A piece of Canadian and CTV Ottawa’s history came down in the Gatineau Hills on Sunday.
The Ryan Tower on Camp Fortune, named after former 580 CFRA owner Frank Ryan, was taken down on Sunday after its receivers were transferred over to a new one.
The 65-year-old tower was one of the oldest radio towers in Canada and transmitted both radio and television signals since it went up in the 1960s.
“On the top of the tower, among its many other uses, is your live-eye link for your trucks back to the studio,” said Harrie Jones, Bellmedia Ottawa’s chief radio engineer.
“When they see JJ (Clarke) out in the field, he’s coming back through that link there.”
The 38 metre tower was flown into place by a helicopter in 1961, as there were no roads to the top of the hill.
Ryan moved it from its place further down because the station changed frequencies from 560 to 580 AM, where it remains today.
Jones said the task of moving each dish to the new tower wasn’t easy.
“We’ll cut the four guy wires off the top, then we’ll actually take a power saw and cut the tower just above the lower guy wires,” he said.
“Then we’ll pick it up, swing it around and lower it onto the ground.”
The whole process took all day, with only a few minor issues on the radio side for about 20 minutes.
With a report from CTV Ottawa’s Katie Griffin
