The KRDK-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 tower northeast of Galesburg in Traill County,

North Dakota North Dakota ( ) is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It was completed in 1966 and is used by KRDK-TV (formerly KXJB-TV), which is licensed to Valley City, serving the 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 ...

TV markets. At 2,060 ft (627.9 m), it is currently the

tallest structure The tallest structure in the world is the Burj Khalifa skyscraper at . Listed are guyed masts (such as telecommunication masts), self-supporting towers (such as the CN Tower), skyscrapers (such as the Willis Tower), oil platforms, electricity t ...

in the

, the second-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 seventh-tallest structure in the world. It stands taller than the nearby KVLY-TV mast in Blanchard, North Dakota, which was previously 3 ft (0.9 m) taller until the removal of a VHF antenna reduced its height in 2019. The KRDK-TV antenna has an

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would ha ...

(ERP) of 285 kW. The station and tower are owned by Major Market Broadcasting. It replaced the station's previous mast, a tower northeast of

Valley City, North Dakota Valley City is a city in and the county seat of Barnes County, North Dakota, United States. The population was 6,575 at the 2020 census, making it the 12th most populous city in North Dakota. Valley City was founded in 1874. Valley City is kno ...

(or southwest of Pillsbury) which was sold to KOVC, an AM

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

Collapses

The mast has fallen and been rebuilt twice. The first collapse occurred at 9:08a.m. on February 14, 1968, when the rotor of a Marine

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

severed multiple

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 ...

s; all four passengers aboard the helicopter were killed in the mishap. The television station was off the air for eight days, finally resuming broadcasts from their previous (KOVC) tower. A replacement mast of the same height as the one destroyed was completed in four and a half months. The second mast fell during an ice storm which hit the area on April 6, 1997, subjecting it to wind gusts of 70 mph and causing at least of ice to accumulate on the structure, resulting in the structure's failure at 6:09p.m. Cable programming was resumed by 8:34 and broadcasts by 3p.m. the following afternoon through coordination with other affiliates; a temporary tower was completed and resumed broadcasts by July 10. This tower, known as KXJB-TV Mast 2, still stands next to the full-height mast. Work began on the replacement of the full-height mast with a more durably-built structure on April 1, 1998, and had reached the tower's previous height by July 30. That day members of the construction crew affixed a four-foot (1.2 m) flagpole to the top of the tower, making the structure's height effectively 2,064 ft (629.1 m), or one foot higher than the KVLY mast (the flagpole was later removed). Broadcasting for Channel 4 was switched to the new mast on August 15.

Gallery

Image:KXJBfrombase.jpeg, 224 meters tall KXJB-TV mast 2 in foreground and KXJB-TV mast in background Image:KXJBbase.jpeg, Base of the towers, the large KXJB-TV mast is in the background Image:KXJBguywires.jpeg, A section of the network of supporting guy wires File:KXJB view from distance.jpeg, View from about one mile

References

External links

* * *
Archive of page at Channel 4
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Entry of 224 metres tower close to main tower in FCC-database
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KVLY and KXJB Towers by Utah JM
{{Authority control Towers in North Dakota Mass media in North Dakota Buildings and structures in Traill County, North Dakota Radio masts and towers in the United States Towers completed in 1966 1966 establishments in North Dakota

Collapses

Gallery

See also

References

External links