[BC] WCBS-TV Empire Transmitter

[brew@theMode.com]

Tom Bosscher asked:

> The rumor has had it for a long time that WCBS was still at the Empire
> when the WTC attack occured, seemingly due to someone "accidentally"
> renewing the Empire lease, and supposedly, that person lost their job
> over that issue.

> Is this true, and if so, has CBS hired that person back after 9-11, or
> at least said "Thank-you"?

and Dana replied:

> That person got fired because the Empire lease had an auto renew clause.
> The letter cancelling the lease was not sent in on time, the lease
> renewed and they got fired for it. WCBS decided to leave an old clunker
> transmitter there as a third aux, rather then tossing it out.

> By the way, Empire saved their butts TWICE - the first time being when
> the van was blown up in the basement of the north tower. All the other
> stations were off for a day - but WCBS flipped on Empire and was back on
> the air....

Yes, it was an automatically renewing lease, and for a long lease period,
too (maybe fifty years?).  I'm not sure of the exact details of the
incident (it happened before Aug '89, which was when I started at the
WCBS-TV transmitter) and if I *was* sure of the exact details I probably
wouldn't tell them......!

As far as I know WCBS-TV has never officially thanked anybody for not
cancelling the lease on time and letting it renew.  Management of the
local station has changed several times since then.......

I'm sure many in CBS Engineering appreciate how the cards played out,
though.

I'm sure being almost the only TV station on the air during an emergency
counts for a lot in good will and publicity, but note that the first thing
that happens is that all the spots are dumped in the interest of non-stop
reporting about the emergency!

On the Friday of the bomb in the van in the WTC basement, Feb. 26 '93, I
was staying with a guy in Jersey City.  He was watching TV and started
complaining, "Lousy cable company...... almost all the stations in NY
won't come up and I was really interested in this report of some kind of
fire in the WTC."

That got my attention!

I called the transmitter and all three phone lines were busy.  I dashed
out the door and went straight to Empire.  John Angus and Joe Pelluci were
already there.  Then there was a bomb scare at Empire and John, Joe and I
left, leaving the transmitter unattended for a while (remote control was
from WTC, Isaias Rivera was still there, but I don't think he had power at
that time).  We all stood around in the ESB lobby waiting for the All
Clear to go back up - I thought we probably would have been safer just
staying up on the 83rd floor rather than stand in the lobby!!

Meanwhile Isaias sent coworker Debbie Matut-Perina, pregnant at the time,
down in a helicopter and stayed to keep an eye on things in the shack,
since it was being used as a command post by the police.

I went up to the ESB observation deck that night, it was weird seeing just
a dark hole of blackness where the WTC was.  And, yes, I made sure to
report that the WTC tower lights were out to the FAA!

The next day I went to the WTC to relieve Isaias.  They wouldn't let me
in.

I went to the mobile command center, they told me, "Nobody gets in."

Finally I found a desk setup in the Telephone building across the street
where they gave me a pass for entry.

Then back to the WTC, where they said 'Get Lost'.  I showed them my pass,
they said, "Nobody gets in unless their name is on *this* list."

My name was on the list.

Then I had to get an escort, with an HT for communications, since the
phones in the elevators were out, to take me up to the 110th floor, where
Isaias went back down with him.

And there I sat, on the top floor of a dark nearly lifeless building,
without running water, wondering if I really wanted to be there.  But I
figured it was probably safer *after* the attack than it was before, which
was true, at least for a few years!!!!!

So to keep busy I started writing about what had happened, which was
eventually published in Broadcast Engineering that summer.

A few years later Isaias Rivera perished at the WTC, along with fellow
broadcasters Rod Coppola, Don DiFranco, Steve Jacobson, Bob Pattison, and
Bill Steckman.  I was working uptown at the Network by then, but I knew
and worked with them all.

May they rest in peace.

brew  Bruce Schiller at CBS-TV NY Master Control Maintenance and WA2ZST