In the early 1980’s the radio tower for KQDY-FM took a nasty spill in the middle of the field where its replacement stands northeast of Bismarck. The tower fell, damaging an adjacent stick and ripping the corner off the transmitter building. It’s not the only such tower to do so; in the big blizzard of ’97, the KXJB television tower near Blanchard also took a dive…for the second time. What I thought was unique about the KQDY tower is that the new one’s screwed to the base using the same old bolts.

See the bent bolt sticking out of the concrete base? Apparently that’s not a problem. I guess a guy just has to break out his big honkin’ wrench, jam the nut on there as tight as she’ll go, and rely on the other three to take up the slack. So be it, I guess if the thing were to fall in that direction again it would only disturb the gophers.

As many of you know, I’ve spent the last – wow, almost 20 years – involved in broadcasting and/or video production. I keep my ear to the ground regarding that sort of thing, and thus I picked up this little tidbit about the FargoDome. The ‘Dome has just received an electronic facelift, including new a new sound system. I’ve never attended an event in the FargoDome, although I’ve worked plenty of them and scaled the catwalks high above it and run around on the roof watching the F-16’s. Friends who have attended events in the FargoDome have said the acoustics aren’t that great, and the buzz I heard reveals a possible reason why.

When the old loudspeakers were cut loose from the ceiling beams and lowered down, a shocking discovery was made: over half of them were stuffed with masking material! It seems that they were black when they were put up there, but later on they were painted Bison Green along with much of the gridwork up above. The drivers were stuffed with masking material so they didn’t get coated in paint, and – oops – apparently most of them were never unmasked.

If you thought the ‘Dome sounded a little muffled or muddy…well, perhaps that’s why. But hopefully it isn’t being held together with any of KQDY’s bent bolts.

Oh yeah, my favorite part of the FargoDome: the catwalks. They have long, steep ramps from the stair access along the outer wall to the inner ring of catwalks up above. Those ramps are about an arm’s width across and very long & steep. The catwalks get very dusty, and therefore very slippery. While carrying equipment up to the catwalks I’d often have to just use one hand to carry, with the other used to steady myself up using the handrail. When I was done mounting camera equipment etc. for whatever show I was working up there, I would enjoy taking a run and surfing down the dusty ramps. It was like being on rollerblades, but VERY high up above the ground. WOO HOO! Sometimes I miss my adrenaline junkie days…but then I remember the scars and the creaking noises. I guess memories will have to do for now.