The KVLY-TV mast (formerly the KTHI-TV mast) is a

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

-transmitting

mast Mast, MAST or MASt may refer to: Engineering * Mast (sailing), a vertical spar on a sailing ship * Flagmast, a pole for flying a flag * Guyed mast, a structure supported by guy-wires * Mooring mast, a structure for docking an airship * Radio mas ...

Blanchard, North Dakota Blanchard is a census-designated place in Blanchard Township, Traill County, North Dakota, United States. The population was 16 at the 2020 census. Blanchard is near the North Dakota-Minnesota border, near the junction of state highways 18 an ...

. It is used by Fargo station

KVLY-TV KVLY-TV (channel 11) is a television station in Fargo, North Dakota, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Gray Media alongside KXJB-LD (channel 30), a low-power CBS and CW affiliate. The two stations share studios on 21st Avenue ...

(channel 11) and

KXJB-LD KXJB-LD (channel 30) is a low-power television station licensed to Horace, North Dakota, United States, serving the Fargo–Grand Forks market as an affiliate of CBS and The CW Plus. It is owned by Gray Media alongside NBC affiliate KVLY-TV (c ...

's Argusville/ Valley City/ Mayville

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...

K28MA-D (channel 28), along with KNGF (channel 27). Completed in 1963, it was once the tallest structure in the world, and stood at 2,063 feet (628.8 meters) until 2019, when the top mount VHF antenna was removed for the FCC spectrum repack, dropping the height to . In 1974, the KVLY-TV mast was succeeded by the Warsaw radio mast as the world's tallest structure. The Warsaw mast collapsed in 1991, again making the KVLY-TV mast the tallest structure in the world until the

Burj Khalifa The Burj Khalifa (known as the Burj Dubai prior to its inauguration) is a megatall skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. With a total height of 829.8 m (2,722 ft, or just over half a mile) and a roof height (excluding the antenna, but inc ...

surpassed it in 2008. The KVLY-TV mast remained the tallest structure in the

Western Hemisphere The Western Hemisphere is the half of the planet Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian (which crosses Greenwich, London, United Kingdom) and east of the 180th meridian.- The other half is called the Eastern Hemisphere. Geopolitically, ...

and the tallest broadcasting mast in the world until the removal of its antenna in 2019.

Location

The mast is located west of

, halfway between Fargo and

Grand Forks Grand Forks is a city in and the county seat of Grand Forks County, North Dakota, United States. The city's population was 59,166 as of the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in the state, after Fargo and Bismarck. Grand For ...

. It became the tallest artificial structure, and the first man-made structure to exceed in height, upon the completion of its construction on August 13, 1963.

Construction

The tower was built by Hamilton Erection Company of

York, South Carolina York is a city in and the county seat of York County, South Carolina, United States. The population was approximately 6,985 at the 2000 census and up to 7,736 at the 2010 census. York is located approximately southwest of Charlotte, North Ca ...

, and

Kline Iron and Steel Kline Iron and Steel was a company based in Columbia, South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina. Established on February 23, 1923, as Kline Iron and Metal Co., since 1953 was primarily known for the construction of broadcasting, broadcast towers. ...

, and required thirty days to complete, at a cost of approximately $500,000 (roughly $ today). Construction was completed August 13, 1963.

Owners

Owned by

Gray Media Gray Media, Inc., doing business as Gray Television, is an American publicly traded television broadcasting company based in Atlanta. Founded in 1946 by James Harrison Gray as Gray Communications Systems, the company owns or operates 180 statio ...

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, the tower broadcasts at 350 kW on channel 36 for television station

(channel 11 PSIP, an

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

affiliate) which is based in

Fargo, North Dakota Fargo is the List of cities in North Dakota, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat of Cass County, North Dakota, Cass County. The population was 125,990 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, which was e ...

. The tower provides a broadcast area of roughly , which is a radius of about .

/ CW+ affiliate

K28MA-D also broadcasts on this tower at 15 kW on UHF channel 28 (also its virtual channel). When the mast was built, the call letters of the television station for which it was built were changed to KTHI for "Tower High". The top is reachable by a two-person service elevator (built by Park Manufacturing of

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United ...

) or ladder.

Specifications

The tower consists of two parts: a

lattice tower A lattice tower or truss tower is a freestanding vertical latticework, framework tower. This construction is widely used in transmission towers carrying high-voltage electric power lines, in radio masts and towers (a self-radiating tower or as a ...

of ; topped by the

transmitting In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna with the purpose of signal transmission ...

antenna array of . The total height of both is . The antenna weighs , the lattice tower weighs , giving a total weight of . It takes up of land with its guy anchors. Its height above mean sea level is .

Federal rule change

Some time after its completion, the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

(FCC) and

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...

(FAA) imposed a policy that states, "Although there is no absolute height limit for antenna towers, both agencies have established a

rebuttable presumption In law, a presumption is an "inference of a particular fact". There are two types of presumptions: rebuttable presumptions and irrebuttable (or conclusive) presumptions. A rebuttable presumption will either shift the burden of production (requ ...

against structures over 2,000 feet above ground level." The FCC and FAA may approve a taller structure in "exceptional cases."

Gallery

File:KVLYDistance.jpg, KVLY tower from a distance of about one mile (1.6 km) File:KVLYPylon.jpeg, A

guy-wire A guy-wire, guy-line, guy-rope, down guy, or stay, also called simply a guy, is a tensioned cable designed to add stability to a freestanding structure. They are used commonly for ship masts, radio masts, wind turbines, utility poles, and ten ...

anchor File:KVLYFromBase.jpeg, Detail of the tower, showing its network of guy-wires File:KVLY-TV tower, North Dakota 019.jpg, Some of the guy-wires that support the tower (with

Stockbridge damper A Stockbridge damper is a tuned mass damper used to suppress wind-induced vibrations on slender structures such as overhead power line An overhead power line is a structure used in electric power transmission and distribution to transmit elect ...

s) File:Base of KVLY-TV mast.jpg, Looking up at the KVLY-TV mast from its base File:Base of KVLY-TV tower.jpg, Building at the base of the KVLY-TV tower

Structures of similar height

KRDK-TV mast The KRDK-TV mast is a television transmitting tower northeast of Galesburg in Traill County, North Dakota, United States. It was completed in 1966 and is used by KRDK-TV (formerly KXJB-TV), which is licensed to Valley City, serving the ...

() *

KXTV/KOVR tower The KXTV/KOVR Tower (also known as the Sacramento Joint Venture Tower) is a communications tower in Walnut Grove, California, United States. Built in 2000, it is the tallest structure in California, second-tallest structure in the United Sta ...

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