From the base of WBZ's west tower, we're looking back east along the walkway towards the transmitter building. When the site was originally constructed, on WBZ's pre-NARBA frequency of 990 kHz, the two towers were each exactly half a wave tall, spaced a quarter wave apart, and phased 90° apart—the simplest possible directional antenna configuration. When WBZ moved to 1030 in 1941, the phasing was adjusted to maintain the pre-existing cardioid pattern. The soil here is quite damp and provides excellent ground conductivity for WBZ's counterpoise; Boston Harbor is just over the seawall a few hundred feet behind me.
The tall "telephone pole" just right of center is the last remnant of the curtain antenna once used by WBZ's sister shortwave station, WBOS.
Copyright 2005, Garrett Wollman. All rights reserved. Photograph taken 2005-06-09.