So, I started thinking about some landmarks to look for and through trial and error, found some interesting places.
It’s actually fun trying to find locations. It’s harder tracking down some locations to plug into Google Earth like places where famous Radio people lived. But, after a couple of days of fooling around, I came upon a sure way to find any radio station’s radio tower. Here’s how:
Find Almost Any Transmitter Tower
If you go to radio-locator.com you can search for any U.S. radio station by call letters. Scroll down on the results page and look at the "technical Info" box. Inside, you will find the exact transmitter location by latitude and longitude. Simply copy and paste that into the Google Earth "fly to" box and you will be taken to the transmitter/towers for that radio station. Use the Google Earth controls to zoom in further and depending on the satellite photos for that particular area, you can view some pretty good photos of transmitters and towers.
Ready to try it?
1. Download and install the latest version of Google Earth on your computer.
2. Start Google Earth and then, click on the links below and you will take a tour of famous Radio landmarks.
When you click any link below, a dialog box will open up as shown below. Simply select "Open with Google Earth (default)"
Take a Global Radio Tour
Empire State Building Radio Mast
KROQ-FM, Los Angeles, Radio Towers
Armstrong Tower (now Alpine Tower) - where Edwin H. Armstrong first conducted FM transmission
River House Apartments - the location of Armstrong’s suicide in 1954
Villa Griffone, Guglielmo Marconi’s home in Bologna, Italy
U.S. National Marconi Museum
WABC-AM/New York Radio Tower
WLUP-FM/Chicago Transmitter Tower
WOWO-AM/Fort Wayne Transmitter Towers
Former Location of Edwin H. Armstrong's Maternal Grandparent's Home
Clear Channel Radio - San Antonio, Texas
I’m looking for more Radio locations for Google Earth. If you decide to play detective, please send me the .kmz file and a description. I’ll credit you for the find. Send it to: radio.guide@about.com.
