REDFIELD, Ark. (AP) -- At Redfield, a 2,000-foot
television tower that was the second-tallest structure in the world
when it was built in the 1960s collapsed today while workers were
restringing guy wires. Two Little Rock-area television stations went
off the air.
KATV News Director Randy Dixon
says one person suffered a minor injury when the tower collapsed in a
field about 20 miles south of Little Rock. The station was working to
establish a feed to restore its signal to its audience that obtains
programming by satellite.
KATV went off the
air, and the accident also knocked out the analog signal of KETS, a
Public Broadcasting Service affiliate in the Arkansas Educational
Television Network. AETN said it could be several days before its
analog signal is restored.
At the time it
was completed in May 1967, the KATV tower was the second-tallest
structure in the world -- behind a 2,063-foot TV tower in North Dakota.
It remained one of the world's tallest structures until today's
collapse.
It was a landmark along the
four-lane highway between Little Rock and Pine Bluff, marking the
approximate halfway point between the two cities.
The National Weather Service at North Little Rock said winds were light about the time of the collapse.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
