Three Santa Barbara radio stations to go off air this week for tower updating project

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - After months of planning, a three-day project to work on a City of Santa Barbara site where a radio tower is located will see significant work that will require multiple radio stations to go off the air.

The work will take place at the City of Santa Barbara Service Yard on Yanonali Street east of Garden Street. The radio tower has been there since 1965.

The tower is 198-feet tall and is referred to as a monopole. The pole is owned by Rincon Broadcasting.

The broadcast equipment currently attached deliver signals for KZSB AM1290, KCLU 1340AM and KOSJ 1490AM.

After a review by the city, modifications were required to bring the monopole into compliance with the American National Standards Institute and Telecommunications Industry.

According to Miles Sexton, President of Sexton Broadcasting and Marketing Consultants, the work will be completed by well-regarded leaders in the industry.

"The broadcasting monopole modification work project will be completed by one of the leading national tower engineering and construction companies, Tashjian Towers Corporation; telecommunications and electromagnetic engineering specialists from Hatfield and Dawson Consulting Engineers; and, Remote Possibilities principal, the Society of Engineers Certified Professional Broadcast Engineer, Richard Rudman."

When work is complete, the tower will be shorter and will have a new paint job.

All three stations will continue to broadcast online while their on-air signal is off.