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WITI TV Tower
 
 
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The WITI Tower was completed in August 1962 and was briefly the tallest free-standing tower
Tower

Towers are tall human-made structures that are always taller than they are wide, usually by a significant margin. Towers are generally built to take advantage of their height, and can stand alone or as part of a larger structure....
 in the world, rising 1078 feet. (Tokyo Tower
Tokyo Tower

is a Radio masts and towers and observation tower located in Shiba Park, Minato, Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan. At 333 meters , it is the tallest self-supporting steel structure in the world and the tallest artificial structure in Japan....
 had been the world's tallest, and after the construction of WITI's tower, it added additional members to regain the title.) For many years, it was the tallest free-standing tower in the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
. The Bentley Company was the foundation contractor
General contractor

A general contractor is a group or individual that contracts with another organization or individual for the construction, renovation or demolition of a building, road or other structure....
 for the Dresser
Dresser Industries

Dresser Industries was a multinational corporation headquartered in Dallas, Texas, which provided a wide range of technology, products, and services used for developing energy and natural resources....
 Ideco tower, which was erected by the Seago Construction Co.

The village of Shorewood
Shorewood, Wisconsin

Shorewood is a village in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 13,763 at the 2000 census....
, Wisconsin
Wisconsin

Wisconsin is one of the fifty U.S. state in the United States of America, located in the north central part of the United States. It borders two of the five Great Lakes and four U.S....
 allowed WITI to build the tower on a piece of privately-owned land that might have completed Estabrook Parkway along the Milwaukee River
Milwaukee River

The Milwaukee River is a river in the state of Wisconsin, about 75 miles long....
.






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The WITI Tower was completed in August 1962 and was briefly the tallest free-standing tower
Tower

Towers are tall human-made structures that are always taller than they are wide, usually by a significant margin. Towers are generally built to take advantage of their height, and can stand alone or as part of a larger structure....
 in the world, rising 1078 feet. (Tokyo Tower
Tokyo Tower

is a Radio masts and towers and observation tower located in Shiba Park, Minato, Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan. At 333 meters , it is the tallest self-supporting steel structure in the world and the tallest artificial structure in Japan....
 had been the world's tallest, and after the construction of WITI's tower, it added additional members to regain the title.) For many years, it was the tallest free-standing tower in the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
. The Bentley Company was the foundation contractor
General contractor

A general contractor is a group or individual that contracts with another organization or individual for the construction, renovation or demolition of a building, road or other structure....
 for the Dresser
Dresser Industries

Dresser Industries was a multinational corporation headquartered in Dallas, Texas, which provided a wide range of technology, products, and services used for developing energy and natural resources....
 Ideco tower, which was erected by the Seago Construction Co.

The village of Shorewood
Shorewood, Wisconsin

Shorewood is a village in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 13,763 at the 2000 census....
, Wisconsin
Wisconsin

Wisconsin is one of the fifty U.S. state in the United States of America, located in the north central part of the United States. It borders two of the five Great Lakes and four U.S....
 allowed WITI to build the tower on a piece of privately-owned land that might have completed Estabrook Parkway along the Milwaukee River
Milwaukee River

The Milwaukee River is a river in the state of Wisconsin, about 75 miles long....
. Doing so added to the village's tax
Tax

To tax is to impose a financial charge or other levy upon an individual or Legal person by a state or the functional equivalent of a state.Taxes are also imposed by many subnational entity....
 base. The WTMJ-TV
WTMJ-TV

WTMJ-TV is a television station located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the flagship station of the Journal Broadcast Group. When WTMJ-TV began broadcasting on December 3, 1947, it was the first television station in Wisconsin, and the fifteenth commercial station to go on the air in the United States....
 and WISN-TV
WISN-TV

WISN-TV is a television station located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Its signal covers most of southeastern Wisconsin and parts of northeastern Illinois, including Racine, Wisconsin, Kenosha, Wisconsin, Sheboygan, Wisconsin and Waukesha, Wisconsin....
 towers were nearby, and locating the tower there meant that Milwaukee
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Milwaukee is the largest city in Wisconsin and List of United States cities by population in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan....
 TV
Television

Television is a widely used telecommunication mass-media for transmitting and receiving moving , either monochrome or color, usually accompanied by sound....
 viewers could point their antennas
Antenna (radio)

An 'antenna' is a transducer designed to transmitter or receive Electromagnetic radiations. In other words, antennas convert electromagnetic waves into electrical currents and vice versa....
 in the same general direction. However, there was no room for guy-wire
Guy-wire

A guy-wire or guy-rope is a tensioned cable designed to add stability to structures . One end of the cable is attached to the structure, and the other is anchored to the ground at a distance from the structure's base....
s on the property, and as such the tower had to be free-standing. In August 1962, construction of a 1078 foot tower at East Capitol Drive and Estabrook Parkway was completed. It was formally dedicated on 9 October 1962. WMVS leased space on the tower for many years.

WITI was looking for a way to make the tower a Milwaukee landmark, and in October 1963, the station received permission from the Shorewood village board to install lights on it. Shortly thereafter, approximately 2000 25 watt
WATT

WATT is a radio station broadcasting a News radio-Talk radio-Sports radio format. Licensed to Cadillac, Michigan, it first began broadcasting in 1945....
 lights were installed. Station manager Roger LeGrand then coined the phrase "Milwaukee's Tower of Light". Some neighbors objected. The Shorewood village attorney opined that the lighted "6" sign might violate the village's lighted sign ordinance, but that the lights affixed to the tower's legs were legal. The village later declared the lights and the sign to be legal. (Except for special requests - such as to aid navigation
Navigation

Navigation is the process of reading, and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another. It is also the term of art used for the specialized knowledge used by navigators to perform navigation tasks....
 on Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan

Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America, and the only one located entirely within the United States. The third-largest of the Great Lakes, it is bounded, from west to east, by the U.S....
 during sailing
Sailing

Sailing is the art of controlling a boat with large pieces of canvas cloth called sails. By changing the rigging, rudder, and dagger or centre board, a sailor manages the force of the wind on the sails in order to change the direction and speed of a boat....
 races - the tower was only lit from dusk until midnight.) The lights stayed on until the energy crisis of 1973-74
1973 oil crisis

The 1973 oil crisis started on October 15, 1973, when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries or the OAPEC proclaimed an oil embargo "in response to the U.S....
, when at the suggestion of a viewer they were turned off. They were finally removed in 2003 when the station began converting the tower for digital TV
Digital television

Digital television is the sending and receiving of moving images and sound by Discrete signal signals, in contrast to the Analog television used by analog TV....
.

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