Radio station loses signal after Maricopa mishap

An accident in Maricopa caused a radio station in Mesa to lose its signal Tuesday afternoon.

A truck apparently collided with a wire and pole attached to the radio transmitter tower located near Pinal Feeding Co., according to a representative from Electrical District 3.

The 423-foot tower transmits signal from the KPNG-FM 88.7 “Pulse Radio” station at the East Valley Institute of Technology in Mesa.

The electric company “received a call at 2:24 p.m. from the worker who hit the guy wire and pole,” said Lisa Sjoberg with ED3.

Crews restored power to the tower at 7:23 p.m. after first replacing the wire and two transformers, Sjoberg said.

Steve Grosz, lead instructor of the college radio station, said the accident caused the station to go off air for approximately eight hours.

“This affected our entire listening area which goes south to Marana, west to Gila Bend, east to Florence, north (to) Scottsdale and even on the west side of the Valley to Surprise,” Grosz said.

According to its website, “The Pulse” has a listening area that covers 90 percent of the Valley’s population, with a potential audience of 4 million listeners.

“It’s always an inconvenience for our listeners and very frustrating for station management,” Grosz said. “On the funny side, (the tower) was taken down by a cow food truck; a truck that feeds cows that hit a pole and destroyed the transformer — Now how often does that happen to a radio station?”

Pinal Feeding Co. could not be reached for comment.