N.Y. Radio Struck, Responds in Terrorist Attacks

Broadcasters in New York were both journalists and victims of Tuesday’s apparent terrorist attacks, which destroyed the World Trade Center.
The top of one tower housed many television facilities, and FM stations WPAT and WKCR had RF sites there as well. Both radio stations were reported knocked off the air.
Engineer John Lyons of WKTU(FM), whose own station remained on the air and is involved in RF site management in the city, said all stations with main facilities at the Trade Center were off the air Tuesday afternoon. He said those stations’ employees were “feeding hardline to cable systems, looking for facilities at other sites, speaking with vendors for emergency equipment.”
Vendors elsewhere watched anxiously for opportunities to help, but encountered the same communications problems facing the rest of the country.
“As an equipment supplier to many of the stations affected by this tragedy, we find ourselves not only in shock, but also feeling helpless,” said Tim Schwieger, president of BSW. “We are unable to ship any gear over the normal channels because there is no shipping infrastructure,.i.e. Fed Express, UPS, etc. Hopefully this will rebound quickly once the airports re-open. We stand ready to do whatever necessary to assist these stations when they call upon us.”
Journalists for radio and TV stations in New York struggled to report the news even as their own transmission infrastructures were affected and much of Manhattan was in apparent chaos.
An employee of a public relations firm in Manhattan told RW, “The sirens have been racing past our building all day long. The magnitude of this horror will really settle in tonight when we look out the window for those two golden towers.”