With the addition of the spire atop One World Trade Center, the tower’s property manager looks forward to what can be for local broadcasters while remembering what was.
TVNewsCheck spoke with John Lyons, vice president and director of broadcast communication for The Durst Organization. Lyons is trying to woo local broadcasters who were forced to relocate their antennas after 9/11 to place their antennas back on top of the New York skyline.
So far no broadcaster has bit. WCBS told TVSpy their transmitter is atop the Empire State Building and declined to comment about where it would sit in the future. One of the biggest holdups, according to TVNewsCheck is the upcoming spectrum auction.
But Lyons also took the time to remember the broadcasters who lost their lives on 9/11,
The six broadcasters who lost their lives in the attacks were Robert Pattison and Isaisas Rivera of WCBS, William Steckman of WNBC, Donald DiFranco of WABC, Steven Jacobson of WPIX and Rod Coppola of WNET.
Lyons said he was closest with Jacobson, who was best known for wearing a fedora hat to and from work each day.
“I could always see Steve at the end of the day going off into the sunset,” said Lyons. “I still have that very, very nice memory of him smiling as I would tell him to have a good night, and he’d turn around and say, ‘Don’t tell me what to do!’ He always had that smile and laugh.