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

["terry_wood" <terry_wood@prodigy.net>]

Rod, your mistaken, that was WHEB 750 AM that burned in the 60's and it was
WBBX 1380 that provided the studios and other amenities so that WHEB could
get back on the air ASAP.   I believe that they were able to save the 750
crystals so that they could get the transmitter back on in less then a week
----- Original Message -----
From: Roderick O'Connor <rjoc@webtv.net>
To: <boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 08, 2000 3:20 PM
Subject: When a station in ME burned down..and some iced up


> 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..."
>