WLOS tower replacement receives OK
By Mark Barrett, STAFF WRITER

CANDLER  - - The head of U.S. Forest Service operations in North Carolina has decided to allow WLOS/Channel 13 to replace its landmark broadcast tower atop Mount Pisgah, saying the change will have no significant environmental impact.

The decision Tuesday by Forest Supervisor John Ramey would allow a new tower to be built a few feet away from the old one, which would then be torn down. Ramey's action is subject to an appeal to the agency's regional office.

WLOS has said a new tower is needed to accommodate equipment that will allow it to broadcast digital television signals, something the federal government says it must do by May 2002. The WUNC-TV public television system also broadcasts from the tower, and some governmental agencies have equipment on it.

Some environmental groups had urged the Forest Service to look at other possible sites for a new tower, saying the Mount Pisgah tower is too visible and is an unwanted intrusion in a natural area.

Some local residents told the Citizen-Times in March, however, that they like being able to see the tower and receive WLOS broadcasts.

Ray Johns, a real estate specialist with the Forest Service, said Thursday the public comments it received were evenly split between those who like the tower and those who don't.

"A lot of the reaction was, 'It's a landmark in the county,' " Johns said. "People, when they look up at Mount Pisgah, they know which way they're heading."

At 5,721 feet, Mount Pisgah is one of Buncombe County's most visible peaks. The tower can be seen from downtown Asheville and several nearby communities.

WLOS built a tower on the site in 1954, and its lease there expires at the end of 2005.

Bob Gale, ecologist at environmental group the Western North Carolina Alliance, had endorsed looking for another site now, before WLOS goes to the expense of building a new tower.

"If a lot of money is spent building a tower, it's going to be awful hard to go back to É WLOS and say take that tower down" in 2005, Gale said Thursday.

Looking at alternative locations for a tower is outside the scope of the decision the Forest Service has to make, Johns said, because WLOS' lease is not up yet.

The new tower will be about the same height as the existing, 271-foot one, but it should be less visible, Johns said.

The current tower is painted in bands of white and a reddish orange color. The new one is to be painted a pale blue-gray to blend into the sky but will have lights on day and night to alert pilots of aircraft.

Because of "the new color scheme (the tower) under certain conditions and at certain places will not be visible at all," he said.

A WLOS official said the station would have no comment until a 45-day appeal period passes. Johns said he does not know when work on a new tower might begin.

WLOS will continue to broadcast analog television signals after digital transmissions start, and the existing tower is not strong enough to hold the additional digital equipment, the Forest Service has said.

Contact Barrett at 232-5833 or MBarrett@CITIZEN-TIMES.com .