Penobscot Knob facts for kids

Penobscot Knob, also known as Penobscot Mountain, is a mountain peak in Pennsylvania. It is located on the western edge of the Pocono Mountains. This mountain is very close to a town called Mountain Top, Pennsylvania. Below the mountain is a pass called Solomon Gap, which is an important route for different types of transportation.

Long ago, the area around Mountain Top was known by the Native American name Penobscot. Penobscot Mountain helps separate two large river areas. Water on one side flows into the Lehigh Valley and then into the Delaware River. Water on the other side flows into the Wyoming and Susquehanna Valley, which is part of the Potomac River area.

In the 1830s, people needed an easier way to transport coal. The pass between Penobscot Mountain and Haystack Mountain was a good spot to build a railroad. This railroad helped move coal from the northern coal fields to eastern cities. The Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company was important in building canals and one of the first railroads in the country. From the top of Penobscot Knob, you can see the Wyoming Valley and parts of the Poconos and Lehigh Valley.

Broadcasting from Penobscot Knob

Today, Penobscot Knob is famous for its many television and radio station transmitter antennas. These antennas send out TV and radio signals to homes. The first radio station to broadcast from here was WIZZ FM. Later, WILK FM also started broadcasting from the mountain.

A famous inventor named Major Edwin Armstrong helped set up the WIZZ site. He invented important technologies, including FM radio. WIZZ is now WMGS, and it still broadcasts from the same building built in 1947. Other major stations like WVIA-TV, WVIA-FM, WNEP, WYOU, WBRE, and WOLF-TV also broadcast from this high spot.

Penobscot Knob is about 2,100 feet (640 meters) above sea level. Its high elevation makes it a great place for broadcasting signals far and wide.

Tower Collapse in 2007

On December 16, 2007, a large event happened on Penobscot Knob. The transmission tower for WNEP-TV's analog signal collapsed. This happened because of very bad weather, including severe ice, strong winds, and heavy snow. The tower falling also destroyed the building that held the transmitter. Luckily, no one was hurt during this incident.

Even though the analog tower fell, the digital signal for WNEP-TV was quickly restored. There was a short power outage to the digital tower, but it was fixed. WNEP's signal on cable TV and satellite was back on by the end of the day.

The same bad weather also damaged or brought down other towers nearby on Penobscot Knob. These included towers for WYOU-TV, WBRE-TV (digital), WVIA-TV (analog and digital), and WCLH. The WNEP tower was about 800-foot (240 m) tall and completely collapsed. The top 150 feet (46 meters) of the WVIA tower also fell, along with its digital antenna. The WNEP tower fell onto power lines, which caused power outages for most of the other transmitters.