WMDR Damaged Tower Replaced
Worship Radio Network has replaced the WMDR/Augusta, ME broadcast tower that collapsed during an ice storm in December 2014. “The process of rebuilding and revitalizing a facility atop a 1,748-foot mountain peak has been challenging but it has also been exhilarating in seeing the project come to fruition!” according to Bill Thrasher, the network’s General Manager.
Joel Epley, the Technical Director said, “The 2014 tower collapse was the second incident within 16-months where we have suffered serious damaged to the WMDR-FM antenna. The first incident was in August 2013, when the station’s $95,000 antenna system was seriously damaged, requiring a complete rebuild.”
“The Worship Radio Network technical team is finishing up the project of installing a new Shively 10-Bay FM Broadcast Antenna.” Epley added, “The ground crew will complete the crowning touch when a new Nautel FM Broadcast Transmitter arrives. It is equipped with digital components, which will allow an eventual upgrade to HD operation, once more automobiles are equipped with HD radio.”
Thrasher said, “WMDR-FM should be fully repaired and back to full broadcast strength by the Independence Day holiday. The station is licensed by the Federal Communications Commission to operate at 100,000-watts of effective radiated power, which will provide broadcast coverage to approximately half the population of the state of Maine.”
