WBUR antennas over the years

[Ron]

Thanks Eli, 

 

I seem to recall (back in the 70’s?), that WBUR had a free standing tower on campus that you could see from the street.  

 

Is my recollection correct?  What years was that in use?

 

(I recall a sign on the tower saying “WBUR-FM 90.9)

 

R

 

From: Eli Polonsky <elipolo881@gmail.com> 
Sent: Thursday, November 25, 2021 12:53 PM
To: boston-radio-interest@lists.bostonradio.org
Cc: 011010001@interpring.com; obrienron2@gmail.com
Subject: Re: 6 Bay Tower/antenna visible on Storrow Westbound near BU?

 

Yes, that's now WBUR's #2 backup site, on the BU Law building. 

 

WBUR moved their main TX from there to 1165 Chestnut St. in Newton Upper Falls (formerly known as the "FM-128" tower) in the 1990's, and then a few years ago moved it across Route 128 to the American Radio Systems tower (formerly known as the "Westinghouse Tower") on Cedar St. in Needham.

 

The 1165 Chestnut St. Newton tower is now WBUR's first backup site. If both of those sites in the Newton/Needham area (or the links to them) go down, then they go to their second backup on the BU Law building. 

 

As of 2020 (when I was one of 29 people laid off from WBUR), we were still instructed to turn on the BU Law building antenna de-icers just prior to severe winter storms "just in case".

 

EP

 

 

Date: Wed, 24 Nov 2021 11:53:35 -0500 (EST)
From: Rob Landry < <mailto:011010001@interpring.com> 011010001@interpring.com>
To: Ron < <mailto:obrienron2@gmail.com> obrienron2@gmail.com>
Cc:  <mailto:boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org> boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org
Subject: Re: 6 Bay Tower/antenna visible on Storrow Westbound near BU?

> That's a backup site for WBUR. It used to be the main site, before WBUR
got its site at 1165 Chestnut Street in Newton; in those days, 50,000
watts ERP from the old site wrought quite a bit of havoc across the river
in Cambridge.

Rob

On Wed, 24 Nov 2021, Ron wrote:

> For a number of years, while traveling west on Storrow, I see a building
> (probably on the BU campus) that has what appears to be a 6 bay vertical
> antenna on it.