Downed Towers Affect Several AM Stations in Iowa, Minnesota

Posted on by Jon Ellis

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.