We recently went on vacation in Tennessee, which is a great state. Most of the time was spent hiking around various state parks, investigating interesting places, or eating at various restaurants. I highly recommend the state parks, there are many and they are all good. All of that being said, I could not resist the temptation to swing by WSM on the way back to the airport. I am happy I did.
The site is right off of I-65 and easy to get to. There is a public dog park that is behind it, which is a convenient place to park.
The Blaw-Knox tower is impressive. The site is well-maintained overall.
The main tower is fed with open wire transmission line. The aux tower is off the right. It was nice to stop and walk around the site taking pictures. The Brentwood Police Department even stopped by and welcomed us to the neighborhood.
It is always interesting to stop by some of these more famous stations. It would be nice if more sites were recognized as historical places, given the role that radio played in 20th-century US society. Both of my parents grew up during the Great Depression. According to their stories; life was tough, it was a struggle to feed the family and pay rent, but they did have a radio in the living room which was switched on every night after dinner.
Does anyone there call it Air Castle of the South, or is that left to us not-youngs who have read the book, and carry around more nostalgia about radio than absolutely necessary?
I was in Tennessee last fall. Went to Knoxville to see a Vols’ game. (and had a BLAST). Loved it. One of my favorite things was passing the mystery TV tower well to the east of Nashville. It was built as a “move in” to Nashville. The access road to the tower was quite fascinating too. I linked it here, halfway down.
My dogs loved that dog park while we were in Nashville. Beautiful site.
Scott, that is a rather nice park; I like how they have it separated into large dogs/small dogs…
The open wire was abandoned in early 2000ish. Underground coax feeds both the main and aux antennas now. A big lightning strike in 2019 resulted in the entire atu being replaced. https://www.thenewstn.com/brentwood/landmark-of-brentwood-wsm-tower-restored-after-historic-spring-storm-damage/article_ddd0b418-1b7d-11ea-b491-afd840233439.html
Adam, Thank you for the info and the interesting link.