Only the strongest transmitter can send radio waves past the steel skeletons of Manhattan skyscrapers. Last week both NBC and CBS prepared to add potency to two of their Manhattan outlets. Already well along was an NBC transmitter for WEAF on a dandy hill near Port Washington, N. Y. CBS planned a more spectacular job.
CBS’s site was Little Pea Island, a bleak cluster of rocks about 150 ft. square, a mile off the shore of Westchester County. According to CBS calculations, it is the finest spot around New York City for radio transmission. Now leveling the island off, CBS engineers intend to surround it with a 16 ½ ft. sea wall, anchor a 410-ft. transmitter upon it in 39 ft. of concrete. Housed in a control building 75 ft. square will be all the equipment needed for transmission. Two telephone lines will be laid on the bottom of the Sound to carry programs from WABC’s Manhattan studios. Against their unlikely failure, CBS will send its programs to Little Pea Island by short wave.
Cost of transforming Little Pea Island into a transmitting base will run around $500,000. The control house is being outfitted to take care of ten men, in case a storm prevents passage to the mainland.
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