"flamethrowers"

[Eli Polonsky]

> > Here's an important question about flamethrowers. What
> > happens to a flamethrower if the tower they're on should
> > fall to the ground? Does the station get to rebuild back to
> > grandfathered status, as long as it's the same site and
> > height of tower, or do they lost that grandfathered status
> > and end up having to comply with the current rules and the
> > maximum power allowed for a specific area?
>
> Since a CP to rebuild facilities damaged in an accident does
> not negate the original license, they would be able to
> rebuild at the same location using the licensed ERP.

That happened up on Mt. Washington a couple of years ago. There was a fire that destroyed (or damaged) the WHOM antenna and/or transmitter. They operated at reduced power from a backup site for a short time, and then were back at their previous full power when repairs were finished.

 

[Les]

frightening inspiration

> As far as the FCC is concerned, yes they can. And AMs have
> different rules than FM anyway (the original question was if
> a grandfathered FM with a higher ERP than presently allowed
> could rebuild after a tower fall).
>
> The problem KFI is having, as I understand it, is with local
> permits to reconstruct the tower.


So somewhere out there is an Electromagnetic Radiation freak
who wants to make his environment pure. So he goes out and
cuts some guys on the tower that so offends him. The tower
falls and he leads the NIMBY opposition to it ever being
rebuilt. Or, if truly dedicated, steals a light plane and
flys into it......

If he survives either effort and is apprehended his defense
is automatically that he was saving countless lives from
cancer, real or imagined, by ridding the world of a major
source of pollution. Since KFI is in California, in the
9th Federal Circuit, I could see the potential for
inspiration in this whole mess. But there are NO environmental
terrorists reading this board, right?

Or maybe we need a federal law that pre-empts local permitting
processes for instances where a tower is felled by disaster,
natural or man-made???
<P ID="signature">______________

Due to continuing underwhelming popular demand...</P>

 

[peppertree]

Re: frightening inspiration

Or, if truly dedicated, steals a light plane and
> flys into it......
>

I don't think he would fly into a tower. It is much easier to use a remote control "drone" to do the job. <P ID="signature">______________
[email protected]</P>

 

[miamimadman]

WMC FM Memphis-400 Thousand Watts

WMC (99.7 FM, known as "FM 100") serving the market of Memphis, Tennessee. The station is notable for being an FM "superpower," with a transmitter that greatly exceeds current Federal Communications Commission restrictions. Of stations in the FCC's Zone II, WMC is the most powerful. The station is operated by Infinity Broadcasting, which is owned by media giant Viacom.

Taking beam tilt into account, the station's effective radiated power is rated at 300,000 watts horizontal polarization and 100,000 watts vertical. The station's transmitter is 277 meters (909 feet) high. Current FCC restrictions were passed in 1962 and mandate a 100 kW maximum across most of the country on the FM band (though some of the more densly populated areas are limited to 50 kW). The station is calculated to exceed power restrictions by 4.6 decibels. However, WMC was grandfathered in, since it had started broadcasting on the FM band on May 22, 1947 and was upgraded to its current power level prior to 1962.

> is there a list of stations (FM) across the US that operate
> OVER 100kw anywhere?
>

 

[Eli Polonsky]

Re: WMC FM Memphis-400 Thousand Watts

> The station is operated by Infinity Broadcasting, which is owned
> by media giant Viacom.

And Viacom is part of CBS, which actually just split Viacom and Infinity into two different parts of the company, with Viacom taking the TV and Cable ends of the business, and Infinity becoming CBS radio. So technically, the radio station is no longer owned by Viacom, it's owned by CBS radio (which may also still be known as Infinity).