The news earlier this year about an Alabama AM radio station reporting its tower had been stolen prompted memories of a similar claim once made in the Upper Midwest, one of many quirky filings to have crossed through the FCC database in my time maintaining this website.
In 2016, a North Dakota FM translator reported that its tower had disappeared and sought special temporary authority to transmit from a tree while it investigated.
NORMAL OPERATION AT REDUCED POWER AND ANTENNA HEIGHT DUE TO THE FACT, DISCOVERED 8/24/2016, THAT SOMEONE HAS REMOVED OUR TOWER, AS WELL AS OTHER ANOMALIES AT THE SITE. STATION IS CURRENTLY TRANSMITTING FROM AN ADJACENT 8 METER TALL TREE WITH ERP OF 0.05 KW. THIS SITUATION COULD CONTINUE FOR YET SEVERAL WEEKS OR MONTHS UNTIL EITHER WE DETERMINE EXACTLY WHO REMOVED THE TOWER, WHY, AND CAN SEEK ITS RETURN, OR TO INSTALL ANOTHER TOWER.
2016 FCC filing by North Dakota FM translator
A filing several moths later said the station was still transmitting from a tree and said it was still unknown who took the tower:
DESPITE DILIGENT EFFORTS BY THE LICENSEE TO ACQUIRE AND INSTALL A TOWER SIMILAR TO THAT WHICH HAD BEEN REMOVED FROM THE SITE BY UNKNOWN PERSONS DURING 2016, THIS HAS NOT YET BEEN COMPLETED. THE INSTALLATION OF A REPLACEMENT MAST HAS BEEN HAMPERED BY SNOW AND BITTER COLD WEATHER AT THIS RURAL LOCATION WHICH HAS NO ACCESS ROAD.
2017 FCC filing by North Dakota FM translator
Subsequent filings never revealed the outcome of the investigation into the disappearing tower.
Numerous receipts were among documents submitted to prove that an Iowa radio station had resumed broadcasting in 2017, including one receipt showing that the tower crew had been fed 12 soft tacos and 12 crunchy tacos from Taco Bell. The documents showed the station’s potential buyer had spent a lot of money on supplies and equipment rental in what turned out to be a fruitless effort to save a radio license that the FCC determined had already expired prior to the taco purchase.
In a series of filings over many years, a South Dakota AM radio station cited spring, summer, fall, and winter weather as reasons why it could not complete work at its transmitter site. (Makes you wonder how the tower was ever constructed there in the first place?) The station also reported gopher damage.
A Minnesota radio station that transmitted from a ski hill said that it could not access the transmitter site to make repairs during the winter due to snow. (In fairness, the transmitter was not located directly at the chalet and engineers reported a challenging access road even in summer weather.) The station has since returned its license for other reasons.
A Nebraska radio station reported that an engineer could not drive up a snowy hill to replace a failing transmitter, so he hiked up the hill with the transmitter strapped to his back. The station has since moved to a new transmitter site.
The interesting filings aren’t limited to requests for special temporary authority.
A 2013 Minnesota radio translator station sale specified that “any or all disputes will be settled at the park bench overlooking the Mississippi River at Hester Park.” It didn’t hurt that the buyer and seller are related.
An Iowa radio station sale specified that the seller would retain Iowa State season tickets and a pickup truck.
While keeping up with all of the Upper Midwest FCC filings can be a bit of a chore at times, it’s quirky filings like these that keep me sifting through the documents!