KCTV5 tower.

[ShowMeKC]

Towers being demolished... The first isn't that great because a plane hit it, pilot died and they had to cut the tower down to get the plane.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udenD7RXGg0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhGWa6G1bGQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vOdyQoCyqo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OCliuLn28g

[mildweed]

I've thought for a long time that this tower needs an official name.  I did some research, and the most historically significant name I could come up with is Gillham Tower.  Why?  Because Gillham was the man with the plan for the cable cars.  The ones that went from downtown into the west bottoms, and more relevantly, from downtown to Union Hill, pretty much right at that point where the tower now stands.

So, what do you say, KC?  Shall we start calling it Gillham Tower?

[IraGlacialis]

Since it was originally for KCTV5, how about Sensationalism Spire? 

[KCFutbol]

Since it was originally for KCTV5, how about Sensationalism Spire? 

A bit more alliterative.

"Self-Supporting Sensationalism Spire".

[moderne]

Haven't heard them call it this for years, but the station used to call it the "Eye-Full"  tower, as a nod to both its height and the CBS eye symbol.

[KCLover]

Noticed that the lights on the tower are back on. Apparently came on when the plaza lights were turned on.

[AllThingsKC]

Were they all lit?

[KCLover]

Forgot about this thread..

They are almost all lit, it looks much better than I can remember in a long time. There are still bulbs out, but nothing like it was.

[Jess]

Yep, driving back into town on Sunday after Thanksgiving, it was cool to see it lit up.

[KC_Hams]

OK I'm totally off...never mind my comments above.

So what are those new 1000+ foot tall towers on the east side of the city with the two antenna at the top?  3-4 of them just went up the past 3-4 years.

Here is one of the one's I'm talking about on streetview
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=39.1 ... 5939849622

I believe those are the ones they had to construct after the city switched the police and fire frequencies to a "trunked" system. The coverage wasn't as good and there were many "dead zones."

[KCLover]

Noticed that the tower is sporting some new LED color changing lighting tonight. There is a small strip at almost the very top. I hope this means they are going to finish the whole tower at some point.

[gfisch95]

Over on reddit /u/illuminatekc has been posting periodic updates on his quest to get the tower relit.
Supposedly these are weather testing lights, and hopefully there will be more to follow.

https://www.reddit.com/r/kansascity/com ... ne_camera/

[KCLover]

Over on reddit /u/illuminatekc has been posting periodic updates on his quest to get the tower relit.
Supposedly these are weather testing lights, and hopefully there will be more to follow.

https://www.reddit.com/r/kansascity/com ... ne_camera/

That is awesome! Thank you for the link. Hopefully the rag can help support this guy on his quest, I know I'll be donating for sure.

[KCTOGA]

Me too.

[scooterj]

Thanks for posting that! I noticed the lights last night and logged into the forum this morning specifically to find out what was going on. Can't wait for the finished product!

[DaveKCMO]

surely this isn't the first reddit/kcrag convergence?

[jbean3535]

https://www.crowdrise.com/powerthetower

Crowdfunding has begun. Should also note that what you see now is only 120 lights out of 5400. I can't imagine what the entire thing will look like when it's done. I could see the small section that they have up now from the Zona Rosa area.

[kcjak]

Does crowdfunding include maintenance (can't access the link right now)? Nothing worse than seeing half the bulbs burned out.

[jbean3535]

They're going with LED bulbs, which have on average, a 20 year life span. The crowdfunding link doesn't specify, but I do remember reading that they built money in for maintenance.

EDIT: Official response from the organizer -

Maintenance on LEDs is surprisingly low - they're extremely durable. KCTV has offered some assistance with maintenance and we have a few potential grants that'll assist as well. We're also going to do a "sponsor a light for Valentine's" campaign that'll help.
If all of that fails, I'll fund it personally, as I've done with this campaign so far. In for a penny, in for a pound, as they say.

[flyingember]

They're going with LED bulbs, which have on average, a 20 year life span.

http://www.wastedtalent.ca/node/3109