• My Account
  • Your Profile
  • Member Archives
Monday, March 27, 2023
Cart / $0.00

No products in the cart.

Fybush.com
  • Home
  • Archives
  • Subscribe
  • My Account
  • Store
    • Cart
    • Checkout
  • About/Contact
    • Scott Fybush
    • Copyright Information
    • Privacy Policy
  • Fybush Media
  • Links
No Result
View All Result
Fybush.com
  • Home
  • Archives
  • Subscribe
  • My Account
  • Store
    • Cart
    • Checkout
  • About/Contact
    • Scott Fybush
    • Copyright Information
    • Privacy Policy
  • Fybush Media
  • Links

No products in the cart.

No Result
View All Result
Fybush.com
No Result
View All Result

Site of the Week Bonus: WTAG, Worcester, MA

Scott Fybush by Scott Fybush
November 21, 2013
in Free Content, Massachusetts, Tower Site Calendar, Tower Site of the Week
0

By SCOTT FYBUSH

(Originally published August 17, 2012 – but back here now to promote the new Tower Site Calendar 2014, which features this classic Art Deco site. It’s shipping right now from the Fybush.com Store – order one today!)

One of New England’s oldest surviving AM transmitter sites is also one of its prettiest. Nestled in the suburbia of Holden, Massachusetts, just north of Worcester, WTAG (580) has called Shrewsbury Street its home since way back in 1936, when the Worcester Telegram and Gazette moved their AM station from their downtown Worcester rooftop to what was then a three-tower directional array, among the more complex DAs built in that early era.

The WTAG site

Classic transmitter building
WTAG’s transmitter room

The site went through some early troubles: the mammoth hurricane of 1938 (before the days when hurricanes were named) made a direct hit on Worcester, taking down WTAG’s array. The station quickly rebuilt, and by the end of March 1939 it was back on the air with a three-tower in-line array duplicating its original facility.

In 1941, WTAG added two more towers to boost its night power from 1000 to 5000 watts, and in 1954 the site was again hit by a hurricane. Hurricane Carol (which also toppled the WBZ-TV tower 50 miles to the east in Boston) took out WTAG’s fifth tower, and it was never rebuilt; instead, WTAG re-engineered its night pattern to use only the three original towers (seen behind and to the right of the transmitter building in the photo above) and the fourth tower built in 1941 (at the left).

By then, of course, WTAG was also heavily involved in the new world of FM radio: W1XTG signed on around 1940 from here in Holden but soon moved to Mount Asnebumskit in Paxton, where Boston department store magnate John Shepard and FM inventor Edwin Howard Armstrong were doing their own FM experiments at W1XOJ. WTAG eventually applied for a TV license on channel 5 from Asnebumskit, and even built a studio building up there big enough to house a TV facility, but political pressure shifted the channel east to Boston and WTAG-TV never became a reality. WTAG-FM (eventually on 96.1) was a rare survivor of the early FM days, even as W1XOJ/WGTR shut down, and the Asnebumskit transmitter site and would-be TV studio eventually became the FM studio when WTAG sold its FM license to Norman Knight, who renamed it WSRS. The whole thing came full-circle in the 1980s when Knight also bought the AM station from the Telegram and Gazette; today, WTAG and WSRS are owned by Clear Channel and operating from the Asnebumskit studios, where there’s also an FM translator on 94.9 for WTAG.

No transmitter here…just a museum

More museum

And out here at Holden, WTAG’s long history (the station turns 90 in 2014) is still being celebrated. Chief engineer Dan Kelleher has collected as much WTAG memorabilia as he can find to fill the old transmitter building, providing visitors with a feast of old scrapbooks, framed photos and gear dating back to WTAG’s earliest days. Some of it, as shown above at left, fills the space where an earlier, larger 5-kilowatt transmitter once sat in the front wall of the transmitter room, facing the current row of transmitters that includes a Harris Gates 5 and a newer Harris DAX, along with the phasor.

This is the rare site that’s actually open for tours: every few years, Dan holds an open house out here, usually timed to coincide with WTAG’s anniversary. We’d missed a few of those open houses, so we were delighted when Dan put together a gathering just for our visit in the fall of 2010…and we’d love to get back sometime to get a more detailed look at all the goodies in this venerable building!

Thanks to Dan Kelleher for the tour!

2014calendarThe wait is over! The Tower Site Calendar, 2014 edition, is back from the printer this week, and you can be the first to reserve your very own.

This year’s gorgeous electronic pinups include KXLY – plus the iconic towers of Catalina Island, a combiner system in St. Louis, the twin towers of KNRS in Salt Lake City, a historic rooftop site in Jamestown, New York and many more!

If you want a tower calendar on your wall NOW, you can pick up the current 2013 edition for just $5 with your 2014 order!

Click here to order your new calendar!

Then check out our store page for our other great merchandise, including the last-ever FM Atlas, the new NRC AM Log and a model of the KSAN tower.

Friday: Chicago’s WLUP and WIQI studios, 2011

Share this:

  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • Pocket
  • Email
  • Print
  • More
  • Facebook
Tags: Tower Site CalendarWTAG
Previous Post

NERW 11/18/2013: Rock Yields to Talk on LI’s East End

Next Post

Site of the Week 11/22/2013: Merlin Media, Chicago

Scott Fybush

Scott Fybush

Editor/Publisher, NorthEast Radio Watch and Tower Site of the Week

Related Posts

The Hornby building
Free Content

Site of the Week 3/24/2023: CFZM 740/CJBC 860, Toronto

Visiting one of the most iconic AM sites remaining in all of Canada

by Scott Fybush
March 24, 2023
NorthEast Radio Watch 1/30/2023: FCC Picks Noncomm FM Winners
Free Content

NorthEast Radio Watch 3/20/2023: FCC Imposes New PIRATE Fines

In this week’s issue… FCC imposes hefty fine on NYC pirate - Audacy sells transmitter sites - Michael Kay sticks around - FLN, Calvary swap signals - PA AMs find new owner - New format on the border - Remembering...

by Scott Fybush
March 20, 2023
The radio building
Free Content

Site of the Week 3/17/2023: Bell Media, Toronto

Inside one of the most historic broadcast facilities in Toronto

by Scott Fybush
March 17, 2023
NorthEast Radio Watch 3/13/2023: Remembering Alex Langer
Free Content

NorthEast Radio Watch 3/13/2023: Remembering Alex Langer

In this week’s issue… Boston AM entrepreneur dies - WHYY sells NJ FM - Axe axed in Syracuse - WBEE seeks new morning team - 7 Mountains shuffles Poconos formats - Remembering WKTV's Worden

by Scott Fybush
March 19, 2023
Next Post
The FM News studio

Site of the Week 11/22/2013: Merlin Media, Chicago

Log In


Join Now | Lost Password?

Get Fybush.com Updates

Get Fybush.com updates emailed directly to your inbox!

Fybush.com Twitter List

My Tweets

© 2023 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Archives
  • Subscribe
  • My Account
  • Store
    • Cart
    • Checkout
  • About/Contact
    • Scott Fybush
    • Copyright Information
    • Privacy Policy
  • Fybush Media
  • Links

© 2023 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.

 

Loading Comments...
 

You must be logged in to post a comment.