Cochise County has entered into a partnership with Arizona Public Media to share the cost of constructing a new communications tower that will bring the National Public Radio (NPR) broadcast to the area as well as improve emergency communications.  

The communications tower project, which is part of an intergovernmental agreement between Cochise County and Arizona Public Media, will help pay the cost of a 115-foot tower in the Mule Mountains near Bisbee.

According to the county, the new tower will replace an existing 80-foot tower that has reached its capacity and will also provide additional communications as well as improve radio reception for the area’s first responders. The tower will also allow the NPR broadcast to reach the area. 

“For Arizona Public Media, the tower means NPR will be broadcast throughout Cochise County,” Cochise County information technology director Joe Casey said in a press release. “That will be a great benefit to our citizens.”

According to Casey, Arizona Public Media first asked the county to install an antenna on the current tower to increase its broadcasting ability, however the proposal was rejected due to the cost and lack of capacity.

“It was just too costly, so we entered into an agreement to build a new tower and to share costs,” Casey said in a statement.