WSPA tower on Hogback collapses in storm

Published 3:52 pm Thursday, March 5, 2009

Winds up to 60 miles per hour and ice two inches thick caused WSPA&squo;s broadcast tower on Hogback Mountain to collapse, according to the television station.

News Channel 7 reported that its main broadcast tower on the mountain collapsed, hitting the main back-up tower as it fell.

The Spartanburg television station says structural engineers are reviewing the damage and determining whether a temporary antenna can be installed on top of what&squo;s left of the broadcast tower.

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The station says it hopes to restore a signal from the tower in the next few weeks.

Area residents who use a television antenna may have lost signal after the tower collapsed. They can still view WSPA if they use a converter box, which is needed for the upcoming digital signal conversion.

People who have a converter box can go to Menu, select Setup and then select Auto Tuning to find the channel or they can manually tune in digital channel 62.2 to get WSPA, says the television station.

WSPA says its signal also can be viewed on Charter and DirecTV and the station is working with Dish TV so it can acquire its signal.