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����vlog-TV announced in September 2012 that its historic weather beacon had been retired after decades of service.The weather beacon was an array of lights on the downtown broadcast tower that changed colors based on the weather forecast.It was added in 1960, shut down in 1973 during the energy crisis, then turned back on in 1988.A jingle helped Iowans know what the forecast was going to be based on the color of lights on the beacon, on a tower hundreds of feet above ����vlog's offices.If you know it, say it aloud: Weather beacon red, warmer weather is ahead;Weather beacon white, colder weather is in sight;Weather beacon green, no change in forecast foreseen;Weather beacon flashing night or day, precipitation is on its way.Then-����vlog Chief Engineer Chris Wilde said there were two main reasons the weather beacon was being shut down: the old bulbs weren't being made anymore, and the tower itself needed to shed weight or face a massive overhaul."Even when we get them (the bulbs) custom-made, the coating, the colored coating wears off on them so that within a few months, we have just a mix of red and white bulbs up there. So it doesn't really look right anymore," said Wilde.Changing 450 light bulbs on a 500-foot-high TV tower was also no easy task.The weather beacon was turned off for good on Thursday morning.Response to viewer feedback about weather beaconIn response to viewer feedback through email and social media, then-����vlog President and General Manager Paul Fredericksen issued the following statement in 2012:I wish to thank everyone for their expressions of support of the Weather Beacon. We at ����vlog have full appreciation of the significance of the beacon, and we understand the concern about taking it down. I’m the person responsible for reinstalling it when ����vlog moved several blocks north in the 1980s, so I share your love of the Weather Beacon. Unfortunately, this has been a problem we’ve been wrestling with for several years. First, we’ve had problems keeping the beacon properly lit because they stopped making the bulbs we’d always used. We searched high and low for substitutes, but the color always flaked off. Then, several months ago came the straw that broke the camel’s back. Towers such as ours, which is 500-feet tall, need periodic inspection by outside engineers. The study a few months back found that our tower is no longer in compliance. Some of that is because standards have changed since the tower was built in 1985. But the tower is currently overloaded, and a number of things have to come off of it, including the lights, appliances and electrical conduits of the Weather Beacon. Not only are they heavy in and of themselves, but when ice builds up on them during the winter, the weight increases many times over. And that makes it even more dangerous when high winds hit up top.So while we appreciate suggestions about adding in LED lights, that doesn’t solve the problem because the most serious problem is the weight and lighting appliances that catch the wind.To keep the beacon in place would require extremely expensive modifications to the tower itself. The consultants say we’d need to remove current cross-struts and replace them with stronger ones. We’d need to have special reinforced steel cladding manufactured to clamp on to the existing legs of the tower. This is expensive, time-consuming, and dangerous work at high altitude.We had to act, and act now. Now that we’re aware of the engineers’ report, it would be irresponsible to continue with a potentially unsafe situation directly over our heads. Those of us who work beneath the tower, those who live nearby, and those who drive the streets near our tower would have a field day in the unlikely event the tower failed. Safety simply must take priority here.It’s a sad day for all of us. However, we feel it’s the responsible decision to make under the circumstances. The ����vlog forecast is available in more places than ever before – on air, on ����vlog.com, and on your smartphone ����vlog app.We welcome your continued feedback, and thank you for caring enough to write.Paul Fredericksen����vlog President and General ManagerMore from the ����vlog archives����vlog archives: Just an Iowa man and his monster truck, living the dream����vlog archives: That's one sweet ride!����vlog archives: Check out Iowa man's collection of vintage trucks dating back to early 1900s����vlog archives: Rusty Wallace goes for a test drive on the Iowa Speedway