More than 15 years after it carried its last transmission, the RTÉ radio tower at Ballycommon, County Offaly, Ireland, was dropped on July 26. Local news site Laois Live has video from three angles of the tower demolition.
The 296-meter-tall (971 feet) tower was installed in 1973 and used to carry the Irish public service broadcaster’s 567 kHz medium-wave service, taking over the service from RTÉ’s medium-wave transmitter in Athlone, County Westmeath, that originally opened in 1933. RTÉ ended its medium-wave services in March 2008, and the tower had been unused since then.
It was the tallest radio tower in the Republic of Ireland and the second-tallest on the island behind Arqiva’s Strabane tower in Northern Ireland.
The controlled demolition of the mast, considered a local landmark along the Grand Canal connecting the River Shannon to Dublin, was recorded by RTÉ. According to a 2021 call for tenders for the removal project, the mast structure, guy wires, insulators, steel anchors and fencing are to be recycled, but the tower’s concrete base will remain in place.
Once the pieces of the demolished tower are removed, a new 48-meter-tall (157.5 feet) tower will be constructed to support broadband services in the region.
