A 200-foot tower atop Mount Greylock was erected by General Electric in 1952, and despite controversies over its construction and changes in ownership over the years, it has become an icon in Massachusetts. According to The Berkshire Eagle, the tower was most recently purchased by WAMC, a public radio network based in Albany, NY, drawing the ire of some local residents who would prefer that a Massachusetts-based company broadcast from the tower.
The tower was proposed by WMGT-TV to enhance television reception. Mount Greylock Television was the first entity to make use of the tower, broadcasting movies, local sports, and news beginning in 1954. Two years later, an ice storm almost destroyed the tower, whose 70-foot RCA antenna was knocked off by high winds, and the tower itself nearly toppled. After it was repaired, the tower was purchased by Capital Cities Broadcasting Company. They renamed it WCDC for use as a satellite station for Albany-based WTEN, which began the tower’s history of out-of-state ownership and use.
Due to its expansive radio broadcasting capacity, nearly 100 miles in every direction from the top of Mount Greylock, the tower has also been used by State Police and public radio stations over the years, according to The Berkshire Eagle. The tower’s fate was uncertain in the early 1980s, when Massachusetts’s Guidelines for Operation and Stewardship determined that the tower should eventually be removed, though no immediate plans were made for its removal.
In 2017, WCDC decided that it no longer needed the tower. WAMC, founded by public radio host Dr. Alan Chartock, obtained a lease from the state for the land and purchased the tower for $1 million in December. The station is currently holding a fundraiser drive to pay for the tower, whose identity as a Massachusetts landmark persists after 66 years.
January 24, 2018
Reader Interactions