{"id":7280,"date":"2013-09-13T14:11:27","date_gmt":"2013-09-13T18:11:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=7280"},"modified":"2013-09-14T07:09:21","modified_gmt":"2013-09-14T11:09:21","slug":"the-tuckerton-towers-long-and-unlikely-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2013\/09\/the-tuckerton-towers-long-and-unlikely-history\/","title":{"rendered":"The Tuckerton Tower’s long (and unlikely!) history"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>

The Tuckerton Tower, circa 1916 (Souce: Tom Mcnally mcnally.cc)<\/p><\/div>\n

I love radio history<\/a>, and I dive right into it when something especially piques my interest. This morning, a news item from a local newspaper<\/a> in New Jersey about that state’s famed, but nearly forgotten, Tuckerton Tower did just that.<\/p>\n

Built in 1912, the Tuckerton Tower was once the tallest structure in the US.\u00a0 Indeed, it was at that time the second tallest structure in the world<\/em> (the Eiffel Tower had it beat by 243 feet). \u00a0Though on US soil, it was originally built by\u2013\u2013get this\u2013\u2013the German government, in order to communicate with an identical tower in Eilvese, Germany (see comments<\/a>); of course, it also communicated with naval vessels. According to many sources, the US government may have been completely unaware<\/em> of the construction of this communication monolith until it neared completion.<\/p>\n

But that’s just the beginning of the story:\u00a0 When the US entered WWI, the US government took over the tower’s operations and placed Tuckerton’s German operators and engineers in a POW camp.\u00a0 Then, post-war, the newly-formed Radio Corporation of America (RCA) assumed the tower’s operation with the intention of using it for the latest and greatest innovation in radio communications: voice over wireless.\u00a0Tuckerton Tower continued under RCA’s operation until the US government drafted it into service again, this time during WWII.<\/p>\n

But even though the tower survived two world wars, weather events like nor’easters,<\/a> and The Great Depression, by the late 1940s it was considered obsolete. Several attempts were made to preserve the historic structure, but on December 28, 1955, it was torn down and cut for scrap. \u00a0Today, a\u00a0lower section of the tower can be viewed at the Tuckerton Historical Society’s museum, while the concrete block anchors that once held the monolithic structure upright now rest, somewhat defiantly, in the center of a residential area.<\/p>\n

If you find this tower’s history as remarkable as I do, check out this informative and detailed article in The Sandpiper<\/a> and Tom McNally’s History of Tuckerton Wireless<\/a>\u00a0which includes some excellent photos of the tower throughout history.<\/p>\n

Are there any readers of The SWLing Post<\/em> with memories long enough to remember the Tuckerton Tower, or who have heard stories about it? \u00a0Please comment!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I love radio history, and I dive right into it when something especially piques my interest. This morning, a news item from a local newspaper in New Jersey about that state’s famed, but nearly forgotten, Tuckerton Tower did just that. Built in 1912, the Tuckerton Tower was once the tallest structure in the US.\u00a0 Indeed, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[373,305,288],"tags":[1542,18,2145,1827,34,2146,2144],"class_list":["post-7280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-am","category-nostalgia","category-radio-history","tag-history","tag-radio","tag-radio-corp-of-america","tag-rca","tag-shortwave","tag-tuckerton-new-jersey","tag-tuckerton-tower"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-1Tq","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":33206,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/07\/tuckerton-radio-towers-rich-history-and-once-record-setting-height\/","url_meta":{"origin":7280,"position":0},"title":"Tuckerton Radio Tower’s rich history and once record-setting height","author":"Thomas","date":"July 19, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: The Sandpiper via Richard Langley) Who knows how many Americans realize that 100 years ago the United States was at war? After all, when about 25 people on the street in Beach Haven in the summer of 2012 were asked for a SandPaper article what war the U.S. had\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Antennas"","block_context":{"text":"Antennas","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/antennas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tuck1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":54911,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2022\/12\/radio-waves-bell-labs-horn-antenna-at-risk-tuckerton-tower-the-warsaw-radio-mast-and-end-of-am-car-radio\/","url_meta":{"origin":7280,"position":1},"title":"Radio Waves: Bell Labs Horn Antenna At Risk, Tuckerton Tower, The Warsaw Radio Mast, and End of AM Car Radio?","author":"Thomas","date":"December 6, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Radio Waves:\u00a0 Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio Welcome to the\u00a0SWLing Post\u2019s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio.\u00a0 A special thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dennis Dura, for these news tips! 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The commemorative broadcast will air on 42.8 MHz, the original low-band FM frequency used\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "FM"","block_context":{"text":"FM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/fm\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/1024px-USA_NJ_ArmstrongTower.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/1024px-USA_NJ_ArmstrongTower.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/1024px-USA_NJ_ArmstrongTower.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/1024px-USA_NJ_ArmstrongTower.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":40083,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2019\/10\/iconic-berlin-tv-tower-turns-50\/","url_meta":{"origin":7280,"position":3},"title":"Iconic Berlin TV Tower turns 50","author":"Thomas","date":"October 6, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: Deutsche Welle via David Iurescia) It served as a symbol of communist power and remains a remarkable landmark of the now reunited city: the Fernsehturm on Alexanderplatz was inaugurated on October 3, 1969. 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The following article comes from ARS Technica and was shared by Mark Hist: 200-foot AM radio tower disappears, halting Alabama station broadcast A 200-foot AM radio tower has been missing for at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AM"","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/tower-closeup-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/tower-closeup-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/tower-closeup-1.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/tower-closeup-1.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7280\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}