Editing Empire State Building (section)

===Spire===
====<span class="anchor" id="Dirigible (airship) terminal"></span>Above the 102nd floor====
The final stage of the building was the installation of a hollow mast, a {{convert|158|ft|m|adj=on}} steel shaft fitted with elevators and utilities, above the 86th floor.{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=186}}{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1981|p=17}} The spire of the Empire State Building was originally intended to serve as a [[mooring mast]] for zeppelins and other airships, although the plan was abandoned after high winds made that impossible.<ref name="am New York 2016" /> At the top would be a conical roof and the 102nd-floor docking station.{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=186}}{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1981|p=17}} Inside, the elevators would ascend {{convert|167|ft|m}} from the 86th-floor ticket offices to a {{convert|33|ft|m|adj=mid|-wide}} 101st-floor{{efn|name=101st-floor}} waiting room.<ref name="Hearst Magazines 1931">{{cite book |author=Hearst Magazines |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_n-MDAAAAMBAJ |title=Popular Mechanics |date=May 1931 |publisher=Hearst Magazines |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_n-MDAAAAMBAJ/page/n173 812] }}</ref>{{sfn|Langmead|2009|p=82}} From there, stairs would lead to the 102nd floor,{{efn|name=101st-floor}} where passengers would enter the airships.{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=186}} The airships would have been moored to the spire at the equivalent of the building's 106th floor.{{sfn|Langmead|2009|p=82}}{{sfn|Jackson|2010|pp=1344}}

As constructed, the mast contains four rectangular tiers topped by a cylindrical shaft with a conical pinnacle.{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1981|p=17}} On the 102nd (formerly 101st) floor, there is a door with stairs ascending to a 103rd (formerly 102nd) floor. This top level, originally planned to be the airship docking station, now contains electrical equipment and features an exterior balcony.{{efn|name=101st-floor}}<ref name="Rothstein 2011">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/16/arts/design/empire-state-buildings-new-exhibition-review.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220101/https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/16/arts/design/empire-state-buildings-new-exhibition-review.html |archive-date=January 1, 2022 |url-access=limited |title=A View Inside King Kong's Perch |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |first=Edward |last=Rothstein |date=July 15, 2011 |access-date=May 27, 2013}}{{cbignore }}</ref>  The floor is inaccessible to the public but celebrities and dignitaries may be given permission to take pictures there.<ref name="CBS New York 2011" /><ref>{{cite web |last=Carlson |first=Jen |title=Here's The View From The Private 103rd Balcony of the Empire State Building |website=Gothamist |date=February 2, 2016 |url=http://gothamist.com/2016/02/02/esb_103rd_floor_vertigo.php |access-date=October 22, 2017 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171105170332/http://gothamist.com/2016/02/02/esb_103rd_floor_vertigo.php |archive-date=November 5, 2017 }}</ref> A set of stairs and a ladder ascend to the spire and are used by maintenance workers.<ref name="CBS New York 2011">{{cite web |title=Inaccessible New York: Up To The 103rd Floor Of The Empire State Building |website=CBS New York |date=June 6, 2011 |url=http://newyork.cbslocal.com/guide/inaccessible-new-york-up-to-the-103rd-floor-of-the-empire-state-building/ |access-date=October 22, 2017 |archive-date=October 23, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171023063137/http://newyork.cbslocal.com/guide/inaccessible-new-york-up-to-the-103rd-floor-of-the-empire-state-building/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The mast's 480 windows were all replaced in 2015.<ref>{{cite web |last=Morris |first=Keiko |title=Raising the Glass at the Empire State Building |website=The Wall Street Journal |date=August 31, 2015 |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/raising-the-glass-at-the-empire-state-building-1440979749 |access-date=October 25, 2017 |archive-date=October 25, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171025074240/https://www.wsj.com/articles/raising-the-glass-at-the-empire-state-building-1440979749 |url-status=live }}</ref> The mast serves as the base of the building's broadcasting antenna.{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1981|p=17}}

Inflatable objects have sometimes been mounted to the spire for promotional purposes. For example, a [[King Kong]] balloon was attached to the spire in 1983 to mark the 50th anniversary of the character's introduction,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Geist |first=William E. |date=April 8, 1983 |title=King Kong, At 50, Lacks Get Up and Go |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/04/08/nyregion/king-kong-at-50-lacks-get-up-and-go.html |access-date=June 30, 2024 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=September 15, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230915050302/https://www.nytimes.com/1983/04/08/nyregion/king-kong-at-50-lacks-get-up-and-go.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and an inflatable dragon was placed on the spire in 2024 to promote the TV series ''[[House of Dragon]]''.<ref>{{cite web |last=Klein |first=Kristine |title=To Promote House of Dragon, The Empire State Building Displays a 270-Foot Inflatable Dragon |website=The Architect's Newspaper |date=June 18, 2024 |url=https://www.archpaper.com/2024/06/house-of-dragon-empire-state-building-displays/ |access-date=June 30, 2024 |archive-date=June 30, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240630010631/https://www.archpaper.com/2024/06/house-of-dragon-empire-state-building-displays/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

====Broadcast stations====
[[File:EmpireStateBuilding highest point-crop.jpg|thumb|left|Antennas for broadcast stations located at the top of the building]]

Broadcasting began at the Empire State Building on December 22, 1931, when [[NBC]] and [[RCA]] began transmitting experimental television broadcasts from a small antenna erected atop the mast, with two separate transmitters for the visual and audio data. They leased the 85th floor and built a laboratory there.<ref name="Haskett 1967" /> In 1934, RCA was joined by [[Edwin Howard Armstrong]] in a cooperative venture to test his FM system from the building's antenna.<ref name="Zarkin 2006" /><ref name="Lessing 1956 p. 20">{{cite book |last=Lessing |first=L. |title=Man of High Fidelity: Edwin Howard Armstrong: A Biography |publisher=Lippincott |year=1956 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rYAeAAAAIAAJ |access-date=October 23, 2017 |page=20 }}</ref> This setup, which entailed the installation of the world's first [[Frequency modulation|FM transmitter]],<ref name="Lessing 1956 p. 20" /> continued only until October of the next year due to disputes between RCA and Armstrong.<ref name="Haskett 1967" /><ref name="Zarkin 2006">{{cite book |last1=Zarkin |first1=K. |last2=Zarkin |first2=M.J. |title=The Federal Communications Commission: Front Line in the Culture and Regulation Wars |publisher=Greenwood Press |series=Understanding our government |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-313-33416-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KZ33mq1mLmAC&pg=PA109 |access-date=October 23, 2017 |pages=109–110 }}</ref> Specifically, NBC wanted to install more TV equipment in the room where Armstrong's transmitter was located.<ref name="Lessing 1956 p. 20" />

After some time, the 85th floor became home to RCA's New York television operations initially as experimental station W2XBS channel 1 then, from 1941, as commercial station WNBT channel 1 (now [[WNBC]] channel 4). NBC's FM station, W2XDG, began transmitting from the antenna in 1940.<ref name="Haskett 1967" /><ref>{{cite book |author=Radio Corporation of America |title=Radio Age |publisher=Radio Corporation of America |issue=v. 3–4 |year=1943 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TaETAQAAMAAJ |language=en |access-date=October 23, 2017 |page=6 }}</ref> NBC retained exclusive use of the top of the building until 1950 when the [[Federal Communications Commission]] (FCC) ordered the exclusive deal be terminated. The FCC directive was based on consumer complaints that a common location was necessary for the seven extant New York-area television stations to transmit from so that receiving antennas would not have to be constantly adjusted. Other television broadcasters would later join RCA at the building on the 81st through 83rd floors, often along with sister FM stations.<ref name="Haskett 1967" /> Construction of a dedicated broadcast tower began on July 27, 1950,<ref name="Buffalo Courier-Express 1950">{{cite news |url=http://fultonhistory.com/highlighter/highlight-for-xml?altUrl=http%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2FNewspapers%252021%2FBuffalo%2520NY%2520Courier%2520Express%2FBuffalo%2520NY%2520Courier%2520Express%25201950%2FBuffalo%2520NY%2520Courier%2520Express%25201950%2520-%25207585.pdf |title=O'Dwyer Starts TV Tower Work |date=July 28, 1950 |work=Buffalo Courier-Express |agency=Associated Press |access-date=October 27, 2017 |via=[[fultonhistory.com]] }}</ref> with TV, and FM, transmissions starting in 1951. The {{convert|200|ft|m|sigfig=1|adj=on}} broadcast tower was completed in 1953.{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1981|p=17}}{{sfn|Al-Kodmany|2017|p=72}}<ref name="Kinney 1953">{{cite magazine |last1=Kinney |first1=Harrison |last2=Gill |first2=Brendan |date=April 1, 1953 |title=The Talk of the Town |url=http://archives.newyorker.com/?i=1953-04-11#folio=018 |magazine=The New Yorker |page=19 |url-access=subscription |access-date=October 21, 2017 |archive-date=February 13, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170213081311/http://archives.newyorker.com/?i=1953-04-11#folio=018 |url-status=live }}</ref> From 1951, six broadcasters agreed to pay a combined $600,000 per year for the use of the antenna.<ref name="Jamestown Journal 1951">{{cite news |date=June 22, 1951 |title=Appraiser's 'Inside' Helped Sell Empire State Building |page=1 |work=Jamestown Journal |agency=[[Associated Press]] |url=http://fultonhistory.com/highlighter/highlight-for-xml?altUrl=http%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2FNewspapers%252023%2FJamestown%2520NY%2520Post%2520Journal%2FJamestown%2520NY%2520Post%2520Journal%25201951%2FJamestown%2520NY%2520Post%2520Journal%25201951%2520-%25203739.pdf |access-date=October 23, 2017 |via=[[fultonhistory.com]] }}</ref> In 1965, a separate set of FM antennae was constructed ringing the 103rd floor observation area to act as a master antenna.<ref name="Haskett 1967">{{cite magazine |url=http://www.tech-notes.tv/History&Trivia/ANTENNAS%20ON%20ESB_files/ANTENNAS%20ON%20ESB.htm |title=Broadcast Antennas On The Empire State Building |journal=Broadcast Engineering Magazine |date=August 1967 |first=Thomas R. |last=Haskett |pages=24–31 }}</ref>

The placement of the stations in the Empire State Building became a major issue with the construction of the World Trade Center's Twin Towers in the late 1960s, and early 1970s. The greater height of the Twin Towers would reflect radio waves broadcast from the Empire State Building, eventually resulting in some broadcasters relocating to the newer towers instead of suing the developer, the [[Port Authority of New York and New Jersey]].{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=356}} Even though the nine stations who were broadcasting from the Empire State Building were leasing their broadcast space until 1984, most of these stations moved to the World Trade Center as soon as it was completed in 1971. The broadcasters obtained a court order stipulating that the Port Authority had to build a mast and transmission equipment in the [[One World Trade Center#Original building|North Tower]], as well as pay the broadcasters' leases in the Empire State Building until 1984.{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|pp=356–357}} Only a few broadcasters renewed their leases in the Empire State Building.{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=357}}

The September 11 attacks destroyed the World Trade Center and the broadcast centers atop it, leaving most of the city's stations without a transmitter for ten days until the [[Armstrong Tower]] in [[Alpine, New Jersey]], was re-activated temporarily.{{sfn|Guerrero et al.|2002|p=36}} By October 2001, nearly all of the city's commercial broadcast stations (both television and FM radio) were again transmitting from the top of the Empire State Building. In a report that [[United States Congress|Congress]] commissioned about the transition from [[analog television]] to [[digital television]], it was stated that the placement of broadcast stations in the Empire State Building was considered "problematic" due to interference from nearby buildings. In comparison, the congressional report stated that the former Twin Towers had very few buildings of comparable height nearby thus signals suffered little interference.{{sfn|Guerrero et al.|2002|p=37}} In 2003, a few FM stations were relocated to the nearby [[Condé Nast Building]] to reduce the number of broadcast stations using the Empire State Building.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cianci |first=P.J. |title=High Definition Television: The Creation, Development and Implementation of HDTV Technology |publisher=McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-7864-8797-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0mbsfr38GTgC&pg=PA254 |access-date=October 23, 2017 |page=254 }}</ref> Eleven [[Television broadcasting|television]] stations and twenty-two [[FM broadcasting|FM]] stations had signed 15-year leases in the building by May 2003. It was expected that a taller broadcast tower in [[Bayonne, New Jersey]], or [[Governors Island]], would be built in the meantime with the Empire State Building being used as a "backup" since signal transmissions from the building were generally of poorer quality.<ref>{{cite web |last=Bagli |first=Charles V. |title=Broadcasters Put Antennas in Midtown |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |date=May 12, 2003 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/12/nyregion/broadcasters-put-antennas-in-midtown.html |access-date=October 26, 2017 |archive-date=December 29, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171229141305/http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/12/nyregion/broadcasters-put-antennas-in-midtown.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Following the construction of [[One World Trade Center]] in the late 2000s and early 2010s, some TV stations began moving their transmitting facilities there.<ref>{{cite web |title=One World Trade Center Readies for Broadcasters |website=Radio & Television Business Report |date=October 1, 2013 |url=https://www.rbr.com/one-world-trade-center-readies-for-broadcasters/ |access-date=March 4, 2020 |archive-date=October 24, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191024082352/https://www.rbr.com/one-world-trade-center-readies-for-broadcasters/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

{{As of|2021}}, the Empire State Building is home to the following stations:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.radiomap.us/us-ny/new-york |title=Radio Stations in New York, NY |publisher=World Radio Map |access-date=October 26, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171027025152/http://www.radiomap.us/us-ny/new-york |archive-date=October 27, 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* Television: [[WABC-TV|WABC-7]], [[WPIX|WPIX-11]], [[WXTV-DT|WXTV-41 Paterson]], and [[WFUT-DT|WFUT-68 Newark]]
* FM: [[WINS-FM|WINS-92.3]], [[WPAT-FM|WPAT-93.1 Paterson]], [[WNYC-FM|WNYC-93.9]], [[WPLJ|WPLJ-95.5]], [[WXNY-FM|WXNY-96.3]], [[WQHT|WQHT-97.1]], [[WSKQ-FM|WSKQ-97.9]], [[WEPN-FM|WEPN-98.7]], [[WHTZ|WHTZ-100.3 Newark]], [[WCBS-FM|WCBS-101.1]], [[WFAN-FM|WFAN-101.9]], [[WNEW-FM|WNEW-FM-102.7]], [[WKTU|WKTU-103.5 Lake Success]], [[WAXQ|WAXQ-104.3]], [[WWPR-FM|WWPR-105.1]], [[WQXR-FM|WQXR-105.9 Newark]], [[WLTW|WLTW-106.7]], and [[WBLS|WBLS-107.5]]
* [[NOAA Weather Radio]] station KWO35 broadcasts at a frequency of 162.550&nbsp;MHz from the [[National Weather Service]] in [[Upton, New York]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=US Department of Commerce |first=NOAA |title=NWR Transmitter Propagation |url=https://www.weather.gov/nwr/sites?site=KWO35 |access-date=March 21, 2023 |website=weather.gov |language=EN-US |archive-date=March 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230321032942/https://www.weather.gov/nwr/sites?site=KWO35 |url-status=live }}</ref>