The Senior Road Tower is a

guyed mast A guyed mast or guyed tower is a tall thin vertical structure that depends on guy lines (diagonal tensioned cables attached to the ground) for stability. The mast itself has the compressive strength to support its own weight, but does not ha ...

for FM and

TV broadcasting Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began wi ...

, measuring tall, located in unincorporated northeastern

Fort Bend County Fort Bend County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. The county was founded in 1837 and organized the next year. It is named for a blockhouse at a bend of the Brazos River. The community developed around the fort in early days. The ...

near

Missouri City, Texas Missouri City is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, within the metropolitan area. The city is mostly in Fort Bend County, with a small portion in Harris County. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 74,259, up from 67,35 ...

, United States. The present mast was built in 1983. It replaced a previous tower that collapsed in a construction accident in December 1982, killing five workers. While historically also used for television, its primary purpose was and is to transmit FM radio stations.

First tower

While a number of Houston FM radio stations broadcast from

One Shell Plaza One Shell Plaza (OSP) is a 50-story, skyscraper at 910 Louisiana Street in Downtown Houston, Texas. Perched atop the building is an antenna that brings the overall height of the building to . At its completion in 1971, the tower was the tallest ...

and other sites in downtown Houston, the late 1970s saw the construction of several new, taller buildings in the downtown area that created issues for regional coverage, particularly the Texas Commerce Tower and Allied Bank Plaza. In 1980, ten Houston radio stations, later reduced to nine—KFMK, KIKK, KILT, KLEF, KLOL, KODA, KRBE, KSRR, and KYND—began to scout out a site for a new facility in an area that was becoming a cluster of transmission towers. Television stations

KTRK-TV KTRK-TV (channel 13) is a television station in Houston, Texas, United States, airing programming from the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station maintains studios on Bissonnet Street ...

and KRIV were also building tall towers near this site. The original plan was to build the mast on Senior Road, and the consortium of stations became known as the Senior Road Tower Group. However, plans changed, and the eventual site was not on Senior Road. The radio stations were joined in the venture by

KTXH KTXH (channel 20), branded on-air as My 20 Vision, is a television station in Houston, Texas, United States, airing programming from MyNetworkTV. It is owned and operated by Fox Television Stations alongside Fox outlet KRIV (channel 26). Both ...

, a new Houston television station. Tower work began in 1982 but came to a brief halt due to a dispute over mineral rights to the tower site. In an apparent oversight, the title company failed to notice that Lew D. French Jr. had leased the mineral rights, planning to drill for oil on the property. He drove by and asked what was going on, starting a legal action that led to a temporary stay on construction. Construction resumed after an out-of-court settlement. Tower erection began in October, with the antenna for KTXH television being raised first. That station began broadcasting on November 7. It was anticipated that the FM stations would begin using the mast on February 1, 1983.

Construction accident

Nearly a month after KTXH began broadcasting, work reached a fever pitch on the FM transmission facility. On December 6, workers hoisted the first half of the antenna structure onto the tower, and it was anticipated that the final structure would be hoisted onto the tower the next day, December 7. A KIKK employee was videotaping the event. While the item was being hoisted into place, the antenna fell from the cable pulling it up. It fell on one of the guy wires, which caused the tower to collapse. Five men strapped to the antenna died; the five employees, all out-of-state workers from World Wide Tower Service of New Jersey, were Gene Crosby, David Stewart, Don Owens, Johnny Wilson, and Johnny Bratten. Bodies were dismembered by the failing guy wires. World Wide Tower was subcontracted by Stainless Inc., the firm that manufactured the tower. Three men, employed by a Houston roofing firm working on the roof of the transmitter building, were injured. KTXH suffered a $1.5 million loss in equipment, including the transmitter, on which the falling mast collapsed. A man in the transmitter building saw the tower collapse and fled. In the wake of the accident, the Senior Road Tower Group assigned blame to a clamping device that fastened the antenna to the cable. The construction company had to jury-rig a lifting device of their own design, as the antenna lifting points were not designed for the final lift. The cable from the

gin pole A gin pole is a supported pole that uses a pulley or block and tackle on its upper end to lift loads. The lower end is braced or set in a shallow hole and positioned so the upper end lies above the object to be lifted. The pole (also known as a ...

would intersect the dish of the antenna and damage it. The design analysis of the construction company was flawed, leading them to underestimate the load on the bolts by a factor of seven. In addition, the

U-bolt A U-bolt is a bolt in the shape of the letter U with screw threads on both ends. U-bolts have primarily been used to support pipework Within industry, piping is a system of pipes used to convey fluids (liquids and gases) from one location ...

s they used were defective; the manufacturer rated them for twice the load they were good for. One of the U-bolts, failed causing the antenna to fall and snap two of the guy wires holding the tower upright. For KTXH, the loss of the Senior Road Tower left the station off the air for two months; the station immediately ordered a new transmitter. The station filed a $42 million lawsuit, alleging negligent construction and claiming a $7 million loss in equipment and advertising for the 61 days it was out of service. Even while broadcasting from a temporary facility atop the Allied Bank Plaza, KTXH continued to post competitive numbers against KRIV. In addition to the lawsuit filed by KTXH, the family of one of the victims sued for $2 million, as did several of the injured. As a result of the then-pending litigation, investigations by the federal

Occupational Safety and Health Administration The Occupational Safety and Health Administration'' (OSHA ) is a large regulatory agency of the United States Department of Labor that originally had federal visitorial powers to inspect and examine workplaces. Congress established the agenc ...

and by insurers were not publicly released. After a 10-day trial, in February 1985, a federal jury awarded nearly $19 million to the families of the victims, with Stainless to pay 100 percent of the damages; this came after a settlement agreement for $21 million was partially withdrawn. The $19 million award was reduced to $14 million by a federal judge who ruled the jury had improperly awarded punitive damages and replaced by a $6.4 million award in a new settlement. Combined with $11 million in payments from Harris and World Wide Tower, the total received by the families was $17.4 million.

Second tower

The Senior Road Tower Group met a week later and opted to continue the project. Jay Jones, the vice president of KLOL, told ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'', "We've been delayed significantly, but FM stations in Houston have a real problem with their signal, and we've got to do something about it." The foundation and guy anchors remained in usable condition, and the $4 million loss was insured. After further delays caused by rain and

Hurricane Alicia Hurricane Alicia was a small but powerful tropical cyclone that caused significant destruction in the Greater Houston area of Southeast Texas in August 1983. Although Alicia was a relatively small hurricane, its track over the rapidly growi ...

, work was completed in October 1983 on the new mast, which was identical to the one that collapsed. Of the nine FM stations, all still at the site, six migrated from One Shell Plaza and three from other facilities. KTXH began migrating off the mast when it built its digital transmission facility at a new, purpose-built tower in 1999.

Tower users

The Senior Road Tower is used by the following radio stations: *

KKBQ KKBQ (92.9 FM), branded as "The New 93Q", is a commercial FM radio station with a country music format. KKBQ is licensed to Pasadena, Texas, serving the Greater Houston area. The station is owned by Cox Radio and is part of its Houston radio ...

(92.9 FM) *

KTBZ-FM KTBZ-FM (94.5 MHz) is a commercial active/alternative rock radio station licensed to Houston, Texas. Owned by iHeartMedia, the station serves Greater Houston. The KTBZ-FM studios are located in Uptown Houston, while the station transmitter is l ...

94.5 *

KKHH KKHH (95.7 FM "95.7 The Spot") is a commercial radio station in Houston, Texas. It is owned by Audacy, Inc. and airs an adult hits radio format. The studios and offices are located in the Greenway Plaza district of Houston. KKHH has an eff ...

(95.7 FM) *

KHMX KHMX (96.5 FM) – branded Mix 96.5 – is a commercial hot adult contemporary radio station licensed to Houston, Texas. Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station serves the Greater Houston metropolitan area. The KHMX studios are located in Houston' ...

(96.5 FM) *

KBXX KBXX (97.9 FM) is a commercial radio station in Houston, Texas. It airs a rhythmic contemporary radio format, mostly made up of hip-hop music and R&B. It is owned by Urban One as part of a three-station cluster with KMJQ and KROI. The stud ...

(97.9 FM) *

KODA KODA (99.1 FM, "Sunny 99.1") is an American commercial adult contemporary-formatted radio station in Houston, Texas. The station is owned by iHeartMedia. Its studios and offices are located along the West Loop Freeway in Uptown Houston. KODA ...

(99.1 FM) *

KILT-FM KILT-FM (100.3 MHz "The Bull 100.3") is a commercial radio station in Houston, Texas. It is owned by Audacy, Inc. and airs a country music radio format. The studios and offices are in Greenway Plaza in Southwest Houston. KILT-FM serves as a co- ...

100.3 *

KLOL KLOL (101.1 FM "Mega 101") is a commercial radio station in Houston, Texas. It is owned by Audacy, Inc. and airs a Spanish-language Latin pop radio format. KLOL serves as the Spanish-language flagship station for the Houston Texans football t ...

(101.1 FM) *

KRBE KRBE (104.1 FM) is a commercial radio station in Houston, Texas. It is owned by Cumulus Media and broadcasts a Top 40 (CHR) radio format. The studios are located in Suite 700 of the Chase Building at 9801 Westheimer Road in the Westchase Dis ...

(104.1 FM) The tower has wrap-around outside platforms at 900, 1,100, and 1,400 feet on the tower. The platforms support antennas and equipment cabinets used by various two way radio systems and

remote pickup unit A remote pickup unit or RPU is a radio system using special radio frequencies set aside for electronic news-gathering (ENG) and remote broadcasting. It can also be used for other types of point-to-point radio links. An RPU is used to send program ...

(RPU) receivers for radio broadcasters. Heights: *Elevation of Site Above Mean Sea Level: *Overall Height Above Ground (AGL): *Overall Height Above Mean Sea Level: *Overall Height Above Ground w/o Appurtenances:

References

External links