[BC] Re: WABC on Columbia Island

[Dan Strassberg]

On Tuesday 12/13/2005 Mark Durenberger wrote:

I have a recording of a news story regarding that "WABC Columbia
Island" installation.  If you're interested pleez contact me off-line.

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This was of course the OLD WABC 860/880, now WCBS, which did indeed operate
from Columbia Island (originally Pea Island) in Long Island Sound, not far
from the current High Island site of WFAN and WCBS. I don't know the years
during which WABC/WCBS used Columbia Island, but I'm quite sure that use of
the site either predated or coincided with NARBA (3/31/41) and extended into
the '60s. I know that Scott Fybush can furnish at least the later date.

The WABC/WCBS tower was unusual. It was 550' high and was topped by a large
capacitance "hat." It was a rooftop installation with a salt-water ground.
How 'bout THAT? The tower was mounted atop the Tx building, which occupied
essentially the entire area of the island except for a broad sidewalk around
the perimeter. The tower was of uniform (square) cross section and each face
was so wide (could easily have been 20' or more) that the tower might have
been self-supporting. There were, however, IIRC, four guys--one from each
corner of the square-cross-section tower at a point maybe half-way up--that
ran to anchor points near the island's corners. The Island was technically
octagonal in shape but it was actually quite close to square, with the
corners cut off. A slip for the launches that ferried the engineers to the
site (no remote control in those days) jutted out from one of the long
sides.

Before the move to Columbia Island, WABC 860 had a 50-kW site in New Jersey
with a base-insulated series-fed tower (I remember seeing a photo of the
base insulator and the connections to the ground system), but I can't recall
the name of the community in which that site was located. As was the custom
with high-power stations in those days, the site was pretty far from the
COL--much farther than is the current WABC 770's Lodi location from midtown
Manhattan. I believe that the site was also substantially farther south than
Lodi--maybe near Bound Brook in central NJ.

--
Dan Strassberg, dan.strassberg at att.net
eFax 707-215-6367