Posted on 01/11/2008 1:28:53 PM PST by HAL9000
A 2,000-foot television tower collapsed while workers were restringing guy wires, knocking a Little Rock television station off the air.KATV news director Randy Dixon said one person suffered a minor injury Friday when the tower collapsed in a field about 20 miles south of Little Rock. The station was working to establish a feed to restore its signal to the portion of its audience that obtains programming by satellite.
"We're off the air. It's a heckuva mess," Dixon said. KATV is an ABC affiliate.
What’s the problem?
If PBS is off the air, I want a tax refund.
Is it sweeps week? ;~))
Did anyone notice that the PBS station was off the air?
Wow, 2000 feet? That’s taller than the sears tower at 1451 feet.
Citizens of the local area deluged both stations with calls, telling them how much improved the programming was.
Certainly not the volunteers manning the phone lines.
Note to self: Do NOT restring the all the guy wires one side at a time.
How many of Clinton’s enemies died in the accident?
I bet people’s IQ’s went up 20 points!
And the critical question is:
How many Arkansans does it take to topple a 2000’ TV tower?
The tower did not appear and it was then that he said the Calhoun County Sheriff's Office had called in a report of a jet plane hitting our transmitter tower and it collapsing.
The station was off the air at the time...at that time, due to lightning strikes on a daily basis, this was not considered abnormal, plus there was a lot of convection in the are at that time.
Here, from the WMBB-TV archives, is the rest of that story:
May 18, 1989 at 2:03PM an Air Force F-15 clipped a guy wire at the Frink, Florida transmitter site - causing the tower, antenna and transmitter to be completely destroyed. Spartan Communications, Inc. out of Spartanburg, South Carolina purchased the station on April 12, 1990 as the construction stages of a complete new tower, transmitter and antenna installation had just begun.
Tower work is a very dangerous business. A few years ago 3000 footer in Nebraska collapsed killing the crew that was on it installing high def TV transmitting antennae
At 500 feet you’re done before you can say “Oh!” ... at 3000 feet you have time to say the whole phrase and contemplate your grim fate.
If an ABC transmission tower fell, would it make a noise?
Can you imagine? You’re working at the top of the tower and you hear, “pling .... PLING ..... TWANG!”
KATV Tower KATV Tower is a 2000 ft (609.6 m) tall TV mast (or antenna tower) built at Redfield, Arkansas, USA in 1965 at 34°28′24.0″N, 92°12′11.0″W. Its FCC registration and other sources claim it was built in 1967, but they are incorrect; ironically, the other television tower near Redfield, the Clear Channel Broadcasting Tower Redfield, also has an incorrect construction date on its FCC registration.It was the second tallest structure in the world, after the KVLY-TV mast in North Dakota, when it was built; it is now tied with 15 other 2000-foot masts, all built after it, as the fifth tallest structure in the world (sixth counting the submerged Petronius Platform).
In addition to the analog and digital transmitters of its namesake KATV, it also hosts the analog transmitter of KETS, the flagship station of the Arkansas Educational Television Network; its digital transmitter is at the nearby Clear Channel Broadcasting Tower Redfield.
On Friday, January 11th, 2008, this tower collapsed. [1] Cause of the collapse is unknown at this point.
Nobody panic! I am sure the brainwashing of our children will more than be covered by other outlets,thats what our schools are for,to fill in at times like this to make sure we continue to disintegrate as a society at accepted levels
Update: Broadcast Tower, Tallest in Arkansas, Collapses, One Person Injured
Reported by: Stephanie Jackson, KARK 4 News Friday, Jan 11, 2008 @01:09pm CST
A contracted tower worker has minor injuries after KATV Channel 7's broadcast tower, in Redfield collapses.
Witnesses say the tower, which is the tallest in Arkansas, exploded as it fell.
KATV engineers had been working on the tower this week, but Channel 7 says none of its crew was on it when it collapsed.
The contracted worker was taken to a hospital. Police and fire crews are at the scene.
AETN's analog transmitter is also on this now fallen tower, and has been destroyed in the collapse.
AETN says it is taking steps to restore its analog broadcast signal, but the work might take several days.
Somebody needs to advise Mike Huckabee that no television towers have fallen down in Minnesota.
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