New York's WOR (710) pulled out all the stops for the planned demolition of its former tower site in Lyndhurst, N.J., Wednesday morning. The station's top advertisers and managers were on hand at WOR's new transmitter site half a mile away to watch the three 690-foot towers come down. So were camera crews from most of the New York TV stations, and a veritable SBE meeting full of engineers from almost every other station in town.
A bureaucratic snafu kept the planned demolition from taking place, however. As crews from Northeast Towers were poised to cut one set of guy wires on each tower at precisely one minute after 10 a.m., Lyndhurst Police Chief James O'Connor stepped in and halted the demolition.
O'Connor says he was never properly notified about the demolition. He cited concerns about the safety of drivers on the New Jersey Turnpike, the western spur of which runs right alongside the demolition site.
"There are thousands of people out here who might see the towers come down and get panicked," O'Connor said.
O'Connor says no demolition permit will be issued until he's had a chance to meet with WOR management and with representatives of the media and other area law-enforcement agencies, to coordinate informational efforts and prevent any panic that might result from the sudden collapse of three tall towers just across the Hudson from Ground Zero.
WOR spokesman Paul Siebold says a rescheduled demolition date has not yet been determined.
(by Scott Fybush, Radio World)
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