Photo courtesy Skanska.
The Society of Broadcast Engineers’ auction of the remaining elements that were part of the Alford Antenna atop the Empire State Building raised $7,549 for its engineer scholarship fund.
Bud Williamson, the chair of the New York City-based SBE Chapter 15, said that the auction of the antenna bays was a success. The auction was conducted in the second-half of April. All proceeds will go to the SBE Ennes Educational Foundation Trust.
The winning bidders are in the process of either picking up or arranging shipment of their prizes now and all bays have been paid for, Williamson said. Each element weighs approximately 100 lbs. and is 56 inches in length and 33 inches across.
Every bay that was auctioned by the SBE received bids. Two additional Alford elements were also located, bringing the total that were auctioned to 16.
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Sixteen is also the total number of FM stations that at one point broadcast from the Alford master antenna atop Empire, which was originally installed in 1965. It originally had 32 elements. The Alford was converted to an auxiliary antenna in 1990 and was decommissioned in 2019.
