ESCANABA – An area radio station is back at full power after its tower collapsed in August.

Radio station 104.7 WYKX-FM began broadcasting from a new Sabre 400 foot tower in Cornell at 5 p.m. Tuesday. The sudden strength in the station’s signal was immediately noticed. Listeners glad to hear the station again called in to the Mike Flavor Show Wednesday morning.

“We were getting calls from Stephenson and Dickinson County from people saying we sounded great and glad to hear us again,” Flavor said.

The station is broadcasting with an effective radiated power (ERP) of 100,000 kilowatts of power.

The tower collapsed in a huge storm during the U.P. State Fair. A guy-wire broke and the top of the tower bent over during the storm.

The tower was torn down and a new one ordered. The station continued broadcasting from its relay signal on top of Harbor Tower in Escanaba.

“We really appreciate the patience everyone had while we worked to replace the tower. The crews worked very hard to get the signal working this week,” said Kim Rabitoy, station general manager.
Sections of the tower were put in place by Ness Construction of Escanaba. Rabitoy said the large crane that Ness had made it easier to put the tower back in place. The tower was constructed by JT Tower of Coldwater, Mich.

A new 3-inch diameter transmission line was installed to provide power to the tower and a 10 bay Dielectric FM antenna was hung Monday.

Station Engineer Coral Howe said nothing was salvageable from the old tower. The new tower meets FCC tower lighting requirement which require a top and two middle beacons. The tower also includes new LED lighting which use less power than than the previous lights.

WYKX-FM is part of KMB Broadcasting which includes 680 WDBC-AM in Escanaba.

The tower is located on County Road 426 in Delta County near Cornell.