Sutro Tower’s Journey From Eyesore to Icon

Bay Curious

KQED

History, Society & Culture, Places & Travel

4.9 • 999 Ratings

🗓️ 26 September 2019

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Back in the 1960s, San Francisco had really bad television reception. By many accounts, it was the worst of any city in America. Good reception required a clear line of sight from the broadcast tower to your TV antenna, and in hilly San Francisco this was a challenge. Broadcasters began the hunt for a location to build a very tall tower that could send a clear TV signal far and wide. A site was selected and plans were drawn up — but not without a bounty of controversy. Read the full web story: Sutro Tower: The Origins of an ‘Eyesore’ Video from Jessica’s trip to the top: A Trip to the Top of Sutro Tower This episode first aired on Jan. 5, 2017. It features question asker Craig Rubens. === Reported by Jessica Placzek. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Jessica Placzek, Adam Grossberg and Katie McMurran. Additional support from Julie Caine, Paul Lancour, Suzie Racho, Ethan Lindsey and Patricia Yollin. Theme music by Pat Mesiti-Miller. Ask us a question, vote in a voting round or sign up for our newsletter at BayCurious.org. Follow Olivia Allen-Price on Twitter @oallenprice.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From K-QED.
0:02.0	Some call it an eyesore.
0:05.0	Some call it an eyesore.
0:08.0	Some call it art.
0:12.0	Maybe it's a nuisance or an icon, but no matter what you call it,
0:18.1	it's hard not to have some kind of reaction to Sutra Tower.
0:21.8	Prominent San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Kane did not love it.
0:26.0	He once wrote,
0:28.0	I keep waiting for it to stalk down the hill and attack the Golden Gate Bridge.
0:32.0	As far as TV towers go,
0:34.0	Sutra Tower does look pretty weird.
0:36.0	It's got three legs and this skinny middle
0:39.0	that the architects call the waste.
0:41.0	It was built up on a hill in the middle of a San Francisco neighborhood
0:45.2	not on top of a skyscraper like they are in most other big cities.
0:51.1	The tower's quirks got Bay curious listener Craig Rubin's wondering.
0:55.0	So I'd like to know what the story is behind how Sutra Tower was approved to be built so conspicuously. I can't imagine something like that
1:05.0	getting approved today.
1:07.0	I'm Olivia Alan Price and this is Bay Curious.
1:12.0	Today Jessica Plachik digs into the origin story of this unusual
1:16.7	landmark.
1:18.7	Support for Bay Curious is brought to you by Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, still family owned, operated, and argued over.
	...

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