Posted: 05/02/07

Timber!
Mountain Lake PBS transmitter tower capsizes

Cailey McDermott | contributing writer
cmcdermott@smcvt.edu

On Wed. April 18, the Mountain Lake PBS transmitter tower fell into two pieces. The 40-year-old tower collapsed due to do a combination of built-up ice, snow and extreme winds, according to President and CEO Alice Recore.

Video still taken off the Mountain Lake PBS Web site showing the collapsed tower located on Mount Mansfield. (Image created by: Rachel Haven)

“At 7:45 a.m. everything went black and we knew something was seriously wrong,” Recore says.

Mountain Lake engineers hiked to the tower to see what had gone awry. They called the studio at 11 a.m. to say “the tower is gone.” Click here to see the video taken the day after the collapse.

On April 15, director of engineering Charlie Zarbo was on a routine mission to the mountain when he discovered the fallen tower. Zarbo says he had been trying to get the power back on after the April 14 Nor 'easter.

“We just figured we’d go out and find some fluke power line,” Zarbo says. “So we were surprised.”

The storm brought the region snow and freezing rain and it wasn't melting, Zarbo says, causing the elements to pile up.

The Mountain Lake PBS (WCEF) tower is located on a remote area of Mount Mansfield. Recore said that the tower can only be reached by a Sno-Cat, a two mile hike, or by helicopter.

Money talks

Recore says insurance will cover over a million dollars of the cost, but they are still unsure as to how they will pay for the rest - whether they ask for government assistance or try to raise the funds themselves. What won’t be covered are the helicopter transports of equipment for the new tower, or the bulldozers to clear the debris.

“It’s overwhelming but doable,” Recore says about recovering after the incident.

The devastation is especially unfortunate because in July of 2005, WCFE made the expensive switch to digitalize their station and tower.

“[Digital] is like building another television station with all the infrastructure that it requires,” Zarbo says.“It doubles the expenses.”

“Ideally we should have a new tower by September or November,” Recore says. “We are already in the planning process.”

According to Zarbo, the insurance will cover the bulk of it.

“We may have to appeal to the community or the government to try to come up with the initial funds,” Zarbo says. “It will cost us the same to operate it as before the tower went down.”

Business as usual

According to Zarbo, WCFE got back on air on a “temporary configuration” on Thursday.

“Most of the broadcasters in the market have helped in some fashion or offered assistance,” Zarbo says. “It was really quite refreshing to see; a lot of people came to our aid.”

The station is now able to reach 75 percent of its viewing audience. This is all thanks, in large part, to the support and services of WCAX, Recore says. Using a microwave link, WCAX was able to transmit WCFE to its audience.

WCFE has plans to get a low power station up and running at the station. Zarbo says with that they will be able to send their high definition signal out, which will increase their audience’s accessibility.

“It just so happens [WCAX] is digital,” Peter Martin, General Manager at WCAX says. “Therefore it was a fairly easy and simple process to upgrade the microwave link so that we could take the WCFE program feed and transmit it through Mount Mansfield.”

“When your tower falls, it’s probably one of the worst things that can happen to you,” Recore says.

Recore says it’s great to be getting so much feedback from the stations’ supporters. If the only thing that comes out of this is that we get a better communication with our listeners, it will be worth it.

“We are trying to keep business as usual for now,” Recore says, “and we are doing everything we can to do that.”