Originally published June 16, 2009 at 10:27 p.m., updated June 16, 2009 at 10:27 p.m.
Eagle Radio General Manager, Gary Exline, surveys the toppled tower at the KFEQ-AM tower site on North 71 Highway.
A potentially dangerous accident ends up with no one injured but a pile of steel and some major headaches for a local radio station.
Around 7:10pm Tuesday, one of four broadcasting towers of 680 KFEQ-AM radio came crashing to the ground just off North 71 Highway.
Eagle Radio Vice President, Mark Vail, tells St. Joe Now the farmer that mows hay at the tower site in Andrew County, apparently snagged one of the supporting guy wires of the #4 tower and that sent the 69 year old tower to the ground.
The KFEQ towers on North 71 Highway stand 360 feet tall. Normally, all four radio towers stand in line east to west.
Vail says the am station is now operating on reduced power and Wednesday, the company will apply for an emergency authorization from the FCC to operate at lower power until a new tower can be constructed.
Vail says the daytime reach of the station should not be affected but the tower that went down was part of the station's night time array which will affect the night reach of the station.
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