98.7 FM KVOK – KVOK

KVOK is a 1000 watt AM station on 560 KHz that was built in 1974. AFRN was still on the air, and KMXT had signed on in 1976. KVOK went off the air for about a month around August 1977. KVOK returned to the air in September after AFRN reduced power to 50 watts. KVOK is still on the air, but from a different transmitter site, at Buskin Lake, on a rented USCG tower. Originally it was on a 150 foot tower located right behind the Southern Alaska Forwarding warehouse which is behind Mimi's Deli. The original antenna was quite unique. There were about 12 toploading wires extending from the top of the tower almost to the ground. There was another set of 12 wires, insulated from the tower, extending from a point about ten feet above ground directly horizontally to convenient trees around the perimeter. This above-ground counterpoise was fed from a tap just a little bit above ground in the tuner.I found a group of photos I took from the top of the tower just before I took it down in late 199