N.Y. Stations Scout Tower Options
by Randy J. Stine
NEW YORK New York City radio broadcasters are
studying the feasibility of expanding the transmission facility
at the Empire State Building and reexamining the importance of
maintaining auxiliary sites since the collapse of the World Trade
Center in September.
FM stations WKTU, WNYC, WPAT and WKCR continue
their search for main transmission sites and face months of planning
to find long-term permanency. The broadcasters hope to have new
full-power transmitters in place by the end of 2002. WQCD(FM)
lost its auxiliary transmitter at World Trade Center site.
The World Trade Center’s 360-foot antenna
mast also served most New York City television stations. Six television
technicians lost their lives in the commercial jet terrorism attacks.
With the exception of WKTU, the affected radio
stations have operated on low power from auxiliary locations following
emergency installations. WKTU immediately switched to its full-power
backup on the Conde Nast building at 4 Times Square. Both WPAT
and WNYC relocated to temporary low-power transmission facilities
on the Empire State Building.
Experts said with the loss of the World Trade
Center’s master FM antenna, the availability of tower space
in New York City is limited and will likely become more expensive.
The Empire State transmission facility is considered
nearly full and the only other options – 4 Times Square,
the Alpine tower in Alpine, N.J., and the American Tower Corp.’s
Alpine location – are considered less attractive, they said.
"There is an absolute shortage now of space
that will give you the best coverage over the tri-state area,"
said Lou Libin, a 17-year broadcast engineering consultant. "There
is not one spot that has a lot of space left."
The Empire State Building does not have the
infrastructure to handle much more, Libin said. If the majority
of the affected TV stations relocate there as predicted, radio
stations may be forced to operate on reduced power while the overhaul
is being done.
"The antenna proper can handle additional
stations; the limitation is really on the hardware (combiner)
and master patch panel," said Tom Silliman, president of
Electronics Research Inc., the company that designed the Empire
master FM antenna.
"The power handling capability of the filters
is the question. As you add more stations, it increases the probability
of a failure."
The consortium of broadcasters on the master
FM antenna has commissioned a study to determine the best options
for adding more stations, said Silliman.
"It will determine whether they expand
or build a second system. The demand certainly appears to be there,"
Silliman said.
Experts said the Empire State transmission facility
remains the clear favorite to land a majority of the stations
looking for new homes. With an antenna height of nearly 1,500
feet, the ERI combiner facility on Empire is already home to 13
FM stations. Three more FM stations are on the Empire mast but
are considered independent because they are not on the ERI combiner
system.
"There are a lot of issues at Empire right
now. It’s very crowded. There are very serious electrical
supply questions to be addressed first," Libin said.
If the Empire State Building transmission facility
cannot accommodate additional stations immediately, the rooftop
broadcast center atop the 52-story Conde Nast building in Times
Square is another alternative. It was completed by Shively Labs
in 2000 and is the auxiliary site for Clear Channel’s five-station
group.
Gary Savoie, senior engineer for Riser Management
systems, a collaborator on the Time Square project, said the Conde
Nast facility likely will fill quickly, with television and radio
broadcasters scrambling to find space for both main and auxiliary
transmission sites.
The 4 Times Square master FM antenna is capable
of handling 130 kW and has room for an additional seven FMs, Savoie
said.
"They’re limited a bit by the amount
of floor space they have for transmitters on the designated floor
where the combiner is located. I think things will settle down
a few months from now, but right now there is a lot of talk about
who is going where and whether anything new will be built for
television," Savoie said.
Bob Surette, manager of RF engineering for Shively
Labs, said the Maine-based company is delivering three combiner
modules for its master antenna in the Conde Nast building.
"In addition to the Conde Nast stations,
we also have been involved with the planning and implementation
for a number of aux facilities throughout New York and New Jersey.
Many broadcasters are rethinking their aux sites and giving them
a higher priority," Surette said.
With the limited number of available transmission
site options in New York, some experts predict an eventual replacement
will be needed for the World Trade Center site.
"I think the real long-term option will
be a new site someplace," Libin said.
Those options could include rooftop installations
at the Chrysler and CitiCorp buildings in Manhattan or a new tower
in the Meadowlands area in New Jersey, Libin said.
Finding an adequate facility to handle a rooftop
antenna is not simple, Savoie said.
"You have quite a few tall buildings that
are surrounded by other tall buildings, and you have a finite
amount of buildings with the height and roof structure to handle
a master antenna," Savoie said.
"The problem is no one wants a 1,500-foot
tower in their backyard," said Mike Tocco, CE for WPAT(FM),
one of the affected stations. "I don’t expect to see
a new transmission facility built any time soon."
Another possible replacement site, the Alpine
tower site, has an antenna height of nearly 1,200 feet and sits
north of Manhattan and across the Hudson River. Engineers believe
Alpine is an inferior alternative to Empire, Tocco said.
"It wouldn’t give us the type of coverage
pattern we need," Tocco said.
For radio, Alpine serves only as the back-up
transmitter site for WPLJ(FM), he said.
Libin said New York City’s FM band is so
crowded that radio stations must seek options to give them the
best possible signal for optimum coverage.
"It’s also very crowded in nearby
markets, so you really have a daisy-chain effect. So if you find
a decent transmission spot, but not perfect, then you have co-channel
or adjacent-channel issues to deal with," Libin said.
David Groth, president of Radio Engineering
Services, said antenna location is the most important decision
broadcasters must make when building a transmitter site in the
one of the country’s most congested radio market.
"What you are dealing with is geography.
In this case it’s tall buildings. In Manhattan, you have
severe multipath distortion because of it. You have to get your
signal out over the skyline to have good coverage and to reach
the suburbs," Groth said.
He said all of New York City’s top-rated
stations are on Empire or were on the World Trade Center.
"Reception is king. People receive something
on every notch of their radio dial. The more you jump out at someone,
the more likely it is they’ll hear you," he said.
The Helmsley-Spear and the Durst Organization,
the owners of the Empire State and Conde Nast buildings respectively,
have frozen their rates for rooftop space at levels set prior
to the Sept. 11 World Trade Center catastrophe, Savoie said.
