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

[SteveOrdinetz <steveord@wavewizard.com>]

At 03:20 PM 2/8/00 -0500, Roderick O'Connor wrote:
>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.

 
At 05:35 PM 2/8/00 EST, DonKelley@aol.com replied:
>I thought it was WHEB, not WBBX that burned down.  Someone hit a wire and
the 
>fire spread through the gap above the dropped ceiling.
>


Sounds like WHEB...they were/still are at the Portsmouth traffic circle.




>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)
>


I think all that was around back there was the AM antenna (we're talking
WHEB, here)...that one came down a few years ago if I'm not mistaken when
the AM went dark.

As far as how 1380 could co-exist with WFEA on 1370...WFEA is VERY
directional north-south...a pretty tight figure 8 that follows Rt 3/Everett
Tpk and I-93.




>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..."
>
>
>