Tower collapses on Monday, Aug. 10, affected two AM stations in Iowa and one AM station in Minnesota.
WMT/600 (Cedar Rapids) and KROS/1340 (Clinton) reported that the damage at their sites was caused by winds amid a storm that caused widespread damage across eastern Iowa. Meanwhile, KFXN/690 (Minneapolis) did not say what caused its collapse.
KFXN, which is owned by Asian American Broadcasting and carries a Hmong-language format, normally operates with 500 Watts directional daytime from a three-tower array in the northwestern suburb of New Hope. It told the FCC in a request for special temporary authority that the center tower collapsed and it’s using 120 Watts from one of the remaining towers.
Northern Lights Broadcasting’s KQGO/96.3 (Edina-Minneapolis) also transmits from the KFXN site, but its antenna is on one of the towers that did not collapse.
Elswehere, an article on WMT’s website features a picture of a crumpled tower at WMT’s longtime tower site north of Marion. The News/Talk station is owned by iHeartMedia.
WMT reported in an FCC filing that its non-directional 5kW daytime tower was not damaged, but that the collapsed tower was part of its nighttime array. It has received special temporary authority to operate nondirectionally with about a quarter of its normal power at night.
Farther to the east, KROS/1340 (Clinton) reported on its Facebook page that its 400-foot tower fell in the wind. The tower also hosts KROS FM translator K290CL/105.9.
KROS is locally-owned by KROS Broadcasting, which holds no other stations. It runs a News/Talk/Sports format with a local morning show and extended news blocks at noon and 5 p.m.
The station’s online audio stream also appears to be down.