‘End of an era’: Crews drop Stephen King’s former radio tower

BANGOR, Maine (WABI) - Bangor’s skyline won’t look the same after Wednesday.

A radio tower that stood for decades is no more.

“The historic tower is coming down,” said Tony Delmonaco, who works for Black Bear Crane.

That tower went up in 1937 to broadcast WLBZ which eventually became WZON.

Formerly owned by Stephen and Tabitha King, the Kings decided to shutter operations at the end of last year.

Larry Sherwood worked on the tower many times over the years.

“I painted this tower three times. Climbed it, I don’t know how many times to change the light bulbs, haha,” said Sherwood.

He was among a small crowd of people with history with the stations that gathered to watch crews working through the day Wednesday to carry out a plan to bring the more than 400 foot structure down.

“We’re gonna rig up a cable on it. They’re gonna hook onto it with a dump truck and put some tension on it. Then when they cut the legs, in theory, it’s gonna go into the field,” said Delmonaco.

Barry Darling’s ties to the station go back almost as far as the tower.

“Mixed feelings I’ve been associated with the station in one way or another since 1946. When I was six years old, my dad was here as an engineer, and he let me turn the transmitter on. One big deal for a six year old,” said Darling.

He was the station’s General Manager in the 70s and 80s and felt it important to be there.

“It’s hard to imagine coming out Broadway and seeing this tower gone. That part is really hard, and I was here when we shut the station down on December 31st, and that was another thing that was rather difficult,” said Darling.

“This is very hard in some respects because there are a lot of memories and good memories, very good memories, and I felt privileged to be a part of it all,” added Darling, before saying...

“The end of an era in so many ways.”