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

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

No, the AM tower still Stands Tall in the Salt Marsh.  It was the old FM
antenna that came down.....It was replaced with a much taller Antenna
Behind the Shopping Center next Door.
----- Original Message -----
From: SteveOrdinetz <steveord@wavewizard.com>
To: <boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 09, 2000 12:33 AM
Subject: Re: When a station in ME burned down..and some iced up


> 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..."
> >
> >
> >