HB 5.6.2021 FINAL

Page 16 — Thursday, May 6, 2021 — The Hastings Banner

Barry County Commodity Food Distribution Schedule

In an effort to reduce transportation costs for our clients, we will be distributing

CSFP food eight months out of the year. During some months clients will receive

food for two months. See schedule below.

October 20 , 20 20 CSFP for Oct. & Nov.

November 1 7 , 20 20 TEFAP & CSFP for Dec.

January 19 , 202 1 CSFP for Jan. & Feb.

February 1 6 , 202 1 TEFAP & CSFP for March

CSFP & April & May

TEFAP & CSFP for June

CSFP for July & Aug.

April 2 0 , 202 1

May 1 8 , 202 1

July 2 0 , 202 1

August 1 7 , 202 1 TEFAP & CSFP for Sept.

Remember, CSFP is

for income qualifying

seniors, while TEFAP is for

income-qualifying families,

individuals, and seniors

Time: 10:00am-noon

Location:

Thorn Apple Valley Church

2750 S MI-43 Hwy

Hastings, MI

Questions? or Visit us at http://www.caascm.org

This institution is an equal opportunity provider.

To recertify, please bring your photo ID and proof of

income for everyone in your home to the distribution

during the expiration month that is listed on your card.

Transmitter tower expected to improve signal quality

Greg Chandler

Staff Writer

Barry County residents who have had

trouble pulling in the signal from television

station WWMT may soon be able to see their

favorite CBS shows after repair crews

replaced an analog antenna with a digital

antenna on its 61-year-old transmitter.

Repair crews removed the analog antenna

from the station’s transmitter on M-179, just

east of Patterson Road, in Yankee Springs

Township Tuesday with the help of a

helicopter, and finished installation of the new

digital antenna Wednesday morning, George

Markle, Channel 3’s chief engineer, said.

“We wanted to verify something with

engineering before they did the final lift [on

the new antenna],” Markle said. “What we’re

hoping is that this will improve the signal for

all the areas that are having poor signal

quality.”

Markle said he has received calls in the

past from county residents complaining about

the station’s signal and hopes this will rectify

the issue.

“I’ve got a list of a bunch of people that

we’re going to be contacting to see how

things have changed,” he said. “Myself and

my engineers, we’ve got several pages of

people that we’ve contacted over the last few

years or who have contacted us over the last

few years.”

Some additional work remains to be done

on the transmission line and at the transmitter

itself, but Markle said he doesn’t expect to see

any significant repairs affecting signal quality

for the foreseeable future.

The 1,100-foot-high transmitter was

erected in 1960 by then-station owner John

Fetzer, when the station’s call letters were

WKZO-TV. Fetzer also owned the Detroit

Tigers baseball team as well as Kalamazoo

radio station WKZO-AM. The location in

Yankee Springs was selected so that the

station’s signal could reach Grand Rapids

while staying within Federal Communications

Commission rules.

The WWMT broadcast tower is behind

the building that contains the broadcast-

ing equipment. Earlier this week, the old

antenna was removed, but the new anten-

na had not yet been installed. The tower

is more than 900 feet tall.

The new antenna with a red beacon was lifted to the top of the tower.

“Stainless,” the name of the repair crew on the site, returns to the ground after work-

ing on the top of the WWMT tower in Yankee Springs Township. (Photos by Scott

Harmsen)

Crew members work at the top of the tower preparing for the installation of the new
antenna Wednesday.

A helicopter removes the old antenna Tuesday.