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News & Observer
July 18 - August 22, 2019
Facebook, Instagram and Twitter: @nnomediallc • nnomedia.com
Volume 1 Issue 6
A Glimpse behind @NashSevereWx Shelly Gail Morris News & Observer
He has a magnificent voice! Just sayin’.
Whether it’s sunny, rainy, stormy or sleeting you can bet Andrew Leeper is busy Tweeting. Keeping the public in Williamson and Davidson Counties aware of developing weather issues is crucial to Andrew, and it’s a twentyfour-hour, seven day a week commitment. He takes this profession very seriously, but nothing can match his passion for God. His day job as Worship Minister at Brentwood Hills Church of Christ gives his life true purpose. With two children and a wife of thirteen years, Andrew is a busy fellow, and that’s exactly the way he likes it.
Weather is the subject that keeps Andrew jumping—all day—every day. He works closely with David Drobny and Will Minkof. They provide hyper-local weather information to Williamson and Davidson County. Andrew, David and Will run the Twitter handle, @NashSevereWX and have approximately 163.9K followers. David and Will insisted, “Andrew is talented. He’s the Periscope voice of @NashSevereWx. He’s smooth behind a microphone and smart in pressure situations. He’s Andrew Leeper keeps an eye on the weather situation in his “command center” where he good on radar and an watches live radar, and video to keep the nearly 164,000 people who follow excellent communicator. @NashSevereWx informed. Photo Harrison McClary/News & Observer @NashSevereWx isn’t what it is without him. He can talk headed from Franklin, through Cool Springs, ending to anyone. He’s also responsible for our camera network near Owl Creek in Brentwood. He insists that everyone across Nashville and Williamson County – he handles must heed the warnings when they are issued. The small all the technical issues we don’t understand and has the amount of time spent protecting your family is worth the patience to address and solve them. Andrew always has inconvenience. Nolensville has three sirens; however, time. He’s honest, responsible, dedicated, but more than he states that they are not designed to be heard indoors. all that, he’s a friend. He cares about what’s right. He cares The sirens are to alert people outdoors and are posted in about the people he serves – his wife, his kids, his church, the areas where people are outside the most. The county and his community.” activates these sirens. Be prepared, even if you don’t hear the sirens. Twitter at #tSpotter is a valuable tool. The ticker tape style of photos is helpful to everyone involved. A network of Andrew states, “My faith has always been very important people in Middle Tennessee upload pictures. Actually, to me, and my love for weather is closely connected to anyone with a camera can upload photos. It stays updated that. Within my belief in God is a sense of awe when I at all times. There are eight live weather cameras in the see a beautiful Tennessee sunset, crazy cool clouds, or the area which run 24-7 and also record. They can be viewed crash of a close lightning strike. Knowing a God mighty by the general public at www.nashvillesevereweather.com. enough to make those things loves me as His own means everything to me.” Two important distinctions from The National Severe Weather Service. “A Tornado Watch means be ready— Whether it’s his family, his faith, or the unpredictable conditions are favorable for a tornado. A Tornado Warning weather --Andrew Leeper is engaged and doin’ it with means --take cover now, a tornado is a smile. When we talked about living in this area, he imminent or occurring.” grinned and said, “I feel like there are great days ahead for Nolensville.” I couldn’t agree more! Andrew still remembers March 2017 when a EF1 tornado
Andrew was born in Memphis, Tennessee but raised in Nashville. He has one brother and one sister. The family took yearly trips to the beach, starting a treasured family tradition. He attended Lipscomb Academy first grade through twelfth and particularly enjoyed the choir. He went to college in Searcy, Arkansas at Harding University, majoring in Public Relations with a Bible minor. The evening weather anchorman job on the college broadcast station, providing weather updates for the county area kept him hopping. He had an internship at News Channel 5 here in Nashville his Junior year and found it eye opening. The hours and the frenzy of it all led him toward a career in ministry. Although he was enamored by weather, he longed for a calmer more focused career and felt a calling to serve the community. He completed a Master of Ministry. Andrew met his wife Becca on a blind date his junior year of high school, and they married in 2006 and moved to Nolensville in 2014. They have two children Sadie 6 and James 4. Becca teaches AP History, American and European, at Nolensville High School. They love attending school functions and events. As Worship Minister at Brentwood Hills Church of Christ for five years, Andrew helps plan the service each week and goes over volunteer planning. He is also involved with the Praise Team, choosing music and rehearsing. This is his favorite part of the week. He insists that the front of the congregation is the very best seat in the house to hear all the uplifting melodies. The Sunday service runs a live stream on the radio and Internet directly from the web site. I personally logged in to the web site and was thrilled to see and hear Andrew singing.
Brentwood’s (Not-So) Hidden Diamond
Ashley Bright News & Observer
Built in 1931, the iconic tower at the intersection of Concord Road and I-65 is one of only five like it still standing in the United States. At 808 feet tall, it is the tallest of these five towers. It was built by the Blaw-Knox company for WSM, and began transmitting its 50,000watt signal in 1932. It is now one of the oldest operating broadcast towers in the United States. Blaw-Knox towers are known for their unusual diamond cantilever design stabilized by guy wires attached at the vertical center of the mast. The tower’s design was patented in 1930 and was one of the first mast radiators. Older broadcast antennas used wires strung between masts, but the Blaw-Knox antenna employs the metal mast structure itself as the antenna. The bottom end point of the tower rests on a ceramic insulator shaped like a ball and socket joint, and prevents the high frequency from shortcircuiting to ground. It was groundbreaking technology in the 1930s.
Brentwood’s tower was originally constructed at 878 feet tall and was the tallest structure in North America. Its height was rivaled only by the Eiffel Tower in Paris at the time. In 1939, however, the tower’s top 70 feet were trimmed off.
While the vertical radiator and 50,000-watt signal worked well in Nashville and most of the nation at night, WSM engineers had noticed a peculiar problem. The signal was self-canceling and causing a gap in service, making the WSM signal difficult to hear in Chattanooga and Knoxville. By lopping off the tower’s top, they were able to rectify the issue and provide a clearer broadcast to the eastern part of Tennessee. The top of the tower was donated to Lipscomb Elementary School, and became a flagpole until the mid-1990s. Arteen Poori, age 10, practices soccer in Tower Park, Brentwood, with the ......continued on page 5 WSM Tower in the background. Photo Harrison McClary/News & Observer