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The station’s once groundbreaking transmitter is long retired but preserved, on-site, beside its modern counterpart. I wonder if they ever offer tours. It woul

The station’s once groundbreaking transmitter is long retired but preserved, on-site, beside its modern counterpart. I wonder if they ever offer tours. It would be neat to see some of this history the next time I'm passing through the Cincinnati area. On a related note, it looks like there's a "National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting" just down the street from the WLW site.

hongseleco 7y ago
I don't know if they offer tours at the WLW site itself, but I do know that in the VOA museum there is a lot of detailed info/history and items pertaining to WLW.
geerlingguy 7y ago
It's not quite the same scale, but another of the nation's 'mega AM stations', KMOX in St. Louis, has a few interesting articles covering the history of their transmitter / tower and associated gear: https://www.stlmediahistory.org/index.php/Radio/RadioArticles/a-technical-look-at-kmox https://www.stlmediahistory.org/index.php/Radio/RadioArticle... https://www.stlmediahistory.org/index.php/Radio/RadioArticles/kmox-the-voice-of-st.-louis-engineering-history https://www.stlmediahistory.org/index.php/Radio/RadioArticle... https://www.stlmediahistory.org/index.php/Radio/RadioArticles/new-kmox-transmitter https://www.stlmediahistory.org/index.php/Radio/RadioArticle... I used to work as an engineering assistant there, and went to the tower site a few times. The amount of RF energy in that 50,000 watt tower was enough to cook snakes, rats, etc. which got close enough to the gear. The tower itself is energized to the extent you wouldn't want to be within at least a few feet; see https://thenextweb.com/shareables/2016/02/11/what-happens-if-you-short-circuit-a-radio-tower-is-amazing/ https://thenextweb.com/shareables/2016/02/11/what-happens-if...
fignews 7y ago
Here is a tour on YouTube https://youtu.be/CbHjcwIoTiY https://youtu.be/CbHjcwIoTiY
- jacquesm 7y ago
  100 KW tubes, those are monsters. Watercooling?
  - EvanAnderson 7y ago
    Yes. There's a pond on the site that was used for cooling the tubes.
imroot 7y ago
The VoA museum near the WLW Antenna does give tours on the weekend of the VoA transmitter (Voices of America) that was located near the WLW Transmitter -- sadly, it's only open on the weekends, but, it's still a really fun tour that talks about the shortwave transmission history of VoA. During Hamfest (usually held in Xenia now that Hara Arena is gone), you can usually get a tour of the WLW transmitter site.

hongseleco 7y ago

I don't know if they offer tours at the WLW site itself, but I do know that in the VOA museum there is a lot of detailed info/history and items pertaining to WLW.

geerlingguy 7y ago

It's not quite the same scale, but another of the nation's 'mega AM stations', KMOX in St. Louis, has a few interesting articles covering the history of their transmitter / tower and associated gear: https://www.stlmediahistory.org/index.php/Radio/RadioArticles/a-technical-look-at-kmox https://www.stlmediahistory.org/index.php/Radio/RadioArticle... https://www.stlmediahistory.org/index.php/Radio/RadioArticles/kmox-the-voice-of-st.-louis-engineering-history https://www.stlmediahistory.org/index.php/Radio/RadioArticle... https://www.stlmediahistory.org/index.php/Radio/RadioArticles/new-kmox-transmitter https://www.stlmediahistory.org/index.php/Radio/RadioArticle... I used to work as an engineering assistant there, and went to the tower site a few times. The amount of RF energy in that 50,000 watt tower was enough to cook snakes, rats, etc. which got close enough to the gear. The tower itself is energized to the extent you wouldn't want to be within at least a few feet; see https://thenextweb.com/shareables/2016/02/11/what-happens-if-you-short-circuit-a-radio-tower-is-amazing/ https://thenextweb.com/shareables/2016/02/11/what-happens-if...

fignews 7y ago

Here is a tour on YouTube https://youtu.be/CbHjcwIoTiY https://youtu.be/CbHjcwIoTiY

jacquesm 7y ago
100 KW tubes, those are monsters. Watercooling?
- EvanAnderson 7y ago
  Yes. There's a pond on the site that was used for cooling the tubes.

imroot 7y ago

The VoA museum near the WLW Antenna does give tours on the weekend of the VoA transmitter (Voices of America) that was located near the WLW Transmitter -- sadly, it's only open on the weekends, but, it's still a really fun tour that talks about the shortwave transmission history of VoA. During Hamfest (usually held in Xenia now that Hara Arena is gone), you can usually get a tour of the WLW transmitter site.