Yesterday I wrote a story about the radio tower next to Gustavus. I enjoy thinking about the communication structures close to home here in Saint Peter. Believe it or not, Sprint actually has an antenna on top of the library; something I didn’t discuss that yesterday.
Oddly enough, I saw a couple of people in the hallway between the library and the Student Union this afternoon with some pretty cool looking equipment. One of the people had a cream-colored two-foot tall metal tall antenna, and the other person had a handheld device with fancy colored waves running acrost it.
I was interested in this equipment, so I asked them what they were doing. They told me that they were with Sprint; and that they have received a number of calls from Saint Peter residents who have been having service problems. I guess Technology Service’s suggestion to notify phone companies about coverage problems is helping improve service!
They said they were trying to track down and correct an interference problem. The Sprint representatives said that any kind of electronic device, even things like baby monitors can cause interference with cellular signals. Apparently something, which they think is likely on or near the Gustavus campus, is causing interference issues.
I am glad to see that Sprint is working to improve coverage in Saint Peter; and hope they are able to find and fix the interference problem.
A special Happy Birthday goes out to Maren, one of my jingle fans! I thought a jingle for Maren’s Marvelous Birthday Parties might be in line. Enjoy, Maren, and have a great day!
I have always been fascinated by radio towers. While some people hardly pay attention to them, I like radio, and it is interesting to me to see where the signals are coming from. The FCC maintains an extensive database of records relating to what radio towers do. The amount of data available is amazing. The FCC website is really hard to navigate in my opinion, but if you get to the media bureau (fcc.gov/mb), you are half way to the radio and TV information. One of my favorite websites of all time is radio-locator.com. It takes the information available from the FCC and presents it in an easy to understand fashion. If you are ever bored, jump over to radio-locator.com and punch in a couple of your favorite stations. You’ll be amazed by the information you find.
For Gusties who live on the North end of campus, the radio tower on Grace Street is a big part of the landscape. I thought people might be interested to know a little bit more about the tower. It is used to broadcast KRBI-FM. The FCC and radio-locator.com both give information about the station.
When I was reviewing the information recently, I learned something kind of interesting. Three Eagles Communication, the company that owns KRBI-FM, has a construction permit from the FCC to broadcast the station from another tower they own adjacent to their studios in North Mankato. Scroll down to the bottom of the FCC or radio-locator.com information to learn more about this.
I think this is particularly interesting, as it may mean that KRBI-FM is in the process of moving its broadcast location.
For more information on the actual tower from the FCC, see this page.
On another note, there is a tower located near the Saint Peter High School football field, not far away. Midwest Wireless, who was bought out by Verizon Wireless, owns this tower, according again to FCC records. I would thus assume this is a cellular tower.
Sorry for this nerdy post, I hope someone enjoys it. I have more exciting jingles on the way!
The jingle craze seems to be catching on! I thought I would let everyone know that you can subscribe to tomlany.net. This is a great way to be the first to know about the latest tunes without having to visit the homepage.
Thanks for your support!
Tired of all the slush on your driveway? Don’t go south, clean up the real mess. It’s Burt’s Better Ice Melt.
Like many, I enjoy getting mail. I don’t know if it is a jingle or not — maybe it is just a rhyme. at the very least, it describes a recent experience of mine pretty well. Enjoy!
I wanted to update everyone about the results of my recent GAC Idol audition.
I was not selected as an act for the show. They did ask me, however to do an introduction to the show. I am super excited!
Come see GAC Idol in the Marketplace at Gustavus on Fri. Mar. 12 at 7:00 p.m. See the Facebook event for more details.
Welcome to tomlany.net, home of Tom Lany's radio jingles, the latest on Tom's web and journalism projects, and whatever else is on his mind. Tom grew up in the Minneapolis area and is now attending 