Was Once the World's Tallest Structure
The WRBL - WTVM Television Tower in Columbus, Georgia U.S.A.
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»» Additional Facts about the WRBL-WTVM TV Tower ««

A WRBL station pioneer provided some portions of the information below | Thanx-A-Lot, Mr. John Suhr
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TERMINOLOGY NOTE
The word MAST may (inaccurately) refer more to the actual transmitting antenna for a given
TV or radio station. The antenna is usually not very long, maybe no more than 60 to 75 feet.
A TOWER is the very tall structure to which an antenna is attached.

The Tower's Story
Originally, this tower was only going to be 1200-feet in height. When construction time neared,
it was decided to add an extra 549 feet, making the tower's total height 1749-feet.

WRBL first went on the air with a logo created by their artist ("Red" something) and a character
named Wee ReBeL (looked a lot like the comic-strip character Henry, but wearing a "Rebel" hat).

Along the same line, WDAK TV {pre-WTVM} used the "Big Johnny Reb" logo {also WDAK AM-540's
Signature}, long after it wasn't politically correct.


The video signals from both WTVM and WRBL were transmitted to the Cusseta tower via microwave
dishes on short towers. The studio dishes could make a straight line to the receiving dishes
on the Cusseta tower. Winds could blow these dishes out of line and often did, creating snowy
blank screens until workmen climbed up the tower and re-aligned the dishes properly.

The WRBL-WTVM TV tower stood alone as the world's tallest structure for 16 months. In September
of 1963 construction on the WBIR-TV tower in Knoxville, Tennessee, also 1749 feet in height.
was completed.

Three months later in December 1963, the 2063-foot tall TV tower for KTHI in Fargo,
North Dakota became the world's tallest structure.

The Fargo tower reigned supreme as the world's tallest for just over ten years. Then
in May 1974, the Warszawa Radio Tower in Plock, Poland (NOTE: some references have it
as Plonck), standing 2117.30 feet tall, became the new champion. The Warszawa Rasio
Tower fell down in 1991, which gave the "World's Tallest" crown back to the 2063-ft
Fargo tower. See below for the new "World's Tallest" champion.

Tallest U.S. Structures by State

NEWS: January 17, 2009 - We have a New Champion!

When the Warszawa Tower fell in 1991, the 2063 foot KVLY (formerly KTHI) Tower in Fargo ND
regained the tag of "World's Tallest Structure". On April 7, 2008, the Burj Khalifa building in
Dubai, United Arab Emirates, overtook the Fargo Tower in height.

Then, on September 1, 2008, the Burj Khalifa surpassed the height of the 2117.3 foot
Warszawa Tower (1974-1991) to become the all-time "World's Tallest" Champion.

On January 17, 2009, the Burj Khalifa was topped out at 2,684 feet!!    Pass the Dramamine!

Local Columbus Georgia - Phenix City Alabama Links

Spano's Restaurant   A famous Columbus, Georgia landmark


1952 Phenix City - Russell County Alabama Brochure
Mentions many things about Phenix City and Russell County, except of course
for certain "after dark activities" that were still going on at the time.


WDAK AM-540 Columbus, GA Top 40 Hits Surveys
|| July 31st, 1969     June 3rd, 1971     December 23rd, 1971     May 18th, 1972     June 29th, 1972


The Southern Open (aka Buick Challenge) Tribute Page
Tribute to the PGA Tour stop contested from 1970 to 2002. All yearly results included.


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