Re: [IRCA] WATO 1290 Oak Ridge, TN
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: [IRCA] WATO 1290 Oak Ridge, TN



The station even stayed on the air for the few days after the tower fell
before anyone noticed! No alarms were tripped at the main studio in
Knoxville somewhere. (WATO simulcasted with two other Horne Radio, Inc
stations, the license of WATO)

Paul Walker
www.onairdj.com


On Mon, Oct 20, 2008 at 12:03 PM, Jim Tonne <tonne@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>
> Gents:
>
> Following up on the WATO story, I have posted a new
> set of photos showing the station as of the end of
> September 2008.     FYI, I live in Oak Ridge.
>
> I took a quick look at the property a few weeks ago.  I
> was out in the back and could not see what might have
> been going on in the front of the building.  When I returned
> to the front  Bingo!  someone was parked out front and
> further the front door to the building was open  AND
> someone was there!   So I finally had a chance to
> "hear the story."
>
> The fellow was in fact David Clary, a well-known local
> radio sports guy who works for the station (actually for
> the group that owns WATO).  What luck!  He gave me a
> rundown on how there was a storm and one tower fell
> down and no one knew about it until someone went to
> the transmitter site and noticed a tower down.
>
> The transmitter site is manned during local high school
> sporting events otherwise it is remote controlled.
>
> He didn't mind at all my going inside and looking around
> and taking photos.  Mind you the building has been
> without power since a couple of weeks after the tower
> failure.  So inside it was PITCH BLACK.  I took photos
> by turning on the camera flash and pointing it where I
> thought there might be something of interest.  Then I
> would look at the display on the camera to see what
> I had photographed.  Note the Gates BC5P, a 5 kW
> transmitter which ran 5 kW day and 500 watts night,
> DA-2.
>
> The photos are posted here:
> http://tonnesoftware.com/radio/
>
> They are in a kind of chronological order, starting in
> fact prior to the failure, and right after the failure and
> then recent.  Some small amount of text, mostly
> photos of 100+  kB size.  Should be self-explanatory.
>
> - Jim Tonne
>
_______________________________________________
IRCA mailing list
IRCA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca

Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers

For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org

To Post a message: irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx