The KVLY-TV mast (formerly the KTHI-TV mast) is a television-transmitting mast in Blanchard, North Dakota. Completed in 1963, it was once the tallest structure in the world, and stands at 2,063 feet tall (629 m). It remained the tallest structure in the Western Hemisphere, and the tallest broadcasting mast in the world until the antenna removal in 2019.[1]
Coverage[]
The KVLY-TV mast is featured in Sky's the Limit.
It is introduced in 1 month after people when the 2,063 foot high mast in North Dakota still stands as the tallest structure in North America. The episode explains that broadcast towers are usually placed on top of hills, mountains or existing skyscrapers but on the wide open Great Plains, building tall was the only way to reach an audience of 2,400 households that spread out over more than 15,000 square miles. The galvanized steel frame was engineered to withstand severe winter storms and 85 mile per hour winds and after people, tremendous height of towers like the KVLY-TV mast makes it the big targets for nature's arsenal since it happened before. Steven S. Ross stated that there had been many failures and are spectacular.
Its fate is revealed in 50 years after people when that despite it the more than 150 stories structure that soars into the North Dakota sky was built to withstand almost all forms of extreme weather, severe ice and wind are exception like it happened to the second tallest structure in North America, the TV tower of a sister station, KXJB. Located less than 10 miles away, it was just 3 feet shorter and in April 1997, a severe ice storm struck and the fierce wind & weight of the ice sent the 2nd tallest structure crashing to the ground. After 50 years, history repeat itself as an ice storm blows in again which buffet the nearly 900,000 pounds tower. As the ice builds up, it adds hundreds of thousands of pounds to the structure and the huge stress of the extra weight sheers section bolts right off and snapping the tower in the middle. The entire tower falls, the top of the tower plummets for more than 10 seconds, and can accelerate to nearly 250 miles an hour before smashing into the Earth. Its reign as the tallest structure on the continent is cut short.
Gallery[]
