KSBN's Tower on top of the Delaney Building.

by Bill Harms - Updated 19 May 2008

I died and went to heaven during my June 2005 trip to Spokane, when I took the pictures shown here below. From what I gather, this is a unique AM radio transmitting facility in that it transmits from the top of a building. Building top facilities were not unusual from the 1920's to the 1950's, but now most of them have been taken down and very few still exist. I wanted to take a tour of the facility, but unfortunately I could not arrange an appointment with their staff. Perhaps, I can meet with them on a future visit to Spokane. The current height of the antenna and the type of transmitter is not known. Hopefully, I can contact their engineering staff.

KFIO/KSPO was not the first station to occupy the Realty Building (now called the Delaney Building) at 242 West Riverside Avenue. According to Ed Antosyn in correspondence to Paltrow in about 1980, Cole Wylie and a Canadian engineer named Les Burton built KREM in the Realty Building in the late 1940's. The antenna system comprised of a self-supporting vertical tower set on insulators on the roof of the building. An extensive counterpoise system of wires extended from the base of the tower over the roof of the building to the cornices of the building and then across the streets which surrounded the building (Main Avenue, Riverside Avenue, Browne Street, and Bernard Street.) This tower was dismantled in 1951 when KREM moved to Moran Prairie. When KREM first signed on from the Realty Building, they used 1340 kHz and changed to 970 kHz. Henry B. Poole, chief technician at KREM in 1947, in a verification letter to Eugene Allen, described the facility. The transmitter was a General Electric and the tower was 190 feet tall on top of the building. About 45,000 feet of copper wire was strung out for the counterpoise. KFIO changed their call to KSPO when they occupied the building and re-erected a new tower. KSPO initially resumed broadcasting on 1340. Later, the station changed frequency to 1230 kHz, the current frequency of KSBN which is now transmitting from this site.

Photo Gallery of the Tower

Click on the thumbnails below for a larger view.


A full view of the Delaney Building with KSBN's tower on top. Counterpoise wires are clearly visible on the left side of the photo, just above the traffic light and the street light.

The counterpoise radial wires are attached to anchor lines which are in turn attached to posts anchored to the buildings. A post for the anchor line can be seen at the upper right corner of the taller building, which is at 230 W. Riverside.  Counterpoise radial wires can be seen running above the building from the upper left to the anchor line post. (See "A" in the radial sketch below.)

In this picture, you can see the anchor posts and anchor wire along the edge of the building at 230 West Riverside Avenue and on the Delaney Building itself to which the radial wires are attached. (See " B" in the radial sketch below for greater detail of the location.)

Looking at the corner of the building at the southwest corner of Main Avenue and Bernard Street. You can see where the anchor line is attached to the building and then going off to the east (right to left). The counterpoise radial wires are visible in the lower right part of the photo. (See " C" in the radial sketch below.)

The other end of the above anchor line attached to the building at 245 West Main. Again the counterpoise lines are clearly visible. The counterpoise lines continue behind the anchor point across the top of the building. (See " D" in the radial sketch below.)

Looking straight up at the southeast corner of Main Avenue and Bernard Street. This location is between the anchor points in the above two pictures. Up is West, Down is East, Left is North, and Right is South. You can see the anchor line running East and West, with the counterpoise radial wires on the right-hand side of the picture running in a general Southeast direction towards the Delaney Building. (See " E" in the radial sketch below.)


View of the tower on top of the Delaney Building across the street on Riverside, looking to the Northeast. See " F" in the radial sketch below.) Ignore the ugly dude.

Bottom stories of the Delaney Building from across the street on Riverside. The building now contains apartments for senior citizens. (See " G" in the radial sketch below.)


A full view of the Delaney Building. On the left side of the picture, you can see counterpoise radial wires going from the tower on top of the building to the West. (See " G" in the radial sketch below.)

Satellite view of the Delaney Building and the surrounding area. The pink cross on top of the building in the middle is the base of the tower. The fuzzy pink line at about 100º is the tower and a shadow from the tower is visible in the opposite direction. Compare with the sketch below.

This is a sketch showing the relative locations of the tower, the buildings, and the counterpoise radials. The circled letters are references to photo locations as noted above. I ran out of time to take a complete survey of the site so the part showing the counterpoise radials is incomplete.

 
KSBN's old studio at 211 East Sprague Avenue.

 
KSBN's new studio in the Ridpath Hotel. The address is 506 West 1st Avenue.