Lyndhurst OKs razing of radio towers
When WOR-AM radio station resumes the delayed demolition of its three 700-foot radio towers Thursday, it shouldn't come as a surprise.
Area police have been notified. Safety concerns have been worked out with nearby transportation agencies and utility companies. Public notices have been printed in newspapers.
The demolition of the 40-year-old towers should take place as advertised, officials say, instead of the public relations mess that resulted in September when Lyndhurst police halted the event because they had not been notified.
"We've contacted the chief of police [of Lyndhurst] and he's contacted neighboring police, even state police," Tom Ray, WOR's vice president and corporate director of engineering, said Monday. "All of the people that had to be contacted and had a concern have been contacted."
When Lyndhurst Police Chief James B. O'Connor stopped the demolition, he said he had concerns about safety issues and the possibility that the sight of collapsing structures might O'Connor was also upset that emergency personnel were not properly prepared to answer any public emergency calls about the razing.
But after conferring with radio station officials, O'Connor said he is satisfied that proper notification has been made. He also learned that no explosives or hazardous materials will be used.
"We were unfamiliar with how they were going to demolish the towers at first," O'Connor said. "We were worried about the public's reaction. ... Now we see that the plan for the site will be safe."
The triangular-shaped towers will be dismantled by loosening one of the guy wires that anchors the structure, causing each one to collapse within itself, Ray said.
"There will be no explosion, there will be no boom," Ray said. "It should just collapse."
After years of planning and fine-tuning, WOR-AM 710, New York's oldest privately owned station, has switched over to new digital towers, half a mile north in Rutherford. The new towers are 658 feet high and the first newly built towers for a 50,000-watt New York City radio station in years.
The Lyndhurst site, within view of Giants Stadium, the New Jersey Turnpike and the Manhattan skyline, is part of a 437-acre parcel that is slated to be developed by EnCap Golf Holdings into a 350-room hotel and conference center, 250 luxury condominiums, 100,000 square feet of retail space, 930 adult housing units, 850 open-market housing units and two 18-hole golf courses and a driving range.
In addition to making room for development, Ray said the old towers need to come down to fully comply with a requirements set by the Federal Communications Commissions and because they are a navigational hazard to air traffic.
The 11 a.m. ceremony, which will include a live broadcast, will be closed to the public.
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