The incident took place near Morgantown West Virginia. Authorities say one person is dead after a a Hawker Beechcraft BE90 struck a radio tower in Coopers Rock State Forest and crashed. West Virginia Public Broadcasting reports to the local Television station that one of its radio towers was hit and the antenna at the top is gone. The plane went down7.5 miles east of Morgantown. The incident took place on Friday.
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Showing posts with label Tower. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tower. Show all posts
Monday, June 25, 2012
Plane Hits Radio Tower. One Dead
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Cause of Death Still Unknown in Tower Death
12-28-2011
The dangerous work of tower climbing was put in the spotlight this week when 61 year old Nick Rouskey of Cape Coral Florida died while changing light bulbs near the top of an 800 foot tower. His death is still being investigated and now rescuers are discussing how difficult it is transporting a body in such a situation. Bonita Springs Florida Firefighter Greg Dewitt and five others made up the team involved in bringing Rouskey's body down 700 feet. Rouskey told ABC-TV in Fort Myers "It's nerve-racking, but you've got a job to do. Firefighter Chris martin told the station "I know if it was my family member I would want someone to do the best job they could of getting him down."
With the tower swaying, firefighters carefully untangled Rouskey's harness and started lowering him to the ground. It took four hours to bring Rouskey's body to the ground. Rouskey's grandson watched as rescuers worked to bring his body down. Official cause of death will not be known until the autopsy results are released.
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Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Another Tower Death. This One in Boston
The radio and TV tower is located on Chestnut Street in Newton, near Interstate 95 and its reported the man fell 500 feet to his death. American Tower issued a statement saying it is "deeply saddened" by the man's death and has suspended work at the site pending a full review. The company said it is cooperating with authorities investigating the accident. The man was part of a subcontractor's crew placing a new antenna pole and safety ladder. He said he did not know how high the man was working when he fell at about 1 p.m.
Monday, September 19, 2011
MS Station Hit With $10K Fine Over Tower Lighting
September 13, 2011: The FCC's Enforcement Bureau has issued a $10,000 forfeiture order to Taylor Communications, licensee of WOXD-FM/Oxford, MS, saying Taylor did not report a malfunction in the lighting of an antenna structure, and also failed to make a public inspection file available when agents requested it.
In 2008, the bureau's New Orleans office responded to a complaint of violations at the antenna structure. Agents who inspected the 328-foot tower found that, 90 minutes after sunset, none of the tower's red obstruction lights were working.
The next day, agents went to the main studio with WOXD's president and its chief engineer and asked for a look at the public inspection file, but the station was unable to find it; the station president alleged that the file had been stolen by a former employee. The engineer said he knew the tower lights had been out since a lightning strike about six weeks before, but said he didn't think the FAA needed to be informed since a taller tower nearby was lit. The agents told the president and engineer to notify the FAA immediately, and the station president said tower lighting repairs had already been paid for and parts ordered.
The New Orleans office in November 2008 issued a $13,000 notice of apparent liability to Taylor Communications, $3,000 of that for the tower problem and $10,000 for the missing public inspection file. Taylor responded with a request that the forfeiture be reduced or canceled.
Taylor said in its response that it called the published local number for the FAA before the inspection, but the number was not in service, and pointed out that the FCC agents had no local number for the FAA other than the non-working one. Based on Taylor's good-faith effort to comply with the rules, the bureau reduced that part of the forfeiture to $2,500.
The bureau declined to let Taylor off the hook for the missing public inspection file, but reduced the remaining forfeiture to $10,000 from $12,500 based on the company's history of compliance with FCC rules.
In a separate matter, the FCC has denied a petition for reconsideration filed by Mt. Rushmore Broadcasting, license of three stations in Rawlins, WY. Mt. Rushmore was issued a $17,500 forfeiture order in 2008 for failing to ensure EAS readiness at KRAL-AM and KIZQ-FM and for various other violations.
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Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Harris Artifact from WTC Tower to be Dedicated in Quincy
The City of Quincy will dedicate a memorial to the victims of 9/11 featuring a 15-foot long, 7,000-pound steel structure that was part of the antenna tower located on World Trade Center Building #1. This structure supported a TV broadcast antenna that was designed and manufactured by Harris at its Quincy plant, still home to Harris radio and TV transmission manufacturing operations. Earlier this summer, Harris participated in the commemorative September 11 event that brought these artifacts to Quincy.
Mayor John Spring of Quincy, Il, will lead a 9/11 Remembrance and Dedication Ceremony Sunday from 3-5pm, to be attended by first responders, community leaders, news media, the public, and executives from Harris Corporation and its Broadcast Communications Division.Mayor Spring will also present a selected World Trade Center artifact to Harris representatives in recognition of the company?s direct support to the broadcasters of New York City prior to and following the tower collapse on 9/11. The artifact will be on loan from the City of Quincy for public display at the local Harris manufacturing facility.
The artifacts were housed in an 80,000 square foot hangar at New York?s John F. Kennedy?s airport, which contains a portion of the items recovered from Ground Zero. Quincy City Engineer Jeff Steinkamp, a former Harris employee, applied on behalf of the City of Quincy to receive the piece from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the agency charged with the distribution of 9/11 artifacts. Steinkamp was involved in the mechanical design work for the antenna when he was with Harris.
?When Jeff asked if Harris would be interested in the city?s effort to erect a memorial, I knew this was an effort we needed to support,? said Rex Niekamp, value engineering manager for Harris Broadcast Communications. ?I recall watching television that day with co-workers ten years ago, watching the twin towers collapse and the thousands of lives lost. Gaining composure and immediately going to work to get the NYC broadcasters back on the air became a focused priority. To place my hands on an artifact that is an actual piece of the antenna that was fabricated, assembled and tested in Quincy by Harris personnel is very moving.?
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Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Day 4. Man Still on Tower
This picture is courtesy the FOX 23 TV website in Tulsa. The 25-year old man is on the Clear Channel tower just outside the TV station's building. The man climbed the tower on Thursday night and as of last night Clear Channel staff in Tulsa confirm the man is still on their tower. Police say the man has a history of mental health problems and made it about two-thirds of the way up the tower near the Clear Channel Communications studios in a rain-and-lightning storm shortly after 11 a.m. Thursday.
"He doesn't seem to want to talk to us or come down," Tulsa Cpl. Daisy Vallely was quoted saying on TV this weekend. On Thursday a Special Operations Team member climbed the tower and left a plastic bag with a cell phone and water. The man retrieved the bag and climbed back up. He spoke to police on the cell phone until the battery died. Negotiators are now hollering back and forth with the man.
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Monday, July 25, 2011
GM's Responsibilities For Tower Fencing?
Earlier this week a North Carolina station was slammed with a $25,000 fine for inadequate tower fencing. WGTM-AM compounded the tower problem when station officials were unable to provide a public file during an FCC inspection. In his weekly "Ask The Attorney" column John Garziglia answers says the rules on tower fencing are very easy to understand.
"The FCC?s rule on fencing for AM towers is clear and unequivocal. An AM tower, assuming that it has RF potential at the base, must be either fenced or otherwise restricted from public access. Because AM stations often have wood rather than metal fencing around a tower for engineering reasons, the fencing can be subject to deterioration if not maintained. Missing boards, gaps in fencing, and gates that no longer lock, are all issues that can create potential FCC forfeitures and other liabilities for AM stations.
Simply put, if a member of the public without too much effort can get through a fence and access an AM tower, the fencing is insufficient and the station is risking an FCC fine and civil liability. The FCC puts the onus on the radio station to protect members of the public from doing something stupid like walking up to an AM tower and grabbing it while standing on the ground.
For FM stations, RFR exposure levels often dictate required fencing around a tower to protect members of the public from RFR exposure limits from being exceeded. For both AM and FM stations, perimeter fencing, in lieu of a fence around each tower, is allowable under the FCC?s rule provided that the perimeter fencing truly restricts public access to the towers.
How often should the tower fence be inspected? Tower fences are a matter of public safety. A tower fence must be inspected as often as it takes to insure that it continues to have integrity, that the gates are locked, and that the public is affirmatively restricted from access to broadcast towers.
For more columns from John that can help you manage your station CLICK HERE
John F. Garziglia is a Communications Law Attorney with Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice in Washington, DC and can be reached at (202) 857-4455 or jgarziglia@wcsr.com. Have a question for our "Ask The Attorney" feature? Send to edryan@radioink.com.
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Friday, June 3, 2011
WDAY Fargo Suffers Tower Damage After Storm
All three WDAY-AM 970 towers have been damaged after a storm in Fargo, North Dakota. The station signal is only available via stream at http://www.wday.com/ and it's unknown when the over-the-air broadcast will be up again. One tower was snapped, a second tower another completely collapsed and a third twisted and damaged. The towers will have to be rebuilt and the insurance company is already involved in that. Read more about the situation HERE
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