The WTVR TV Tower is tall a free-standing
lattice tower
A lattice tower or truss tower is a freestanding vertical framework tower. This construction is widely used in transmission towers carrying high voltage electric power lines, in radio masts and towers (a self-radiating tower or as a support for a ...
in
Richmond, Virginia
(Thus do we reach the stars)
, image_map =
, mapsize = 250 px
, map_caption = Location within Virginia
, pushpin_map = Virginia#USA
, pushpin_label = Richmond
, pushpin_m ...
. It broadcasts
WTVR-FM
WTVR-FM (98.1 MHz) is a radio station licensed to Richmond, Virginia. WTVR-FM serves Central Virginia with an adult contemporary music format. The station is owned and operated by Audacy, Inc. with studios and offices located north of Richmond's c ...
and has been in operation since 1953.
History
![Television Antenna - WTVR (2235691874)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Television_Antenna_-_WTVR_%282235691874%29.jpg)
Upon completion in 1953, the tower became the tallest in the United States and the second tallest
lattice tower
A lattice tower or truss tower is a freestanding vertical framework tower. This construction is widely used in transmission towers carrying high voltage electric power lines, in radio masts and towers (a self-radiating tower or as a support for a ...
in the world after the
Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower ( ; french: links=yes, tour Eiffel ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower.
Locally nicknamed "'' ...
and only surpassed in height by five buildings; the
Empire State Building
The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from "Empire State", the nickname of the st ...
,
Chrysler Building
The Chrysler Building is an Art Deco skyscraper on the East Side of Manhattan in New York City, at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. At , it is the tallest brick building in the world with a steel fra ...
,
70 Pine Street,
40 Wall Street
40 Wall Street, also known as the Trump Building, is a neo-Gothic skyscraper on Wall Street between Nassau and William streets in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City. Erected in 1929–1930 as the headquarters of the Manhat ...
& the
GE Building
30 Rockefeller Plaza (officially the Comcast Building; formerly RCA Building and GE Building) is a skyscraper that forms the centerpiece of Rockefeller Center in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Completed in 1933, the 66-s ...
. It was a substantive increase from previous tallest towers of any type built in the United States, the
NSS Annapolis
NSS Annapolis, officially known as Naval Communications Station Washington, D.C. Transmitter or NavCommStaWashingtonDC(T), was a Very Low Frequency (VLF) and High Frequency (HF) transmitter station operated by the United States Navy.
It was l ...
. It remains to this day the tallest man made structure in Virginia.
The tower is currently only used by
WTVR-FM
WTVR-FM (98.1 MHz) is a radio station licensed to Richmond, Virginia. WTVR-FM serves Central Virginia with an adult contemporary music format. The station is owned and operated by Audacy, Inc. with studios and offices located north of Richmond's c ...
. Even though
WTVR-TV
WTVR-TV (channel 6) is a television station in Richmond, Virginia, United States, affiliated with CBS and owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. Its studios are located on West Broad Street on Richmond's West End, and its transmitter is located i ...
and
WTVR-FM
WTVR-FM (98.1 MHz) is a radio station licensed to Richmond, Virginia. WTVR-FM serves Central Virginia with an adult contemporary music format. The station is owned and operated by Audacy, Inc. with studios and offices located north of Richmond's c ...
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
WCVE-TV, virtual channel 23 (Ultra high frequency, UHF Digital terrestrial television, digital channel 22), is a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) network affiliate#Member stations, member television station city of license, licensed to Richmon ...
and
WCVW.
WTVR-TV
WTVR-TV (channel 6) is a television station in Richmond, Virginia, United States, affiliated with CBS and owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. Its studios are located on West Broad Street on Richmond's West End, and its transmitter is located i ...
stopped transmitting from this tower during the analog to digital conversion in 2009. 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
iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company fou ...
announced that
WTVR-FM
WTVR-FM (98.1 MHz) is a radio station licensed to Richmond, Virginia. WTVR-FM serves Central Virginia with an adult contemporary music format. The station is owned and operated by Audacy, Inc. with studios and offices located north of Richmond's c ...
, along with all of their sister stations in Richmond and
Chattanooga
Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...
, would be sold to
Entercom
Audacy, Inc. is an American broadcasting company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1968 as Entercom Communications Corporation, it is the second largest radio company in the United States, owning 235 radio stations across 48 media ...
due to that company's merger with
CBS Radio
CBS Radio was a radio broadcasting company and radio network operator owned by CBS Corporation and founded in 1928, with consolidated radio station groups owned by CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting/Group W since the 1920s, and Infinity Broadc ...
. The sale was completed on December 19, 2017.
The tower is considered part of the Richmond skyline and can be seen for several miles around.
WTVR-TV
WTVR-TV (channel 6) is a television station in Richmond, Virginia, United States, affiliated with CBS and owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. Its studios are located on West Broad Street on Richmond's West End, and its transmitter is located i ...
'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
WTVR-FM (98.1 MHz) is a radio station licensed to Richmond, Virginia. WTVR-FM serves Central Virginia with an adult contemporary music format. The station is owned and operated by Audacy, Inc. with studios and offices located north of Richmond's c ...
transmits from WTVR Tower.
See also
*
Lattice tower
A lattice tower or truss tower is a freestanding vertical framework tower. This construction is widely used in transmission towers carrying high voltage electric power lines, in radio masts and towers (a self-radiating tower or as a support for a ...
*
List of famous transmission sites
In the following there are lists of sites of notable radio transmitters. During the early history of radio many countries had only a few high power radio stations, operated either by the government or large corporations, which broadcast to the po ...
References
{{Reflist
External links
*
Building the WTVR CBS 6 TowerWTVR Tower, Richmond - SkyscraperPage.com
Lattice towers
Richmond, Virginia
Towers completed in 1953