Tower fall knocks 2 stations off air
Posted on Saturday, January 12, 2008
REDFIELD — A 2, 000-foot television tower collapsed Friday afternoon in rural Jefferson County, knocking two stations off the air and sending about a dozen workers running for safety.
None of the workers, who were restringing guy wires at the time, suffered serious injuries in the collapse of the tower owned by KATV, Channel 7, the ABC affiliate in Little Rock.
“I was scrapping wire by the trailer and I looked up, and it was coming down and I ran,” said Wesley Hogue, one of the workers.
The tower was built in 1965, and at the time was considered the second-tallest structure in the world, just 63 feet shorter than a tower in Fargo, N. D.
As of 6: 20 p.m. Friday, KATV had restored service to about 80 percent of homes in the state by uplinking a signal through Equity Broadcasting in Little Rock, said Richard Farrester, director of air operations at KATV.
Service to households with Dish and Direct TV satellite networks was also restored, although residents who have overthe-air or antenna service won’t be able to pick up the station’s signal until KATV can find a temporary tower or build a new one, Farrester said.
KETS, Channel 2, a Public Broadcasting Service affiliate on the Arkansas Educational Television Network, lost its analog transmitter in the collapse, which took Channel 2 off the air for 12 percent to 15 percent of the households that rely on over-theair service.
“We’re scrambling and, of course, people are calling because of the children’s programs,” said AETN Executive Director Allen Weatherly.
For those who get KETS through cable or satellite providers, service wasn’t affected. Most of those providers rely on a digital transmitter, which is on a different tower, Weatherly said.
The base of the tower looked like a gnarled ball of orange steel Friday afternoon.
Chief Deputy Stanley James of the Jefferson County sheriff’s office said dispatchers received the 911 call at 12: 49 p.m.
“When I heard the tower collapse, I immediately thought of Sept. 11,” he said. “Thankfully, no one was injured.” He said it is unclear why the tower collapsed.
As the tower was falling, a cable wire lifted off the ground and tossed one worker into the air, although none of the workers at the scene required medical attention.
Dave Phillips, who was eating at a restaurant miles away in Redfield, said he heard the tower collapse.
“It sounded like somebody beating on a heavy can,” he said. “There was a boom. You could feel it rattle the floor more than you could actually hear it.” It is unclear how much it will cost KATV to replace the tower, a job that workers at the scene said could take at least six months.
In the meantime, Farrester said Channel 7 will try to rent tower space from Clear Channel Communications or put up a temporary tower.
Plans for the collapsed tower’s construction were approved in June 1965. The structure was to increase Channel 7 ’s coverage area to take in an additional 200, 000 viewers. The tower also put the state’s Educational Television Commission in position to begin its operations.
In 1965, a four-man crew and foreman completed the tower within a few months.
In an Arkansas Democrat story, the foreman described what it was like to work 2, 000 feet up with no safety or support belt.
“You can climb, or you can’t,” he said.
One member of the crew offered a similarly wry response when asked if there was anything in place to hold the men up.
“Yeah,” he said. “Payday.” Upon its completion in September of that year, three ABC celebrities flew in from Hollywood to help dedicate it. They were comedian Larry Storch of F-Troop, Linda Evans of The Big Valley and Ted Cassidy, who played Lurch in The Addams Family.
On Friday, Channel 7 staff members were handling the collapse as they would any other breaking news story, said Stephen McElrath, the station’s satellite operations director.
“Everyone is very task-oriented, making sure we stay on the air. It looked like a busy day in there, like something big had happened,” he said.
“Unfortunately, it happened to our own station.” Channel 7 engineer Billy Cannon had been driving the truck to Gillett’s annual Coon Supper when he got a call from the station just before 1 p.m. to return and help feed programming from the truck to Equity Broadcasting, which would broadcast it.
“Have you heard ? The tower fell !” That’s when Cannon realized that when he passed the spot where you can see the tower — well, he hadn’t seen it.
“Shows how observant I am,” he said.
Cannon turned around and headed back to Little Rock.
“I was so excited about the Coon Supper,” he said. “Another truck guy had told me, ‘Oh, it’s so good. ’” News of the tower’s collapse prompted a swift response from viewers who logged onto the station’s Web site.
One wrote “All I can say is oops, shouldn’t have cut that cable. Wow, what a story.” Another reminisced “As a kid, I remember our entire family sitting in front of the television on a Sunday afternoon waiting for Channel 7 to switch over to the ‘ 2, 000 foot tower.’ Then a couple of weeks later taking the long drive from Little Rock to Redfield to see the tower. It seemed like it took forever to actually get to the tower after we spotted it.”
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