I was in Midtown today and had to check out the broadcast mast on the ESB. With high powered specs I could not believe that once abandoned steeple that was built in 1931 now is home to many signals. With the TV and digets plus all the FM's and subs, there has to be over 100 signals coming out of that mast. The question is HOW, how do they do it, how can this structure support many bays ans antennas, it is a true accomplishment to the engineers who make it happen. In Philly we have many towers that have a few signals on each and I think that is the rule for most large metros. The Empire and NYC must be the only place all the signals are housed together, Kudos to the those who make it work. It is kinda scary though if that tower ever gets hit, everything OTA is gone, too many eggs in one basket, didn't anyone ever think of that. Wasn't a large antenna farm ever proposed years back on the outskirts to break up the signals, I'm sure with enough antenna height and power the signals would of penetrated Manhattan.
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ESB Mast unbelievable but true
- Thread starter Gunsmoke
- Start date
Midtown is the best place for Class B FMs and TV to reach the full market with OTA signals. Nearly 2/3 of the market is not Manhattan and the Boroughs.
To TV the location is a bit less important than the cost... since so much NY HDA viewing is via cable or satellite distribution and not OTA. For FMs, the ESB is by far the best.
Look at WPAT, which was willing to take a power cut to stay at the ESB (due to spacing) rather than going back to the location that they had pre-9/11. That's because they prefer the Midtown location for coverage.
Building a 1500' tower in the "outskirts" is not going to happen as anything that would cover the market well won't get FAA clearance, zoning and permits (think NIMBY) and finding affordable, near-in land is likely not available.
A number of markets have shared sites... most of the Miami FMs are on the Gannett tower. Chicago has half the FM and TV station on the Willis and Hancock sites where they use panel antenna systems that combine many signals in one system.
I believe that only one FM that could be on the ESB is not... WBAI. And that is due to the WBAI inability to pay the rent at the ESB. Many if not most of the ESB FMs have backups at the Condé-Nast location, also in Midtown.
The main reason why panel antennas and combiners were developed was to allow for many stations to combine sites when there were few or no alternatives. The ESB is one such site: nowhere else to go so technology was developed to allow them all to be together.
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After 9/11, there were really only two other sites of value: ESB and Condé Nast, with the ESB being superior. Prior to 9/11, some TVs and a couple of FMs were on the WTC site. The commercial FM that was there, WPAT, used the loss of the site as a way to get waivers and changes needed to stay at the ESB, which is where they wanted to be anyway.
There always is the historic Armstrong tower that still stands in Alpine NJ. I've driven past it, and there are quite a few cell antennae on it. It was a temp site for some FMs after 9-11, and now has college FM WFDU on it. I agree that everyone has determined ESB to be the best location.
The problem is that the tower is only 425 feet high, and any new occupant would likely not be on the topmost set of "arms". Since this is an 80 year old structure, I wonder if it can bear much more load, too.
It's a little too far north to get the dense areas of Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn as well as Newark and points south in NJ or even the near areas of Nassau County. To a 425 foot tower, the buildings of NYC are like a wall!
That probably accounts for the summary dismissal of a proposed "super tower" on Staten Island after 9|11.
I recall that WNBC's signal from Armstrong (a consequence of the attacks on the World Trade Center) was quite deficient in Brooklyn. At the time, channel 4 advised its OTA viewers to turn their antennas toward Alpine.
I'm just amazed that it's still there especially at a time when so many towers in populated areas are being sold and torn down.
They did think of that, and so there are aux facilities for many of the major signals. WCBS-FM has an aux at 4 Times Square, along with WNYC and WHTZ. I expect if I looked up every license in NYC, a couple have their aux at the Armstrong tower that BigA was discussing, but I can't be bothered.
I have wondered about that. The tower has historic significance, but I am afraid that the generation that sees that importance is gradually passing on...
At some point "that ugly tower" will have the same end as statues of Confederate generals.
The difference being it's on private property, not in public parks.
But remember what happened to the KFI tower in Buena Park, CA. When a plane toppled it, efforts to rebuild "as it was" failed and the replacement structure was shorter and less efficient... yet it is and was on private property.
While TV can get by with an inferior backup facility, radio can't. TV is principally distributed by other means than OTA reception. Radio isn't.
The deficient coverage of WNSH, a full Class B, shows how ineffective those secondary sites are. When we recognize that all of Long Island is in the NYC radio metro, a site west of Manhattan in New Jersey just does not serve stations well.
The Alpine site is on a different power grid than NYC. If there's another blackout it'll be a great aux site
I remember in 2003, New Jersey 101.5 was providing information about the blackout to NYC listeners in the first hour while most NYC stations were off the air. It does have a fair signal in NYC all the way from Trenton.
I remember in 2003, New Jersey 101.5 was providing information about the blackout to NYC listeners in the first hour while most NYC stations were off the air. It does have a fair signal in NYC all the way from Trenton.
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