Gusty winds that ushered in a wintry airmass damaged an FM broadcast tower in southeastern Minnesota on Wednesday.
The tower is home to three of Leighton Media’s Winona, Minn., FM stations: Class C3 95.3 KGSL(FM) and translators 98.7 K254CM(FM), which relays 1230 KWNO(AM), as well as 101.5 K268DJ(FM), which relays 1380 KHWK(AM). That’s according to Tony Abfalter, Leighton’s director of engineering.
The STL for 99.3 KWMN(FM) and 101.1 KRIV(FM) is also hosted on the tower. KRIV’s audio has since been restored, according to Abfalter, while KWMN’s audio is expected to return on Thanksgiving Day.
Mike Martin, operations manager at Winona State University’s KQAL(FM), shared the news with Radio World.
Martin said the two organizations have a friendly relationship. “They are a good friend of KQAL, in fact we rent space on one of their towers, and it saddens me to see this happen to a fellow broadcaster,” he wrote to Radio World.
KGSL and the two associated translators are scheduled to be back on the air early next week, according to Abfalter, with KGSL operating at reduced power. Leighton’s Winona AM signals are unaffected, and its broadcast streams remain online.
“We have begun developing a plan for a replacement tower and anticipate installation in early spring,” Abfalter said. He credited Leighton’s engineering team, which includes Steve Schuh, for an exceptional job restoring the signals in the short timeframe prior to the holiday.
Winona is located in southeastern Minnesota bluff country, along the Mississippi River. Sustained northwest winds of 35 to 45 miles per hour blew across the region Wednesday. Accumulating snow is expected in the area Friday night into Saturday, according to the NWS in La Crosse, Wis.
