The switch is scheduled for early July.
The construction of the tower is the first step toward eventually relocating the radio station from its longtime perch on the tip of the Port of Olympia peninsula. KGY-AM, which broadcasts a mix of news and music, leases the property from the port.
The new tower has fresh steel and a new ground system and is higher off the ground. It is two feet shorter than its 200-foot predecessor but stands taller because the ground it’s on is 15 to 20 feet higher.
“Generally, it should improve the signal,” said Tom Trotzer, the station’s engineer and a disc jockey. He has worked for KGY since 1975.
The station must construct a building to house its transmission equipment, relocate the equipment from inside the studio, run tests and receive approval from the Federal Communications Commission before it can begin broadcasting from the new tower. The area around the tower and building will be fenced.
The existing tower, which has broadcast the signal for nearly five decades, will be torn down later in July.
In September 2006, port commissioners approved a 30-year lease for the new radio tower to stand on a parking lot constructed atop a cell that contains contaminated sediment dredged from Budd Inlet as part of an environmental cleanup project.
Last month, commissioners approved a new lease agreement that will keep KGY in its current studios for as long as five more years, through December 2014. The port wants to move the studios out of the area it’s marketing as NorthPoint to make way for commercial development.
The new tower is more than 400 feet southeast of the existing one.
Because it’s less than 200 feet tall, the new tower isn’t required to be painted or equipped with an aircraft warning light.
The old tower is orange and white.
Unlike the old tower, the new one doesn’t widen out near the base. Trotzer said the old tower was designed to be self-supporting, but wires were installed when 40 feet was added to its height, apparently to boost radio coverage. Wires also hold the new tower up.
KGY-FM broadcasts country music from a tower on Maxwell Hill, which stands 1,600 feet and is near McCleary.
Christian Hill: 360-754-5427
chill@theolympian.com
