NAME: Alexander Smirnoff
TITLE: Director of Telecommunications, Helmsley-Spear, Inc.
FLOOR: 32nd
CLAIM TO FAME: Expanded the transmission facilities at the top of the Empire State Building to house the antennas of local TV and radio stations destroyed in the World Trade Center attack.
QUOTE: "Riding up and down the elevators plays havoc on my eardrums, especially when I have a cold."

Alex Smirnoff: TV and radio signals found a shelter under his roof when the WTC collapsed.

Shortly after the twin towers were hit on that fatal Tuesday in September, Alex Smirnoff, the Empire State Building's director of telecommunications, arrived for work to find his building was being evacuated.

"I rushed up to the observatory," Smirnoff remembers. "I was alone on the deck. It was eerie. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. In a daze, I walked into the commissary. There was no one there but I noticed hot dogs slowly sizzling on the grill. The coffee machine also was on. Like an automat, I unplugged everything. Then I took one of the last working elevators back to the lobby and followed everyone into the street."

As he walked away, Smirnoff realized that had the unattended hot dogs set the observatory on fire, little could have been done. All the fire trucks were speeding toward the World Trade Center.

In the aftermath, several local television stations lost their over-the-air signals and broadcasters turned to Smirnoff to help them relocate their transmitters to the Empire State Building. Tenants had to be moved from some of the upper floors to make room for heavy equipment. New antennas had to be anchored to the tower's mast.

"We worked non-stop for weeks and months," says Smirnoff, "and I was gratified at the cooperation we got from everyone involved."

Broadcasters will pay Helmsley-Spear, managers of the Empire State Building, yearly rental and license fees of approximately $5 million. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently rejected as dangerous a proposal to build a 2,000-foot antenna on Governor's Island, so it seems likely that transmitters will stay atop the Empire State Building for some time.

Over the years, Smirnoff says, he has developed "an admiration, an affection for this landmark that's hard to define."

Any downside? Says Smirnoff: "Riding up and down the elevators plays havoc on my eardrums, especially when I have a cold."

-- Claudia Carlin