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Old Gandy radio towers being replaced

By SHADI RAHIMI
Published April 26, 2006

ST. PETERSBURG - For 56 years, the twin radio towers on either side of the Gandy Bridge have been as much a part of the landscape as the birds that sometimes nest atop them.

But the past two hurricane seasons have taken their toll, slamming the old towers with wind and seawater, and tearing off pieces from the metal frames.

The 490-foot towers near are finally being replaced with shorter towers, just in for another hurricane season.

"It's going to be a lot safer going over the Gandy Bridge in the middle of a storm," said John McMartin, the director of engineering for Clear Channel Communications in Tampa.

Work crews began taking apart the tower to the south of the bridge last month. A 366-foot tower was erected in its place to continue transmitting the signal for the local AM station WDAE-AM 620, "The Sports Animal," owned by Clear Channel.

The tower to the north is being dismantled this week.

"We didn't want them to be a safety hazard," said Wilson Welch, chief engineer of WDAE. "The last thing we need are towers coming down during a hurricane."

The old towers were originally erected by the city for its former radio station WSUN-AM 620, one of the oldest AM stations in the state, Welch said.

Because they are 124-feet shorter, the new towers are more wind-resistant and cheaper to build, he said. But the new height also means the signal won't travel as far. So the station plans to boost the signal from 10,000 watts to nearly 15,000 watts within the next month.

A portion of the old red and white tower remains on the south side of Gandy remains where a family of Osprey are nesting atop the bottom tier. Work crews moved the old tower out of the way without disturbing the nest, McMartin said.

But the state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission asked the workers to leave the tower where it is until the three recently hatched baby birds abandon the nest this summer.

"You just have to be careful working around them so you don't disturb the nest," said James Smith, 34, one of the construction workers. "We take extra precautions because if you don't, the momma will come after you."

On Wednesday, the mother Osprey watched from the old tower as the men worked, cawing occasionally as they nailed wooden planks to the base of the new tower. Her noise was drowned out by a passing helicopter.

The men looked up as it whirred loudly overhead."Oh no, it's going to hit!" one man joked, eyeing the aircraft as it appeared to nearly graze the radio tower.

Just a short stretch of road away, a three-member Bayflite medical helicopter crew died in 2000 after crashing into a 649-foot radio tower over the swampy woods around Weedon Island. A new radio tower has not yet been built in its place.

McMartin said the replacement of the old twin radio towers should be completed by June.

Forecasters are predicting an above-average hurricane season, which begins June 1, with nine hurricanes, five of which may be Category 3 or higher.

The new, shorter radio towers will be safer during a hurricane because they are less windloading, McMartin said.

"They're probably as hurricane resilient as you can make a tower," he said. "They're coming just in time."

[Last modified April 26, 2006, 20:19:03]