 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Wolfe Island Tower Sites |
|
|
|
By Ben MacMurchy |
|
|
|
Only three days after that horrific event in American history, Paul and I drove down to Kingston for a peek at some of the city's radio and television transmitter sites. The day's visit was abbreviated, as Paul had to be back in Belleville that afternoon, so all we could bring you were some shots of the sticks on Wolfe Island, just south of Kingston. |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
This thousand-foot stick is a familiar sight to Wolfe Islanders, and border-crossing motorists. It's the CKWS-TV (11) tower, but this one has only been here for a few years. Why?
In January 1998, during the famous Ice Storm, CKWS' then forty-year-old 870-foot tower fell to the ground under the weight of nearly eight-inch-thick ice. Channel 11 was off the air until engineers quickly installed a temporary antenna on the roof of the station's downtown studios, whose signal only covered Kingston proper. The current thousand-footer went into service shortly after. (I don't know the actual date, but I know it was in operation in early May.)
CKWS began broadcasting in December 1954, from a 400-foot tower northwest of Kingston, at Camden East. The transmitter site moved to Wolfe Island in 1958, with the old 870-footer.
Over the years, CKWS has added three rebroadcasters: channel 66 in Brighton, west of Belleville; channel 26 in Spencerville, near Brockville; and channel 36 in Smiths Falls. CKWS operates regional news & sales offices in Belleville and Brockville, and carries a regionalized news supplement on the Brighton rebroadcaster, as well as on cable in Belleville.
Early in 2002, some changes were made to the FM tenants of the CKWS site. Kingston's K-Rock 105.7 (CIKR-FM) was given permission to increase power from 4 kW to 24 kW from the CKWS tower, while WS' sister Country 96
(CFMK-FM 96.3) got the green light to drop power from 50 kW to 17 kW. |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
When we arrived at the site, we didn't see this transmitter building, shown during CKWS' sign-on sequence. Instead, we saw a small shack with no identification on it. It's most likely that the transmitter building was replaced at the same time the new tower went up.
I would have included some pics of the collapsed CKWS tower, but the website that held these photos isn't online anymore. |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Here are four of the six towers (five of seven if you count the STL) of talker by day, oldies by night CFFX (960), on the northwest shore of the island. What surprised us about this site is the fact that there is no fence around it... we actually drove up to the transmitter building! Paul joked about walking up to one of the towers, but we didn't want to take the risk of a) trespassing, and b) frying ourselves with RF. I snapped the picture, got back into the car, and moved back to snap all six towers seen below.. |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Finally, we got a quick look at the four-tower array of the legendary CKLC (1380), now a member of CHUM's "The Team" sports network. This site is east of Marysville, on the road to the winter dock for the Wolfe Islander III ferry. In a Canadian Communications Foundation article on the history of CKLC, when the station increased power in the 1960's and asked for reception reports, they only got a few from north of Kingston, but many from the States. Why? The engineer did his math wrong, and directed the signal down into the U.S. instead of north into Canada.
No close-up of the sticks, though, as CKLC's site is well back of the road, and well-fenced, too.
Driving back from K-Town, we tuned in most of the stations carrying the Parliament Hill memorial service for the victims of the New York/Washington terrorist attacks.
Paul & I hope to bring you many, many more sites this summer, if we get the chance.
|
|