total of 4,669. (View full details below) Commercial TV …
‘Cocoon’ allows a 24-hour work day on ESB antenna installation
Empire State Realty Trust has announced another innovation at the Empire State Building (ESB) where a new project is underway to install a new auxiliary Master FM Radio antenna on its famed tower. An innovative, protective construction cocoon at the base of ESB’s antenna tower has avoided impact on day-to-day operations of the building. The cocoon extends the once limited …
Arsonist identified who tried to blow up New Mexico towers
Authorities are closer to arresting a suspected arsonist, who attempted to knock out more than a dozen broadcast towers on Sandia Peak in Albuquerque, N.M. earlier this month with many gallon-sized Molotov cocktails. Numerous local and federal government agencies are co-located on the structures or maintain their own towers. The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office has identified a suspect and has …
ERI and T-Mobile deal for crews and facilities puts 39-month repack deadline closer to being met
A partnership between Electronics Research, Inc. (ERI) and T-Mobile will give the Indiana antenna manufacturer the ability to ramp up materials and accelerate antenna production capacity by 800% before the end of the year in anticipation of the end of the FCC broadcast incentive auctions. ERI said it will begin production of antennas, and installation crews will be available immediately after …
As new tower is built following Texas plane crash, NTSB releases a report on its findings
After a tower crew on Monday set the base section of a new 815’ guyed tower for KCBD after a single engine plane crashed into and collapsed the former Lubbock Tex. structure on February 4, 2015, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) coincidentally released the findings of their investigation. The NTSB’s factual report said Doctor Mike Rice’s plane’s propeller nose …
Broadcasters will hear about the consequences of the FCC’s incentive auction
Empire State Realty Trust, Inc. will participate in a featured presentation about the incentive auction at the NAB Show Broadcasting Engineering Conference on Tues., April 19, 2016, 4:30 – 5:30 p.m. PT at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Shane O’Donoghue, Director of Broadcasting for Empire State Building, will speak on the Consequences of the Incentive Auction for Broadcasters as part …
Four-tower $75-million deal still on hold as developer grapples with NIMBY group
Update: June 24, 2020 — In a formal announcement on June 24, 2020, Cumulus confirmed that it has closed on the sale of its parcel of land in Bethesda to Toll Brothers. It’s a $74.1 million deal that is expected to generate proceeds of $71.3 million. Residents impacted by the proposed sale of a 75-acre Bethesda, Md. tract that is the home …
Successful collapse of 48 VOA towers brings back memories of a decade ago disaster
Controlled Demolition, Inc., a world-renowned demolition company, had another successful implosion Monday when it knocked down, almost domino style, 48 unused Voice of America radio towers in Beaufort County, N.C. Using 10,000 feet of detonating chord, Project Manager Tom Doud told WITN that “It was spot-on picture perfect.” But almost ten years ago another planned demolition went terribly wrong when …
A bright future predicted for wireless work by leading industry experts at NATE UNITE 2016
As three leading industry experts gazed into their crystal balls Tuesday during their NATE UNITE 2016 presentation, “The Future of the Wireless Industry,” their consensus indicated a robust build program that could last for more than a decade. However, Clayton Funk of Media Venture Partners, Christopher Fisher, Cuddy & Feder LLP; and Robert Paige, Vertical Bridge, cautioned National Association of …
Wireless workforce and supplier requirements for 2016 continue to be mostly upbeat
To project whether 2016 will be a banner, bust or somewhere-in-between year for wireless construction, and service and supplier providers, one has to simply search for the devil or angel that’s always in the details. Unfortunately, conflicting details and limited industry information clouds accurate projections. But the industry overall appears to be still creating jobs and there should be a robust …
Mt. Wilson’s iconic Poole complex acquired by InSite Towers
A deal to buy the multi-tower Poole Tower complex on Mount Wilson in California that was expected to be close to being inked in April, according to a report in Wireless Estimator, took another seven months, but finally closed last week, according to Media Services Group’s Bob Heymann, Jr. who served as the broker for Poole Properties, in announcing the …
FCC chief says his agency is allowing a flexible repacking deadline
At yesterday’s House Communications Subcommittee’s Federal Communications Commission oversight hearing, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, along with his fellow commissioners, said that the FCC would not force broadcasters off the air who missed the 39-month repacking deadline for moving to new channels. Wheeler said that the deadline was not a “drop off the edge of the table” situation, since there was …
Empire State Building to celebrate the Alford antenna’s 50th anniversary
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the antenna that stands atop of it, the Empire State Building will be lit in blue and white on Oct. 29, 2015. The Empire State Building and the Audio Engineering Society (AES), in conjunction with the Society of Broadcast Engineers, will host an informative presentation covering the technology and the techniques of the first and current …
Repacking’s effect on tower site configurations to be discussed at BTS conference
The IEEE Broadcast Technology Society (BTS) announced that James Stenberg, broadcast account manager for American Tower Corporation, will lead a technical “TV Repack” session at the 2015 IEEE Broadcast Symposium on Friday, Oct. 16, at 8:30 a.m. Taking place Oct. 13-16 at the Caribe Royale Hotel in Orlando, Fla., the four-day symposium is an annual gathering of broadcast engineers from …
American Tower topples an Oklahoma tower while its sole tenant was broadcasting
UPDATE: Sept. 25, 2015 – Dale Bolton, High Plains Public Radio’s director of programming and operations, said today that he has been informed that an American Tower Corporation representative had called another individual within his organization on Friday afternoon prior to taking the KGUY tower down the following morning for safety reasons. However, Bolton said,”They were unable to get to Guymon to …
Sabre and World Tower assist Pilgrim Communications in capturing cell site tenants
Re-engineering, new foundations and Sabre Towers erected by World Tower has set WXLW (AM) up to capture co-location dollars in Indianapolis after they complete replacing their three towers built by Bethlehem Steel in 1948. According to WXLW’s owner, Pilgrim Communications, the array will change from a 5 kW directions to 1kW non-directional. The first new tower, at 150-feet will, will …
Iconic Sutro tower’s history is provided with suppositions of ’60s backroom politics and collusion
If the legendary Mount Sutro broadcast tower in San Francisco was being proposed today it is unlikely that it would have much of a chance for approval as residents would mobilize in force to let city commissioners know of their concerns through open meetings and social media. But in the 1960s San Francisco had really bad television reception and perhaps …
Oklahoma tornado takes out a part of broadcasting and defense history
An AM tower array that was designated to be an emergency broadcast station in the event of nuclear war, collapsed yesterday evening in Moore, Okla. after tornadoes ripped through the area, causing what the National Weather Service believes to be the first tornado fatality in 2015 in Sand Springs. Two of the square KOKC Blaw-Knox 327-foot towers constructed in 1947 …
