I think I had more fun putting together “Great New RF Installs” than any of the other 108 ebooks Radio World has published to date. Or at least as much.
Maybe it’s because broadcast towers and transmission facilities retain a romantic aura for me (which you may have sensed from the series of great tower photos we’ve been publishing recently).
The magic of “big steel” may feel even stronger for me because while I’ve been inside many radio studios, lobbies and rack rooms, I’ll never go up atop any of those really tall sticks. (No, really. … Tall buildings yes, tall steel nope.)
So it was fun to collect 14 case studies about broadcasters who have put up new towers, installed new antennas, increased power or otherwise improved their signal footprints.
I learned about one broadcaster that had its transmitter site first destroyed by fire and then destroyed again by flood only a few weeks later, as well as its determination to get back into service with a beautiful new RF plant.
I was able to publish a photo of our longtime friend (and Excellence in Engineering Award recipient) Mike Starling standing in a transmitter room, wearing summertime shorts and boat shoes, celebrating the flip of WHCP(LP) into full-power WHCP(FM) on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
I learned about a tower crew supervisor who left his mark at the project site where Audacy moved WXBK(FM) 8 miles closer to Manhattan. The supervisor is named Mr. Kitty and he left his pawprints in the concrete there.
I learned about big-budget jobs and little-budget ones. If a given project involved a massive new seven-around, two-layer panel FM antenna, the next one might have been accomplished with hand-me-down gear and a very simple RF chain. I got to talk with more than a dozen super engineers or installers. It was just fun and I’m glad to be able to share their stories.
