KVLY-TV mast Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids KVLY-TV mast
KVLY-TV mast in 2018
General information
Type	TV transmission tower (effective radiated power = 316 kW)
Location	Blanchard, Traill County, North Dakota, U.S.
Coordinates	47°20′32″N 97°17′21″W / 47.34222°N 97.28917°W / 47.34222; -97.28917
Completed	August 13, 1963
Owner	Gray Television
Height	628.8 m (2,063 ft)
Design and construction
Architect	Hamilton Directors
Main contractor	Kline Iron and Steel

The KVLY-TV mast (formerly the KTHI-TV mast) is a 2,063-foot-tall (629 m) television-transmitting mast in Blanchard, North Dakota. It is used by Fargo station KVLY-TV channel 11.

Completed during 1963, it was the tallest structure in the world until succeeded by the Warsaw radio mast during 1974, which collapsed in 1991, again making the KVLY-TV mast the tallest structure in the world until the Burj Khalifa exceeded it in 2008. It remains the fourth-tallest structure in the world (since the construction of the Tokyo Skytree and the Shanghai Tower), the tallest structure in the Western Hemisphere, and the second tallest broadcasting mast in the world.

Location
Construction
Owners
Specifications
Federal rule change
Gallery
Structures of similar height
See also

Location

KVLY-TV mast compared to the tallest buildings in the world. KXJB-TV has since been renamed KRDK-TV.

The mast is located 3 miles (4.8 km) west of Blanchard, North Dakota, halfway between Fargo and Grand Forks. It became the tallest artificial structure, and the first man-made structure to exceed 2,000 feet (610 m) 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 and Kline Iron and Steel, and required thirty days to complete, at a cost of approximately US$500,000 (roughly $4.78 million today ). Construction was completed August 13, 1963.

Owners

Owned by Gray Television of Atlanta, Georgia, the tower broadcasts at 356 kW on channel 44 for television station KVLY-TV (channel 11 PSIP, an NBC/CBS affiliate) which is based in Fargo, North Dakota. The tower provides a broadcast area of roughly 9,700 square miles (25,000 km²), which is a radius of about 55.6 miles (89.5 km). Due to the spectrum repack, KVLY transmits on UHF channel and maps to virtual channel 11 through PSIP.

When the mast was built the call letters of the television station for which it was built were changed to KTHI, the "HI" referring to the height of the mast. The top is reachable by a two-person service elevator (built by Park Manufacturing of Charlotte, North Carolina) or ladder.

Specifications

The tower consists of two parts: a lattice tower of 1,950 feet (590 m); topped by the transmitting antenna array of 113 feet (34 m). The total height of both is 2,063 feet (629 m). The antenna weighs 9,000 pounds (4,100 kg), the lattice tower weighs 855,500 pounds (388,000 kg), giving a total weight of 864,500 pounds (392,100 kg). It takes up 160 acres (0.65 km²) of land with its guy anchors. Its height above mean sea level is 3,038 feet (926 m).

Federal rule change

Some time after its completion, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) imposed a policy that states, "Although there is no absolute height limit for antenna towers, both agencies have established a rebuttable presumption against structures over 2,000 feet above ground level." The FCC and FAA may approve a taller structure in "exceptional cases."