So What Did They Do?

Coincidentally, WAND utilized a similar antenna to WJJY's at its new transmitter near Argenta, Illinois.  The WAND antenna wasn't quite as large or heavy as the original antenna used by WJJY-TV, because of the frequency difference between UHF channels 14 and 17, along with the difference in power, didn't require such an antenna, it was still quite heavy and larger than most other antennas being used on top of similar towers of the era.  On that Saturday before Easter, the 11-hundred-foot steel tower of WAND crashed to the ground.  It was reported that one WAND official had gotten a phone call shortly before 2 PM from a woman who said, "Oh my God, your tower just went down!" The damage broke communication between at least one person, an engineer at the transmitter site, and the station.  When the tower fell, it took the phone lines with it. Debris was said to have fallen through the roof of the transmitter building, but the engineer on duty wasn't injured, nor did the transmitter receive any damage. 

The cause was the buildup of ice on the tower and antenna, but the additional weight of the experimental antenna also contributed to its demise.  The scene was very similar to the WJJY-TV failure of the next day, when it was reported that two guy wires snapped, allowing the tower to buckle near the top and fall, taking out the other guy wires and pulling the rest down.

This was a trying time for several central Illinois TV broadcasters as well.  WCIA, Channel 3, was off the air from Friday afternoon to around 10 PM on Saturday due to a power outage at the transmitter site.  WICD was on the air but had lost its microwave feed from WICS.  At that time, WICD could not receive the NBC network via coax, and satellite reception was still several years away.  WICD solved its problem of not receiving the network by quickly installing an antenna at the studio to receive the off-air signal of WTWO-TV, Channel 2 from Terre Haute, Indiana, and rebroadcasting the network signal. Interestingly, WTWO was experiencing a related issue, not receiving the network signal due to downed phone lines.  The Terre Haute station received an over-the-air signal from the NBC affiliate in Indianapolis and rebroadcast it to its viewers in the Terre Haute area.  I recall a description of the WICD tower stating that the tower wasn't straight up and down due to the ice load and had a rather "S" configuration under the ice load.

The additional weight of the ice was putting great stress on the guy wires.  I was at WDAN/WDNL in Danville at the time, and even though the Danville area didn't get the full brunt of the ice storm, there was some ice buildup on the 385-foot tower of WDAN and WDNL, which was the former WDAN-TV and WICD tower from 1953 to 1967.  I recall seeing a slight sway and strange noises emanating from the newly formed ice sculpture.

No doubt about it: WAND was in deep trouble with no way to return to the air quickly, but the station did have one ace in the hole that none of its competitors had.  That unique advantage was its former tower and antenna located at the back door of its studio.  The original WTVP tower could be a way to get WAND back on the air... and soon. The station had two alternatives to get back on the air and only one way to solve its primary problem: rebuild the tower.  The other options they faced to get a signal on the air as quickly as possible were to build a temporary tower at the Argenta site, which would be considerably shorter than 11 hundred feet, and limit its coverage area at least until a new tower could be built.  The second alternative was to use the existing 600-foot tower and antenna behind the studio.  It would be a taxing two weeks before WAND would return to the airwaves.

In an April 1st story in the Urbana Courier, Dick Westbrook, WAND News Director, reported that the station would return to the air by April 3rd, broadcasting from its original tower.  He described what had been occurring during the last two weeks.  First, the plan was undertaken to broadcast from a temporary antenna placed at the 250-foot level of the existing tower.  Engineers were unsure how far the station would reach, and at that time, a decision would be made to perhaps utilize the station's former antenna at the top of the tower later.  There was also a plan to purchase a used UHF antenna from Channel 17 in Philadelphia in case the old antenna was unusable. Westbrook stated that if the old antenna were still operational by mid-April, WAND could resume broadcasting to the entire area.  This was somewhat of an overstatement, as the original antenna could not handle any significant power increases beyond its pre-1966 usage. 

The total damage from the ice storm that occurred over the Easter weekend in 1978 was reported to be $1.5 million. LIN Broadcasting had insurance sufficient to cover a loss of $1.2 million. It was reported that constructing a new tower would take another six to eight months, assuming it would be rebuilt at the site near Argenta. Another unspecified tower site was also being considered.

By April 13th, WAND was again broadcasting from its original tower and antenna located on Southside Drive on Decatur's southwest side.  The original antenna, abandoned in 1966, appears to have been operational by 1978.  During the cleanup and construction of facilities to contain a temporary transmitter at the studio location, LIN Broadcasting made plans to create an even more powerful WAND to broadcast from an even taller tower!  T.J. Vaughn, Vice-President of Operations, stated that the company was "considering a substantial increase in the size of the tower and an increase in the power." Plans being considered included a 2-thousand-foot tower and an increase of power to 3 million watts.  Talk of 2-thousand-foot towers upsets the FAA, which would need to approve such a structure.  Ultimately, the FAA wouldn't approve such an obstruction to the flight paths of local aircraft, and the tower height of 1,300 feet was all the governmental body would agree to.  If there were going to be an increase in the coverage area of WAND, that increase would have to come from a power increase.

With WAND operating on low power, the station lost many of its viewers.  One way to increase the number of households able to view the station was to move the translator, which served no purpose in Danville.  The translator in Danville couldn't receive WAND with a constant off-air signal for broadcast anyway.  I remember watching WAND from the translator then, and the signal would drop in and out at random, making viewing nearly impossible.  Moving the translator would take W-68-AA to Champaign-Urbana.  Once again, T. J. Vaughn announced that WAND would return to the Twin Cities through the "translator." This time, however, viewers in Champaign-Urbana would receive WAND, not on channel 70 as it had before 1966, but would be watching it on channel 68.  The translator found a new home at the University Inn, a 21-story Building Located near the heart of the Twin Cities.  This would enable the station to rebroadcast WAND and ABC to viewers within a ten-mile radius of Champaign-Urbana.  The equipment was delivered on May 24th, and by May 29th, W-68-AA went on the air from Champaign-Urbana. 

Complaints didn't take long to come to WAND management. The signal for W-68-AA was not reaching all points equally around Champaign-Urbana. The complaints originated from viewers east and west of the transmitter/antenna. Larry Katt, WAND General Sales Manager, stated that work was being done to rectify the situation and that a better signal was promised to the area's viewers. I assume that the problem was eventually solved.