WITI TV Tower

The WITI Tower in Milwaukee, Wisconsin was completed in August 1962 and was briefly the tallest free-standing tower in the world, rising 1081 feet (329.4 m). (Tokyo Tower had been the world's tallest, and after the construction of WITI's tower, it added additional members to regain the title.) For many years, it was the tallest free-standing tower in the United States. The Bentley Company was the foundation contractor for the Dresser Ideco tower, which was erected by the Seago Construction Co.

The tower was built at the same time the FCC relaxed some guidelines on station co-location. In 1956, WITI came to the air, but due to WOC-TV of Davenport, Iowa also being on channel 6, WITI was found to interfere with small portions of WOC-TV's market area. WITI thus launched being licensed to the North Shore suburb of Whitefish Bay, with a tower located in Ozaukee County in the then-Town of Mequon. This provided disadvantages to WITI because viewers in the area had to aim their antennas more northward or northeastward in order to receive WITI, where the city's other stations were centrally located north of downtown. WITI campaigned the FCC to locate in Milwaukee, and finally was successful in doing so in 1962.

The village of Shorewood, Wisconsin allowed WITI to build the tower on a piece of privately owned land that might have completed Estabrook Parkway along the Milwaukee River. Doing so added to the village's tax base. The WTMJ-TV and WISN-TV towers were nearby, and locating the tower there meant that Milwaukee TV viewers could point their antennas in the same general direction. Since the property had no room for guy-wires, however, the tower had to be free-standing. In August 1962, construction of a 1081 feet (329.4 m) tower at East Capitol Drive and Estabrook Parkway was completed. It was formally dedicated on 9 October 1962. Milwaukee Public Television leased space on the tower for WMVS and WMVT until a move to WVTV's tower in 1981 (eventually moving to the new digital-ready MPTV Tower in 1999), while WUWM-FM (89.7) has continued to transmit from the tower, along with Family Radio's WMWK (88.1).

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