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.
