Holston Mountain - Antenna Farms

Antenna Farms

The Holston Mountain collection of broadcast towers, commonly referred to as an "antenna farm" is a good example of radio and TV station owners, co-locating their broadcast towers near each other on the highest point near their FCC city of license. This marketing practice was borne during the 1950s, before cable and during a time when all homes had outside antennae to receive broadcast signals. When the viewer wanted to receive a clear picture or FM stereo from their favorite station, they would point their antennae toward that radio or TV station's broadcasting tower (usually on the highest mountain peak nearby). Other station owners realized the benefit of locating their transmitting towers near that one, to allow viewers to get clear signals from their stations, too. The nearest antenna farm to Holston Mountain is southwest to Sharp's Ridge, on which most of the FM and TV stations in the Knoxville, Tennessee Designated Market Area (DMA) have their antennas and towers. The next nearest from Holston Mountain is on Poor Mountain in Central Virginia, home to most of the FM and TV stations in the Roanoke, Virginia Radio and Television DMA. Although most radio and TV stations are in fierce competition with each other in their broadcast markets, they will often locate their broadcasting antennas very near each other, and in some cases, will even share land or towers with each other, in the interests of space, land availability, and the cost of putting a transmission building on top of a mountain. Other examples of co-located towers on mountain peaks in the United States are on Signal Mountain near Chattanooga, Tennessee; Sharp's Ridge in Knoxville, Tennessee; Red Mountain in Birmingham, Alabama; Mount Wilson near Los Angeles; Sutro Tower in San Francisco; Lookout Mountain near Denver; Cedar Hill between Dallas and Fort Worth; South Mountain Park near Phoenix; Nelson Peak near Salt Lake City, Sandia Crest near Albuquerque, New Mexico, and probably the most famous broadcast antenna farm of all: The World Trade Center Tower One, on which all of the New York City television and FM stations had their antennas. All were lost when Twin Towers One and Two collapsed after a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. All the New York City stations now broadcast from their old home, 200 feet lower, on the Empire State Building.