The September 11 attacks in 2001 destroyed the World Trade Center and the broadcast centers atop it , leaving most of the city 's stations without a station for ten days until a temporary tower was built in Alpine , New Jersey . By October 2001 , nearly all of the city 's commercial broadcast stations ( both television and FM radio ) were again transmitting from the top of the Empire State Building . In a report that Congress commissioned about the transition from analog television to digital television , it was stated that the placement of broadcast stations in the Empire State Building was considered " problematic " due to interference from other nearby towers . In comparison , the Congressional report stated that the former Twin Towers had very few buildings of comparable height nearby thus signals suffered little interference . In 2003 , a few FM stations were relocated to the nearby Condé Nast Building to reduce the number of broadcast stations using the Empire State Building . Eleven television stations and twenty-two FM stations had signed 15-year leases in the building by May 2003 . It was expected that a taller broadcast tower in Bayonne , New Jersey , or Governors Island , would be built in the meantime with the Empire State Building being used as a " backup " since signal transmissions from the building were generally of poorer quality
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
Empire State Building