WSKY-TV Has Tower Woes

By Doug Lung
published

Preparing for the DTV transition hasn’t been easy for station WSKY-TV, which is licensed to Manteo, N.C. A story by Philip Walzer in The Virginian-Pilot describes the incredible series of problems WSKY-TV faced getting its new tower constructed. This past March, the tower collapsed into the new transmitter building, narrowly missing the transmitter. Last month, one of the subcontractors for the company hired to construct the tower finally finished the work.

For details on the WSKY-TV saga, see Sky Television sues over toppled tower.

Here are some of the problems Walzer described. Tower Innovations failed to order guy wires, according to Sky Television, causing a two-month delay. When the tower fell, it was “months behind schedule”. A suit by WSKY-TV against Tower Innovations said the foundation, “was woefully inadequate to provide even a fraction of the resistance necessary to hold the 300,000-pound tower erect in modest winds, let alone under hurricane-force wind loads.” According to the article, the contractor hired to build the replacement for the tower that fell couldn’t afford to rent a crane to continue the work because Tower Innovations owed it over $270,000 for past work.

Here’s hoping your DTV transition tower work in 2008 goes more smoothly!

Doug Lung
Doug Lung

Doug Lung is one of America's foremost authorities on broadcast RF technology. As vice president of Broadcast Technology for NBCUniversal Local, H. Douglas Lung leads NBC and Telemundo-owned stations’ RF and transmission affairs, including microwave, radars, satellite uplinks, and FCC technical filings. Beginning his career in 1976 at KSCI in Los Angeles, Lung has nearly 50 years of experience in broadcast television engineering. Beginning in 1985, he led the engineering department for what was to become the Telemundo network and station group, assisting in the design, construction and installation of the company’s broadcast and cable facilities. Other projects include work on the launch of Hawaii’s first UHF TV station, the rollout and testing of the ATSC mobile-handheld standard, and software development related to the incentive auction TV spectrum repack.
A longtime columnist for TV Technology, Doug is also a regular contributor to IEEE Broadcast Technology. He is the recipient of the 2023 NAB Television Engineering Award. He also received a Tech Leadership Award from TV Tech publisher Future plc in 2021 and is a member of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society and the Society of Broadcast Engineers.