Monett's KRMO AM radio tower collapses

Station owners switch transmissions, vow to rebuild
Around 8 a.m. on Oct. 24, the broadcast tower for KRMO radio in Monett, located next to the southern edge of the IOOF Cemetery, toppled to the ground. Investigation into the incident is continuing.
Dewayne Gandy, one of the owners of Eagle Broadcasting, was mowing grounds at the time and watched the tower, erected in October 1949, fall. A guy wire supporting the tower broke, flipping over adjacent power lines, causing the tower to sway then fall to the northwest, barely missing the tower shack housing the station transmitters.
Gandy, who has been mowing that field for 21 years, said he subsequently checked and found the mower had not touched the guy wires. He could not determine what caused the collapse. The tower was painted and new lights placed on it a year ago.
Fellow owner Janet Gandy said, “We’ve followed every protocol maintaining the tower, better than the requirements.”
The radio station continued to transmit to the 42,000 listeners using the station’s mobile app. Broadcasts also continued without interruption on Monett Web TV, also available on YouTube. Dewayne Gandy expected to have a temporary tower erected on-site for the KRMO signal by the end of Oct. 24. Erecting a temporary tower for FM station KKBL was expected to take up to a week. Janet Gandy contacted the Federal Communications Commission and had KRMO transmissions switched to the tower for KSWM 940 AM in Aurora.
The Gandys provided reassurances that the station would continue service, including all subsequent football games the week of the collapse. They said the tower will be rebuilt on location.
As of this writing, a visit by an insurance adjuster was pending.
 
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