More than two years ago, KMHS 1420 radio fell silent when its transmission tower came crashing down. Broadcasts returned to the airwaves when a temporary tower was put in place on the Marshfield campus, but its signal hasn’t been nearly as strong as the original.

A new tower has been erected in Eastside and is ready to broadcast, but another radio signal mishap has postponed the activation. Maintenance Manager Joel Smallwood said the broadcast engineers who were to activate the KMHS tower have been helping Bicoastal Media after a fire damaged its transmitter in Englewood.

Smallwood said the district will use the delay to install some equipment to allow for the transmission of an FM signal. Originally, the plan called for having an FM signal broadcasting by the end of this summer, but now there is talk about having it ready sooner.

“Once we get the AM signal up and running, the FM shouldn’t be far behind,” Smallwood said.

Broadcasts from the new tower should begin in a matter of weeks, Smallwood said. Around the same time, a local contractor will begin laying the groundwork for a new facility to be built by and for carpentry students at Marshfield High School.

Currently located in the basement of the Harding Learning Center, Jesse Ainsworth’s carpentry classes are slated to move into a new 3,600-square-foot facility behind Marshfield’s main building as soon as construction is completed. They haven’t started because of some foundation work they were unable to perform on their own. Johnson Rock contractors are slated to begin preparing underground utilities and leveling the site over the school’s spring break, allowing Ainsworth’s classes to begin construction projects in April.

Smallwood expects the classes to be kept busy well into next school year.

“I think it will take the majority, if not all of next year, for them to finish the project,” he said.

In other business Monday, the board:

n nominated Wally Hazen to serve a two-year term on the Oregon School Boards Association board of directors. Board Chairwoman Kathy Murray and Vice Chairwoman Donna Opitz voted against the motion.

— Alexander Rich, Staff Writer