Name: Sutro Tower, Inc.
Address: 1 La Avanzada St, San Francisco, CA, 94131-1124, USA
Telephone: (415) 681-8850

Sutro Tower provides transmission facilities for 11 televisions stations, 4 FM radio stations and about 20 wireless communications services in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Signals originate from each station’s studio facilities in various parts of the region. Their programs are originated locally or received from a network, combined with material such as commercials, public service announcements, and information specific to the local area. The final program product is delivered to the Sutro Tower transmission building by microwave or fiber optic cable. Each station then processes the signal, amplifies it in its transmitter equipment and sends it up the tower to the antenna, which transmits the signal through the air to television viewers who receive their TV signal through an antenna.

For more information on the Tower’s conversion to digital television, see the DTV Conversion Project page.

Also see Frequently Asked Questions about Sutro Tower.

In the late 1940’s, KGO Television purchased the current Sutro Tower property from the Adolph Sutro family, who had lived in a house on the site for many years. KGO built a small tower behind the house and used it for its transmission equipment and antenna. Shortly after, KPIX and a television station owned at that time by Metromedia joined them at this facility.

In the mid-1960s, Bay Area television stations received complaints of poor reception in many parts of the area. They conceived of a project to build a taller tower and a larger transmission building to accommodate most of the stations in the Bay Area. Two sites were considered: the Sutro site and Mount San Bruno. After some investigation it was determined the Mount San Bruno site was too close to the airport for a taller tower, and as a result, the Sutro site was selected.

Sutro Tower Inc. was incorporated in 1968 as an independent corporation owned in equal shares by the licensees of stations KTVU, KRON, KPIX and KGO. The current licensees of these stations remain the Sutro Tower owners today.

Application was made to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for permission to construct the facility. The FCC granted the application conditioned on the owners making the facility available to any Bay Area television station that wished to use it on a basis equal to the owner stations. Ultimately, 11 television stations chose to locate at Sutro Tower. Construction began in 1971 and was completed in 1973. The first stations went on-air on July 4, 1973.

More information on the history of the Sutro Tower facility can be found at www.sutrotower.org (not connected with Sutro Tower, Inc).

Sutro Tower, Inc.

Business Info

Contact Business

Company Summary

Similar Businesses Nearby

Competitive Landscape

Payments Accepted

Hours

Photos

Business Credit Report

Facebook

Twitter

Yelp

Customer Resources

Our Company

Our Network

Site Links