page_title: Sharp's Ridge
section_title: Communications hub
hierarchical_section_title: Sharp's Ridge / Communications hub
caption_attribution_description: English: Radio tower at the WBIR station atop Sharp's Ridge in the U.S. city of Knoxville, Tennessee.
context_page_description: Sharp's Ridge is a steep limestone ridge in Knoxville, Tennessee, north of the city's downtown. A 111-acre area of the 7-mile ridge is maintained as Sharp's Ridge Memorial Park, a city park dedicated to the honor of the area's war veterans. The ridge also is the site of a transmitting antenna farm that serves most of Knoxville's broadcasters. The highest ground point on the ridge is an abandoned fire tower located at 1,391 feet above mean sea level. The ridge itself averages 200 to 300 feet above the surrounding valley floor, allowing panoramic views of the Great Smoky Mountains and adjacent ranges to the east and the Cumberland Plateau to the west.
  Sharp's Ridge is named for the Sharpe family, who lived on the ridge during the 19th century.
context_section_description: Sharp's Ridge is the transmitting antenna farm for eleven of Knoxville's twelve analog and digital television stations, all of which broadcast from very noticeable towers in an antenna farm along the ridge.
  The tower for WIMZ-FM, located on the north side of the ridge is 1,752 feet (534 m) tall, making it the tallest man made structure in Tennessee It was the tallest structure in the world when it was completed in 1963.
  The second tallest tower is inches shorter than the WIMZ-FM tower, and is licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as "Spectracite Tower Knoxville," built by Spectracite Towers, Inc.  The structure is owned by American Tower, which leases it to WUOT-FM 91.9. PSIP Channel 6, whose "batwing" antenna is at the top (the station operates WATE-DT digital Channel 26 also on this tower).  Also located on this tower is WTNZ PSIP Channel 43 and WBIR-DT, PSIP Channel 10, with their antennas both broadcasting from the top. This tower is located on the "Richland Towers Tower Lonsdale" site.
  The third tallest tower is FCC-licensed as "Richland Towers Tower Lonsdale." It is 1,352 feet (412 m) tall, with a candelabra antenna platform at the top.  It is owned by Richland Towers, Incorporated, which leases it to WVLT-TV PSIP Channel 8, (which operates WVLT-DT on digital Channel 30), and WKOP-TV PSIP Channel 15 (which operates its WKOP-DT digital Channel 17), whose antennas all broadcast from the candelabra array at the top.  The "Lonsdale" reference in the license, refers to the Knoxville neighborhood in the valley just below the tower.
  The fourth tallest tower on Sharp's Ridge is 1,345 feet (410 m) and is FCC-licensed as "Gannett Pacific Tower Knoxville."  It is owned by the Gannett Pacific Corporation, licensee of WBIR-TV, which right now, does not broadcast from it.  Its former analog Channel 10 antenna is on top of the tower, but its digital TV signal broadcasts from the "Spectracite Tower Knoxville" site.
  The fourth largest tower is somewhat shorter than its broadcasting counterparts at 1,153 feet (351 m) tall, and is FCC-licensed as "Young Broadcasting Tower Knoxville."  It is located within 50 feet of the "Spectracite Tower Knoxville," virtually standing beside it.  This tower with its identifiable "batwing" antenna at the top is the tower that WATE-TV, Channel 6 formerly broadcast its analog signal from.
  The fifth tallest tower, the "South Central Communications Tower Knoxville," is 1,017 feet (310 m), and is owned by South Central Communications, licensee of low power TV station WEZK-LP, Channel 28.  On that tower is also the antenna for WKNX-TV PSIP, Channel 7.  This is also the tower that WTVK-TV, Channel 26 formerly broadcast its analog signal from (that station is now WVLT-TV, PSIP Channel 8).  WVLT-TV also broadcast from this tower for a time, after switching to VHF analog Channel 8.
  A much smaller 800-foot (240 m) self-supporting broadcasting tower is also located beside the "Gannett Pacific Tower Knoxville." That is the tower that WBIR-TV formerly broadcast its analog signal from, also with a "batwing" array on its antenna at the top.  At one time, this tower, another 800-foot (240 m) tower owned by WATE-TV, and the 1,000-foot (300 m) WTVK tower were the only ones on the ridge.
  The Sharp's Ridge antenna farm is also the transmitting location for Class C FM radio station, WJXB-FM 97.5, whose antenna is located on the South Central Communications tower.  One Class A FM radio station, WKHT-FM 104.5, one Class D FM station W244AT at 96.7 and another Class D FM station W275AD at 102.9 all broadcast from the "Spectracite Tower Knoxville" site.
  Various other entities, including city, county, and state government agencies, and cellular telephone companies, also transmit base-to-mobile communications from towers on Sharp's Ridge far shorter than the ones listed above.
caption: Former TV tower along Sharp's Ridge Road
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