RUMFORD — For the first time in its 25-year history, 100.7 WTBM, a radio station that broadcasts country music to residents in the River Valley region, has temporarily lost its signal after sheets of falling ice damaged the broadcast antenna.

According to Jeremy Rush, operations manager for the sister station, WOXO, the transmitting antenna for WTBM, which is at the top of Black Mountain in Rumford, has “had icing issues recently.” The warm weather over the weekend caused several sheets of falling ice to land on the antenna.

“The transmitting antenna for WTBM is located on the ground, but we have an ice shield covering it,” Rush explained. “Unfortunately, the falling ice must’ve been pretty heavy because it crashed right through the ice shield and took out the antenna, which is made out of metal.”

Although the station is unable to broadcast on 100.7 FM, Rush said that WTBM is simulcast on 92.7 WOXO in Norway, which means the River Valley broadcast can be played simultaneously with the broadcast in Norway.

“Our back-up antennas were not damaged when the ice fell, so we’ve kept the signal up for River Valley listeners,” Rush said. “If they tune in to 92.7, they’ll hear their station.”

Rush said that the station’s engineer and an emergency crew are attempting to install a replacement antenna until the damaged antenna can be repaired.

“We’re hoping to have everything fixed by Monday,” Rush said, adding that if it were not finished by that date, 100.7 WTBM would continue to be broadcast on 92.7 WOXO.

Rush said he is not sure whether or not something like this will happen again in the future.

“You never know with these kind of things, unfortunately,” Rush said. “Right now, our only plans moving forward are to get the station running again so we can continue to serve the public in Rumford and the River Valley area.”

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