| WTVR TV Tower | |
|---|---|
 | |
 
| |
| General information | |
| Type | Steel lattice television tower |
| Location | Richmond, Virginia |
| Coordinates | 37°33′59″N 77°28′34″W / 37.56639°N 77.47611°W / 37.56639; -77.47611 |
| Completed | 1953 |
| Height | 257 m (843 ft) |
The WTVR TV Tower is an 843-foot-tall (257 m) free-standing lattice towerinRichmond, Virginia.[1] It broadcasts WTVR-FM and has been in operation since 1953.
Upon completion in 1953, the tower became the tallest in the United States[2] and the second tallest lattice tower in the world after the Eiffel Tower and only surpassed in height by five buildings; the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, 70 Pine Street, 40 Wall Street & the GE Building.[3] It was a substantive increase from previous tallest towers of any type built in the United States, the NSS Annapolis. It remains to this day the tallest man made structure in Virginia.[4]
The tower is currently only used by WTVR-FM. Even though WTVR-TV and WTVR-FM still share the same WTVR call letters they are no longer affiliated with each other and are under different ownership. WTVR-TV no longer broadcasts from this tower. WTVR-TV shares a transmitter with PBS member stations WCVE-TV and WCVW. WTVR-TV stopped transmitting from this tower during the analog to digital conversion in 2009.[5] The tower is still called the WTVR-TV tower because of its history, despite no longer broadcasting from this tower. On November 1, 2017, iHeartMedia announced that WTVR-FM, along with all of their sister stations in Richmond and Chattanooga, would be sold to Entercom due to that company's merger with CBS Radio.[6] The sale was completed on December 19, 2017.[7] The tower is considered part of the Richmond skyline and can be seen for several miles around. WTVR-TV's West Broad studios is located directly next to the tower. The station used a graphical version of the tower in its news opens for several years in the 1980s and early 1990s. The tower is also the namesake of the Tower Building, a National Register of Historic Places-listed structure located across the street.[8]
Currently only WTVR-FM transmits from WTVR Tower.[9]
| Callsign | Frequency | Format | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|
| WTVR-FM | 98.1 | Adult contemporary | Entercom Communications |
