When a station in ME burned down..and some iced up

[rjoc@webtv.net (Roderick O'Connor)]

I recall in the late 60s when WBBX-1380 Portsmouth NH burned down. It
was reported 
in the Cape Cod Standard Times; I was in High School and when we went up
to ME for a weekend family trip a few days later, I could see the
remains from along Rte.1 near the Portsmouth circle, although the towers
were still standing. 
I presume they're the same towers in use to this day.  (I wonder how
they were able to get so close to WFEA-1370)

Speaking of TV towers falling in ice storms,
I do remember the two days well. It was March 23/24, 1984, when an ice
storm was coating much of central Maine; although the coast escaped most
of it.

I was on two-weeks leave between getting transferred from Hawaii to
Alaska. (My 20+ years in the Coast Guard literally took me to all 4
cormers of the US) I had just driven my car from Cal. across country to
leave it at my folks, then living on Cape Cod.
Since I had my land here in SW Harbor, ME 
I came up to visit friends and survey my plot,, was listening with great
interest to the weather reports and ice storm warnings on radio. Then
came the news of towers collapsing. The frst tower to go was Channel 7
on Black Cap Mtn. That was followed a couple of hours later by the Ch.5
tower at Dixmont, just off Int.95.
Two nearby FM towers also took a beating. The 100-foot WWMJ 95.7 tower
on Bald Mountain in Dedham (Just off US Rte.1A between Bangor and
Ellsworth) iced up bad, and the chunks of ice kept falling onto
transmitter shed, forcing their engineer to hole up there for a day or
two, according to a write-up in the Ellsworth American at the time. (I
saved it, but who knows where it is now)   Also the then-WPBC 92.9 (now
WEZQ) tower located right next to he WVII Chan.7 site on Black Cap
collapsed, as I recall..I believe it also collapsed again during the 98
ice storm. To this day WVII's antenna is as tall, if not taller than the
supporting tower is, judging from the last time I hiked up there this
past spring. 
I believe MPBS's WMEB-TV Ch.12 survived both the 84 and 98 ice storm OK.
WLBZ TV Channel 2 tower on Ryder Peak in East Holden probably doesn't
have much of an ice problem. They're one of the "stubbiest" TV towers in
New England, A self-supporting structure only about 75 feet high, with
two old-fashioned "Bat-Wing"antennas adding about another 50
feet..Actually, It's a pretty cool site to look at. You used to be able
to drive right up to it; but not anymore, as the road is overgrown and
gated at the entrance. And it's rather tricky to find, as it certainly
doesn't show up well, unless you know here to look, and there are no
warning lights on it. 

And when did the huge WCSH TV Tower in Sebago Maine tumble down because
of ice? was it 1990?

Now to really show my age does anybody remember when Hurricane Carol in
1954 blew down the WBZ-TV Tower in Allston? 

....Just thought I'd throw my three-bits' worth.

Rod O'Connor
Southwest Harbor, Maine
Former Morning Host/PD 
KMXT FM/TV
Kodiak Public Broadcasting
Kodiak Island Alaska
..."The Gateway to the Aleutians..."