Re: Impressive Broadcast Tower Sites

[dan.strassberg@att.net]

I don't think WGY ever had a Blaw-Knox diamond tower. Or 
are you saying that WGY had a uniform cross-section Blaw-
Knox tower? I think Blaw Knox may have made such towers, 
but not until after World War II, when its main AM-tower 
business was in square-cross-section self-supporting 
towers, although I think the company also made uniform-
corss section guy-supported towers. I visited the WGY 
site in the summer of 1953. Besides WGY, the site was 
home to a _bunch_ of shortwave TXs (and antennas), which 
GE operated for the Voice of America.

Although WGY was owned by GE and GE then made 50 kW AM 
TXs (one was down the road at WPTR), WGY's TX was 
apparently the same open-frame composite unit that the 
station had used from the time it increased to 50 kW. 
And the tower, which most likely still stands, was a 
665' uniform-cross-section tower originally built for 
use on 790, which was WGY's frequency immediately pre-
NARBA (March 1941).

I'd bet a nice dinner that this tower had been in use 
from whenever WGY switched from a long-wire to a single 
vertical radiator. My hunch is that tower dates to the 
1936-1938 era. I believe that Blaw-Knox was still 
selling the diamond towers in the 1936-38 era. If WGY 
ever had one, it would still have been in use in 1953--
barring some disaster. And I am unaware that there ever 
was such a disaster.

> > 8. WHAM Rochester, NY & WMBI Chicago, IL & WGY Schenectady, NY. These were 
> > also Blaw-Knox pre-WW II but bulky and straight.