(Click for Larger Image)

Photo Set One

These photos, by Bill Lipis, show how California storm winds in the San Diego vicinity caused the top 200 feet of the tower to be bent over.  A 1:30am technical trouble call strongly hints at the probable time that this damage occurred.  Other stations were also using this tower and were knocked off the air.  Besides KSON, other affected stations include KURS (1040 kHz) and KBNT-CA (Ch 17).

On the left, the KSON Tower is seen in relation to I-5, while the photo on the right shows the tower's location relative to the Vehicle Impound Lot and I-5.

Photo Set Two

The sight of a collapsed tower is scary, and awesome at the same time.  This set of photos from Rick Bosscher shows an approach to the tower site off I-5, and features some close-up shots as well.  The very top of the tower came off and fell to the ground.  If you look closely at the two photos below, you'll see it.

Dangerous: Here's one of the first shots
I took after the sun came up.  I was way
too close, but I had to do it!

Removal: This is the 150' section
that was hanging just prior to being
 lowered to the ground.

Trimmed: This was the last section to be
removed. As you see, we had to cut
below the K in KSON.

Cleaned:  We had all unnecessary items
removed from the tower. As you can
 see that includes the KSON 1240
call sign.   There has been no
 decision on whether or not the
 call letters will return. The final
tower height is approximately
 200 feet.

We had KSON 1240 on the air by 6:30pm
Thursday evening (12/30/04), using the
remaining tower with site cleanup becoming
the main priority.   Thanks to the local
engineering community for offers of help.