Broadcast Towers Fall Over July 4th Weekend

[Gregg Lengling]

Two TV broadcast towers collapsed over the 4th of July weekend, one in Omaha, Neb. and the other in Rockland Ill.


KETV channel 7 in Omaha lost its 1,200-foot tower on July 4.The tower was located at 72nd and Crown Point in Omaha. KETV's Web site, The Omaha Channel reported in an article by Shiloh Woolman Details: KETV Tower Tumbles--Still No World on Why Tower Feel) that KETV was "upgrading the tower with new HDTV technology." It also reported that no one was injured when the tower fell after 11 p.m. Friday, July 4. The article includes pictures of the tower on the ground. Another article from the same author, KETV Tower Topples--Tower was Being Upgraded to HDTV said "crews had been working to install HDTV technology to the tower since May 30."


KETV was replacing its single channel RCA TW-15 antenna with a new dual band UHF/VHF Dielectric TUV-32GTH antenna. KETV is currently on the air from a shorter auxiliary tower at 27th and Douglas Streets. The article quoted KETV news director Rose Ann Shannon saying that as of Friday night it wasn't yet clear how long it would take to clear the debris and rebuild.


WIFR, CBS affiliate channel 23 in Rockford, Ill., lost its 731-foot tower in a storm early Saturday morning, July 5. The line of strong thunderstorms contained microbursts of winds gusting up to 80 MPH. In addition to the WIFR tower collapse, power lines were downed and windows broken.


More details are available at the WIFR Web Site. The article WIFR's Broadcast Tower Down said the tower collapse did not cause any injuries, but left it unable to transmit. The article contains numerous pictures of the downed tower. WIFR was able to get a signal to Insight Communications, the local cable company, about 12 hours after the tower collapse.


An update Channel 23 WIFR Update by Andy Gannon later said "It will be a least two weeks before we will be able to reestablish a signal to non-Insight Communications subscribers."