diff --git a/libs/utils/src/sync/spsc_watch.rs b/libs/utils/src/sync/spsc_watch.rs
index d29a820645..6666aa3eaf 100644
--- a/libs/utils/src/sync/spsc_watch.rs
+++ b/libs/utils/src/sync/spsc_watch.rs
@@ -1,11 +1,12 @@
-//! Like [`tokio::sync::watch`] but the Sender gets an error when the Receiver is gone.
-//!
-//! TODO: an actually more efficient implementation
+//! watch is probably not the right word, because we do take out
 
 use tokio_util::sync::CancellationToken;
 
-pub fn channel<T>(init: T) -> (Sender<T>, Receiver<T>) {
-    let (tx, rx) = tokio::sync::watch::channel(init);
+use crate::sync::spsc_fold;
+
+pub fn channel<T: Send>(init: T) -> (Sender<T>, Receiver<T>) {
+    let (mut tx, rx) = spsc_fold::channel();
+    poll_ready(tx.send(init, |_, _| unreachable!("init")));
     let cancel = CancellationToken::new();
     (
         Sender {
@@ -17,45 +18,39 @@ pub fn channel<T>(init: T) -> (Sender<T>, Receiver<T>) {
 }
 
 pub struct Sender<T> {
-    tx: tokio::sync::watch::Sender<T>,
+    tx: spsc_fold::Sender<T>,
     cancel: tokio_util::sync::DropGuard,
 }
 
 pub struct Receiver<T> {
-    rx: tokio::sync::watch::Receiver<T>,
+    rx: spsc_fold::Receiver<T>,
     cancel: CancellationToken,
 }
 
-pub enum RecvError {
-    SenderGone,
-}
-pub enum SendError {
-    ReceiverGone,
-}
-
-impl<T> Sender<T> {
-    pub fn send_replace(&mut self, value: T) -> Result<(), (T, SendError)> {
-        if self.tx.receiver_count() == 0 {
-            // we don't provide outside access to tx, so, we know the only
-            // rx that is ever going to exist is gone
-            return Err((value, SendError::ReceiverGone));
-        }
-        self.tx.send_replace(value);
-        Ok(())
+impl<T: Send> Sender<T> {
+    pub fn send_replace(&mut self, value: T) -> Result<(), spsc_fold::SendError> {
+        poll_ready(self.tx.send(value, |old, new| {
+            *old = new;
+            Ok(())
+        }))
     }
 }
 
 impl<T> Receiver<T> {
-    pub async fn changed(&mut self) -> Result<(), RecvError> {
-        match self.rx.changed().await {
-            Ok(()) => Ok(self.rx.borrow()),
-            Err(e) => Err(RecvError::SenderGone),
-        }
+    pub async fn recv(&mut self) -> Result<(), spsc_fold::RecvError> {
+        todo!()
     }
-    pub fn borrow(&self) -> impl Deref<Target = T> {
-        self.rx.borrow()
-    }
-    pub async fn closed(&mut self) {
+    pub async fn cancelled(&mut self) {
         self.cancel.cancelled().await
     }
 }
+
+fn poll_ready<F: Future<Output = O>, O>(f: F) -> O {
+    futures::executor::block_on(async move {
+        let f = std::pin::pin!(f);
+        match futures::poll!(f) {
+            std::task::Poll::Ready(r) => r,
+            std::task::Poll::Pending => unreachable!("expecting future to always return Ready"),
+        }
+    })
+}
diff --git a/safekeeper/src/wal_advertiser.rs b/safekeeper/src/wal_advertiser.rs
index 1ca9133f6a..16ae869b9f 100644
--- a/safekeeper/src/wal_advertiser.rs
+++ b/safekeeper/src/wal_advertiser.rs
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ pub async fn task_main(
         for (node_id, advs) in advertisements {
             loop {
                 let tx = senders.entry(node_id).or_insert_with(|| {
-                    let (tx, rx) = utils::sync::spsc_fold::channel();
+                    let (tx, rx) = spsc_watch::channel(advs);
                     tokio::spawn(
                         NodeTask {
                             ps_id: node_id,
@@ -40,55 +40,37 @@ pub async fn task_main(
 
 struct PageserverTask {
     ps_id: NodeId,
-    advs: spsc_fold::Receiver<HashMap<TenantTimelineId, Lsn>>,
+    advs: spsc_watch::Receiver<HashMap<TenantTimelineId, Lsn>>,
 }
 
 impl PageserverTask {
     /// Cancellation: happens through last PageserverHandle being dropped.
     async fn run(mut self) {
+        let mut current;
         loop {
-            let Ok(advs) = self.advs.recv().await else {
-                return;
-            };
-            tokio::select! {
-                _ = self.advs.cancelled() => {
-                    return;
+            let res = self.run0(advs).await;
+            match res {
+                Ok(()) => {}
+                Err(err) => {
+                    error!(?err, "error sending advertisements");
+                    // TODO: proper backoff?
+                    tokio::time::sleep(Duration::from_secs(5)).await;
                 }
-                res = self.run0() => {
-                    if let Err(err) = res {
-                        error!(?err, "failure sending advertisements, restarting after back-off");
-                        // TODO: backoff? + cancellation sensitivity
-                        tokio::time::sleep(Duration::from_secs(10)).await;
-                    }
-                    continue;
-                }
-            };
+            }
         }
     }
-    async fn run0(&mut self) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
+    async fn run0(&mut self, advs: HashMap<TenantTimelineId, Lsn>) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
         use storage_broker::wal_advertisement as proto;
         use storage_broker::wal_advertisement::pageserver_client::PageserverClient;
         let stream = async_stream::stream! { loop {
-            while self.pending_advertisements.is_empty() {
-                tokio::select! {
-                    _ = self.advs.cancelled() => {
-                        return;
-                    }
-                    _ = self.notify_pending_advertisements.notified() => {}
-                }
-                let mut state = self.state.lock().unwrap();
-                std::mem::swap(
-                    &mut state.pending_advertisements,
-                    &mut self.pending_advertisements,
-                );
-            }
-            for (tenant_timeline_id, commit_lsn) in self.pending_advertisements.drain() {
+            for (tenant_timeline_id, commit_lsn) in advs {
                 yield proto::CommitLsnAdvertisement {tenant_timeline_id: Some(tenant_timeline_id), commit_lsn: Some(commit_lsn) };
             }
-        } };
-        let client: PageserverClient<_> = PageserverClient::connect(todo!())
-            .await
-            .context("connect")?;
+        }};
+        let client: PageserverClient<_> =
+            PageserverClient::connect(todo!("how do we learn pageserver hostnames?"))
+                .await
+                .context("connect")?;
         let publish_stream = client
             .publish_commit_lsn_advertisements(stream)
             .await