An unidentified man has been rescued from a 250-foot broadcast tower used by a Salem Media Group station serving the Minneapolis-St. Paul market. Meanwhile, a radio tower used by a Cumulus Media AM serving Albuquerque has collapsed after a hot air balloon crashed into it on Friday morning.
In the Twin Cities, a “man in crisis” who somehow climbed the radio tower in Eagan, Minn., was successfully rescued at sunrise Thursday by the Dakota County Special Operations Team, which deployed a ‘high angle rope rescue,’ local media reported. The tower is used for KKMS-AM 980 and WWTC-AM 1280.
The 51-year-old individual from Moorhead, Minn., near Fargo, was treated for exposure to the cold.
Meanwhile, balloons lifted off this morning for Albuquerque’s Special Shapes Rodeo and competition flying, and one went awry. It crashed into a radio tower for KKOB Radio, sending it crumbling to the ground. No injuries were reported to those inside the balloon.
Interestingly, a hot air balloon crashed into KKOB Radio towers 20 years ago, KOAT-TV reports. In a statement released late Friday, Jeff Berry, Vice President/Market Manager for Cumulus/Albuquerque, said, “Friday morning at approximately 8:30am, a hot air balloon that was participating in the 52nd Annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta accidentally clipped a radio tower that transmits Cumulus Media’s NewsTalk KKOB-AM, causing the tower to collapse. Thankfully, no one was injured. KKOB-AM is broadcast by two towers, neither of which are owned by Cumulus Media, and the second tower was not hit. The collision has impacted KKOB’s AM signal, but NewsTalk KKOB-FM’s broadcast was unaffected.”
There was no indication as to when KKOB-AM, heard across the Southwest after dark, would resume broadcasting.
Friday was Day 7 of Balloon Fiesta, one of the most renown hot air balloon events in the world.
