TV and radio stations off the air due to storm

KOLD-TV has been off the air since its transmitter in the Tucson Mountains was apparently knocked out by lightning during thunderstorms early Wednesday.

The outage affects viewers who rely on antennas to receive the station’s signal, as well as customers of Dish Network and DirecTV, services that relay the on-air signal to their satellites.

Cable customers, who account for 60 percent of the station viewers, are not affected, said Jim Arnold, vice president and general manager of KOLD.

KXCI (91.3-FM) acting general manager Randy Peterson, said the station is off the air because Trico Electric Cooperative cut the power on the Mount Bigelow to clear trees downed by the storm, and when it came back online, some of the equipment wasn't function properly.

The station's engineer is working to repair it manually. Peterson said the station could be broadcasting again by early afternoon.

KUAT classical (90.5-FM and 89.7-FM) and KUAT-TV Channels 6 and 30 were also down for a few hours this morning while Tri-Co repaired the damage.

KOLD's Arnold said he expects engineers to complete repairs to the transmitter some time today. If that happens, KOLD will re-broadcast this week’s episode of “Big Brother” at 2:05 a.m. Saturday.

If the signal is not restored today, that re-broadcast will occur Sunday at 1:35 a.m., Arnold said.

Arnold said no burn marks were found after the transmitter went down, but his engineers assume the transmitter was either struck by lightning or affected by a static charge from a nearby strike.