WTVR TV Tower
WTVR TV Tower is located in the United States
WTVR TV Tower
General information
TypeSteel lattice television tower
LocationRichmond, Virginia
Coordinates37°33′59″N 77°28′34″W / 37.56639°N 77.47611°W / 37.56639; -77.47611
Completed1953
Height257 m (843 ft)

The WTVR TV Tower is 257 m (843 ft) tall a free-standing lattice tower in Richmond, Virginia.[1] It broadcasts WTVR-FM and has been in operation since 1953.

History

WTVR tower looking directly up from its base

Upon completion in 1953, the tower became the tallest in the United States[2] and the second tallest lattice tower in the world after the Eiffel Tower and only surpassed in height by five buildings; the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, 70 Pine Street, 40 Wall Street & the GE Building.[3] It was a substantive increase from previous tallest towers of any type built in the United States, the NSS Annapolis. It remains to this day the tallest man made structure in Virginia.[4]

The tower is currently only used by WTVR-FM. Even though WTVR-TV and WTVR-FM still share the same WTVR call letters they are no longer affiliated with each other and are under different ownership. WTVR-TV no longer broadcasts from this tower. WTVR-TV shares a transmitter with PBS member stations WCVE-TV and WCVW. WTVR-TV stopped transmitting from this tower during the analog to digital conversion in 2009.[5] The tower is still called the WTVR-TV tower because of its history, despite no longer broadcasting from this tower. On November 1, 2017, iHeartMedia announced that WTVR-FM, along with all of their sister stations in Richmond and Chattanooga, would be sold to Entercom due to that company's merger with CBS Radio.[6] The sale was completed on December 19, 2017.[7] The tower is considered part of the Richmond skyline and can be seen for several miles around. WTVR-TV's West Broad studios is located directly next to the tower. The station used a graphical version of the tower in its news opens for several years in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Stations

Radio

Currently only WTVR-FM transmits from WTVR Tower.[8]

CallsignFrequencyFormatOwner
WTVR-FM98.1Adult contemporaryEntercom Communications

See also

References

  1. "WTVR TV Tower - The Skyscraper Center". Skyscrapercenter.com.
  2. "WTVR-TV Studio Transmitter, Richmond | 130636 | EMPORIS". Emporis.com. Archived from the original on July 2, 2020.
  3. "The World's Tallest Buildings 1960". Tudl0867.home.xs4all.nl.
  4. "Richmond | EMPORIS". Emporis.com. Archived from the original on July 3, 2020.
  5. "TV Query Result : WUDW-LD, VA RICHMOND". Transition.fcc.gov. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  6. "Entercom Trades Boston & Seattle Spin-Offs To iHeartMedia For Richmond & Chattanooga - RadioInsight". Radioinsight.com. 1 November 2017. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  7. "Consummation Notice". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. December 19, 2017. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
  8. "TV Query Result : WTVR-FM, VA RICHMOND". Transition.fcc.gov. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
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