Mount Wilson Fire And Broadcast History

During the last 24 hours I have been watching closely the large forest fire surrounding Mount Wilson, California, which is north and east of LA with a peak of around 5,700 feet.

In case you don't know, Mount Wilson is home to two significant technological complexes:

Mt. Wilson Observatory and associated astronomy research sites dating back to near the year 1900.

A large collection of TV and radio transmitter and transmitter sites dating back to the beginnings of TV broadcasting in 1939!

This current fire is VERY close to all of this and could have a great impact on astronomy research and broadcasting in the LA area if it reaches the peak of Mount Wilson.

I have discovered some wonderful and detailed web sites tracing the history of Mt. Wilson and the activities there, including amazing pictures. This may well be the location of the largest concentration of television and radio broadcasting towers and associated facilities in the United States, perhaps the world. I'm researching this further.

Here is a link to one of several well-researched and photographed web sites (created by broadcast engineer Scott Fybush and his Northeast Radio News) detailing the broadcasting history of Mount Wilson, California.

Did you know a Packard dealer in Los Angeles built one of the first TV transmitters and towers in the western USA here?

See more ephemera about Mt. Wilson at:

http://www.fybush.com/sites/2004/site-041217.html

http://www.fybush.com/sites/2005/site-051216.html

Here is a link to a large collection of web sites about radio and TV history:

http://www.fybush.com/links.html

Live (updated every two minutes) high definition tower cam on top of Mount Wilson facing toward the tower and transmitter sites. Note the orange glow in the background on the other side of the peak. This is the fire.

http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~obs/towercam.htm

There are houses and apartments for the various broadcast engineers who live on Mt. Wilson in one-week shifts. Apparently, all staff there and at neighboring Mt. Wilson Observatory have been evacuated. The transmitters are being operated and monitored remotely from their respective broadcast studios down in LA.

Link to Mount Wilson web page:

http://www.mtwilson.edu/

Enjoy this fascinating exploration of broadcasting history in the western U.S.

Porter Versfelt III