The tallest structure in the Western Hemisphere! (KVLY Tower)

Ever heard of the KVLY TV mast? It was the tallest structure in the world for 40 years*, and still checks in as the tallest in the Western Hemisphere. There are no signs or markers nearby denoting its status; it simply stands in the middle of crop fields in rural North Dakota, and requires driving down two dirt roads to access.
*except for the years it was exceeded by the Warsaw radio mast, 1974-1991 (collapsed)

[@c.w.8200]

Just watched Fall (2022) and now I can't stop looking at videos about these super high radio towers.

[@andrewsmith4575]

What a film! Highly recommended for anyone with a fear of heights who wants to be utterly terrified. It literally made me physically unwell, the tension was unbearable!

[@aa-ju7uv]

me too

[@n.hajong]

Yeah man

[@bigchief9129]

Same

[@lukethomas8727]

Same

[@niket_patel]

who's here after watching "fall" ?

[@p.j6946]

Everyone😂

[@davidkitterman3952]

Me!!

[@user-co8uy5rb2s]

Life After People. That was my first introduction to the KVLY tower.

[@roostercogburn809]

We rode the elevator to the 1,700' level, then had to free climb the KCAU-TV tower in Sioux City, Iowa. The tower is 609.9 meters (2,001 ft) high. It is tied for the tallest structure in Iowa and is one of the tallest structures in the world. Climbed the batwings to the top to change the bulb... This was in 1982, doubt I would do it again... Be safe...

[@tenmil1]

You sir are far more courageous than I. don't think I could do that without passing out.

[@scratchpad7954]

Fall (2022) vibes much?!

[@hareth3911]

👍💪👏🌹

[@BooRadley452]

👍

[@borntoclimb7116]

And here is a sad fact, between 2000 and today more than 200 towerclimbers died in the USA during the work

[@Shaggy_Rogers0001]

The Warsaw radio mast was taller than the KVLY TV mast, but collapsed in 1991.

[@JoeSpinstheGlobe]

absolutely correct, Warsaw Radio was taller from 1974 to 1991... i skipped that part

[@wojciechperlinski6635]

@@JoeSpinstheGlobe XDD

[@zepter00]

@@JoeSpinstheGlobe you shouldnt skipp that.

[@tcmtech7515]

Back in the summer of 1997, I worked with a buddy of mine doing the cleanup work for the nearby KRDK TV tower that came down due to an ice storm in early April of that year. It was 2060 Feet tall, or about 3 feet shorter than the KVLY tower shown here. Learned to run dozer, payloader and torch cut large-diameter high strength steel on that job. A lot of the steel from the old tower is still in the back of their scrap yard south of Fargo today some nearing 25 years later.

[@TheDylanJoyce]

0:36 For a second there I thought the damn thing broke in half...

[@Kuchareq27]

In Poland there was 646 meters tall Radio-Tower that fell in 1991 if you want to hear all story you can write "Konstantynow 646 meters tall" unfortunately it's only in polish but idk, maybe you can find a story in English

[@mattlf9120]

I was out there today, very impressive in person. There were other people out there when I got there too.

[@craigroberts6439]

Wow…great video…on a cross country trip we drove over an hour out of our way just to visit this tower. Only video I’ve ever seen about it.

[@beyondonethousand]

Years back coming from Chicago I took a detour and drove right up to it. That thing was and still is very high.

[@benjroof]

Many thanks for this video.What a beauty.

[@kiingpininvestments]

i do not envy whoever has to climb this thing and change those red light bulbs... total respect!

[@craigroberts6439]

Best pics of that tower….loved the drone stuff and the evening with the beacons on.

[@JoeSpinstheGlobe]

Thanks Craig 🤗🤗

[@ActuallySanFrancisco]

great video. i grew up in north dakota and, while i'm not much of a fan of the state in general, this thing is awesome and doesn't get anywhere near enough love or recognition online. now i live in san francisco and i'm equally in love with sutro tower here. (:

[@JoeSpinstheGlobe]

Awesome, glad you enjoyed. To be honest I'm glad it's not a tourist trap or anything even close. So few notable things are allowed to "just be" these days

[@spicymusicpiano]

@@JoeSpinstheGlobe 0:53 not true. It was the tallest till 1974 (radio tower in Poland (646m) and again from 1991 to 2008

[@kwgm8578]

Years ago I lived in Noe Valley and each summer enjoyed a view from our parlor window of Sutro Tower poking up through the giant fog bank that sits atop Twin Peaks. Do Bay Area residents still refer to that thing as the world's largest cocktail fork?

[@ActuallySanFrancisco]

@@kwgm8578 i've only been living here since 2014 and haven't heard that one yet - but i'm sure some folks do. it's definitely an apt description! right now the tower is uncharacteristically "naked" with all its outer panels removed for repainting which, it seems due to the mess of 2020/21, is taking a lot longer to finish than usual, so all its latticework will remain visible til sometime next year when the repainted panels get shipped back and replaced.

[@DaveTexas]

Beautiful work with the drone!

[@flipflores]

My profile pic is me on that tower or on the line rigged to that tower. I worked on that tower for about two months and stacked hardline. Lol awesome video brother. Elevator was broken when we were there so it took a lot of push.

[@kkb116]

visited there couple months ago, very impressive construction.

[@borntoclimb7116]

Great views

[@willknowsright9615]

hell ya dude. such a cool design

[@EnderPrinceLive]

I’ve actually been inside the building at the base of this tower, my dad is really good friends with a manager at this site

[@bulgingbattery2050]

North Dakota's biggest attraction!

[@neonflashsparkotron5435]

Saw your review on google maps that’s why I’m here 😂

[@Joemama..]

I just went there today. Its huge.

[@mjay776]

That's what she said

[@kovar2344]

there is a 300m plus mast about 40 km from my city. So i understand what tall means. And yet 600m plus is so mindbogglingly tall i cant wrap my head around it.

[@wilsonlomboy3032]

im here bcoz of the movie fall 2022

[@gachanya6947]

Omg I never thought this tower was real 😭

[@Jerry-ds4ye]

The sunset was incredible...

[@gregorygregorsky5513]

No way omg that's so cool this is cool I'm watching every single good movie

[@wirefeed3419]

I am going to guess for most people the height of this kind of climbable, serviceable structure is beyond understanding unless standing at the base looking up. I have spent decades climbing and working off of ladders. Being honest I am guessing I may be able to climb to 150 - 200 feet, Maybe, which is a small fraction of the total climbable height. I know a fall from 200 feet or 2000 feet the result would be the same, I just cannot imagine my legs working beyond 200 or my eyes either from all the shaking. Respect to those that climb at these kind of heights. 👍

[@scottlin7876]

Made it a point to stop here on a motorcycle trip from Ohio earlier this year. I also made it a point to visit a deactivated nuke launch control center and silo. I can't remember which town but that was very cool.

[@moron1238]

Probably the one just north of Cooperstown, ND. LCC is now open and operated by the State Historical Society.

[@aydanmortenson8597]

I lived in North Dakota for 6 years and we visited these places and they were both really fascinating.

[@joaquinwolf5018]

What kind of drone do you use that can go that high?

[@strxkereye]

I climbed to the top of a radio tower a few nights ago that is 1/2.9 the height of this one. 710 ft and 1420 feet up and down. I’m just a skinny 17 year old and I wasn’t tired or very afraid somehow

[@mjay776]

Video or it didn't happen

[@strxkereye]

@@mjay776 federal

[@borntoclimb7116]

​@@strxkereyein Germany i climb some tall towers, eifel transmitter 302 Meters, gartow 2 with 344 meters and Donebach 363 meters

[@George-rr5rw]

There is a sister tower kxjb that is only 3ft shorter and in only 5 miles away!

[@JoeSpinstheGlobe]

I heard that! I also thought i heard somewhere it's disputed which one is actually taller, but seems most agree it's this one

[@borntoclimb7116]

Dont forgot the Walnutgrove KOVR tower, 624 meters tall.

[@everythingtractors9332]

@@borntoclimb7116 Yah

[@whyisaiden]

Actually, the KVLY TV tower is not the tallest anymore. In 2019, it's old analog antenna was replaced with a new digital antenna. However, the new antenna is only about 37 feet tall, while the old antenna was 113 feet tall. Nowadays, the KVLY tower is only 1,987 feet tall, and their are a lot of TV towers in America that are taller, including the 2,060 foot tall KXJB tower; the current tallest.

[@CreeseDF]

@@whyisaiden 🤓

[@ShibaCat]

Fall movie B67?

[@Birdisa_bird]

The movie was based off this tower

[@nicoplowden2122]

@@Birdisa_bird no, it was based off the kvtv tower in California

[@theapple8538]

Wasn't a tv tower called Warsaw the tallest tv tower and was like demolished

[@JoeSpinstheGlobe]

Yep you're right, i mention that in the description

[@borntoclimb7116]

Thats right

[@danferrari7607]

It collapsed due to human error during a repair

[@jimnantz2265]

The tower in Warsaw was in the Eastern Hemisphere. The KLVY tower is in the WESTERN hemisphere.

[@maxpayneau]

0:53 No. Warsaw Radio tower was higher. 648m. Build in 1974. Unfortunately colappsed in 1991.

[@JoeSpinstheGlobe]

Yep that's correct, I oversimplified for the video since this was tallest both before and after the Warsaw tower.

[@Yasin_2312]

Even if Warsaw Radio Tower was still there. Warsaw is in the Eastern Hemisphere. Look in the title

[@JoeSpinstheGlobe]

I think he's referring to the fact that, in the video, I say KVLY tower was the tallest structure in the world for several decades... Which isn't strictly true since the Warsaw tower was built and collapsed in the middle of that time.

[@maxpayneau]

@@JoeSpinstheGlobe Yes, that's right. Anyway I am just person who love such towers nothing more. Of course I read the title :) The video is outstanding and thank you for your hard work to make it. Peace.

[@SJKile]

I wanna know who gets to replace the flashing red bulbs by climbing that thing when the highest one goes out & needs replacing? You couldn’t pay me enough money to do that.

[@Ajayx218]

That movie fall was scary as hell 🤧

[@shao7274]

Life is beautiful every day and everywhere.

[@XdB1Gz7StR4C7]

Absolutely great video. Enormus heights. Imagine it in depth. The Crater lake in Oregon is 1949 feet deep. Deepest lake in the U.S. The KVLY mast totally fits that depth. When you'd just put it into that lake, you'd see a 114 feet (~34 meters) tall part of it out of water. ...by the way the Petronius Compliant Tower (fixed platform oil rig - what is a structure too) is taller (2100 feet, just +63 feet what is not too much:) You know, what is the tallest mountain?! The typical answer is: the Mt. Everest. Yep, but what about the Mauna Kea. My comment is just an ordinary comment, not a teasing. I like heights and extreme depths, nothing special.

[@khymanser391]

That's the tower from the fall movie

[@Birdisa_bird]

No the tower was different

[@Birdisa_bird]

@r ik

[@polite345]

@@Birdisa_bird It inspired the looks of the other one in the movie.

[@craigywaigyplays]

I wonder who changes the bulbs on that yower especially the top one 🤔🧐

[@RebiSollera]

Movie fall brought me here

[@nicoplowden2122]

For anyone who thinks this is the tower from the fall movie. No, it is not. the tower from fall is based off the KVTV TV tower in California.

[@K3LINSKI]

its like that one movie

[@bollywoodfan98]

Looks like the tower from fall

[@polite345]

This is the tower that inspired the looks of B67 TV Tower in Fall (2022).

[@marieelisa1]

The vertigo is too high on this one😱

[@katyaweikel3922]

It’s so cool, but creepy at the same time.

[@johnh5875]

Get your part 107 drone certificate and you can fly it. You can go 400’ agl, or within 400’ of a structure

[@jakieloewen3244]

Who's here after watching 'Fall 2022'?

[@BowzerTowboats]

You can fly higher near and over an object. You can actually fly 400 feet above that tower. According to official aeronautical regulations designed for drone flight - a drone's altitude cannot exceed 400 feet from the ground unless it is "flown within a 400-foot perimeter of an object and does not stay airborne than 400 feet over the structure's immediate topmost limit."

[@Storm_OW]

When i grow up imma climb there

[@examiningdata7952]

Chevron big-foot is 5200 ft tall Its in gulf of Mexico .

[@examiningdata7952]

200 m south of Louisiana

[@Niko_playz-mr6kc]

This actually doesn't count is a Tv tower. While actually the CN Tower remains the tallest. At 553.3 meters tall.

[@TEM1]

I climbed it in 2001. At night time. In the winter, in a blizzard. For 10 dollars an hour plus room and dinner. I fell in love with the work.

[@TEM1]

I was working for All State Tower out of Minot, ND.

[@bobibest89]

How is the structure protected from corrosion???

[@TheDylanJoyce]

Its not…. In fact it’s extremely rusty!

[@richardjohnson2965]

Who gets to climb up that one to change a light bulb?

[@djen51799]

The CN Tower is the tallest freestanding structure in the western hemisphere

[@ost.journey]

Is it safe to climb? Because I would love to!

[@Princeaxolotlsalt]

-the movie falls plot kicks in-

[@djpjrn]

THat tower is sill working?

[@EnderPrinceLive]

Yes! But a sister tower a few miles away got a new antenna on it making it a few feet taller (was like a foot shorter before)

[@user-bk6ot8qo3q]

башня квли высотой всего 628 метров ещё была построена варшавская радиомачта высотой уже 646 метров но она была обрушена осталась только квли мачта

[@marusha24]

Warsaw Radio Mast - 646,38 m.

[@fian3359]

it must be in north dakota

[@MCSpoon]

cool! why do they need it to be that tall though?

[@JoeSpinstheGlobe]

I'm not even sure. More broadcast range I guess?

[@chrisnelson9370]

Dang man just a few miles north of me. And yeah it’s due to having to get the signal out so far. It was the tallest structure for many years. Good ol North Dakota

[@richb.4374]

Broadcast coverage area. The taller the tower, the further out the TV signal can reach. More square miles means more viewers. Unlike AM radio stations where the entire tower is the antenna and the signal radiates from there, a TV tower simply holds the antenna up at height, it does not radiate any signal itself.

[@ActuallySanFrancisco]

​@@JoeSpinstheGlobe the reason it's so tall is because the american upper midwest region it's located in, particularly eastern north dakota, is so completely and uniquely geographically flat in every direction over atypically long distances, that they couldn't do what people normally do when building wide-coverage-area TV masts and just build it on the tallest hill or mountain in the area, because there are no hills, mountains, or significant elevation changes of any kind anywhere in that part of the country. so, instead, they just built it basically twice as tall as any other mast that would normally be built on a hill to achieve the same amount of coverage area. the nearby KXJB / KDRK mast is nearly the same height as the KVLY mast for the same reason. TL;DR: north dakota is literally the most boring part of the world, and they have to build their TV towers twice as high as everywhere else to compensate (;

[@johnhoward3042]

@@ActuallySanFrancisco Truly an ignorant, know nothing reply.

[@Pho3nixv]

Fall movie it's that You?

[@johnziegelbauer4999]

Lots of cables hold it up ......

[@konradbak]

You are bit wrong. There was higher tower in Poland. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_radio_mast In the years 1974-1991 it was tallest structure in the World.

[@CreeseDF]

Poland is central europe. Not the western hemisphere

[@brianhumphreys1660]

I wanna climb it.

[@PerseptDesign]

The tallest was in Poland (Konstantynowo) 646 m.

[@armcannon1998]

I don't see a climbing face , my best guess is the replace the light bulbs via helicopter

[@landriangordon1957]

Here after the movie FALL

[@mrbuck5059]

I've been at the top.

[@T-Jack]

My Kryptonite is heights. I would make it about 20 feet up that tower and I would start crying LOL I would rather fight a lion, a tiger and a bear all at once with my shirt off than climb that tower. What is weird, flying in a plane does not bother me at all and I enjoy having a window seat.

[@emmettl480]

Oh I thought you were gonna climb it

[@ChristopherBosch-ff1dt]

Lean on KVLY tower

[@gustavobautista7104]

Like si vienes de ver la película VÉRTIGO

[@zulkamal9191]

the height of shanghai tower

[@Paul-fh7lv]

Fall movie be like

[@IM-oi8hh]

i wanna climb the tower

[@gvpvizag6788]

After watching Fall movie

[@kassiel666]

It's not true that it was the tallest in the world until 2008: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_radio_mast

[@Thebrileybrothers]

That tower collapsed way before 2008 so yes it is true

[@everythingtractors9332]

630 Meters

[@spicymusicpiano]

0:53 not true. It was the tallest till 1974 (radio tower in Poland (646m) and again from 1991 to 2008

[@JoeSpinstheGlobe]

Yes. See my comment clarifying

[@SomeAngryRussianGuy]

I know an tower that’s bigger than that

[@jimihakovirta1648]

Its not the tallest structure in western hemisphere anymore in 2019 it was reduced down to 1987 ft making the krdk tv tower the tallest at 2060ft

[@JoeSpinstheGlobe]

Really? Were you involved or how do you know this?

[@jimihakovirta1648]

@@JoeSpinstheGlobe its puplic informationt it was related to a nationwide change in some frequency band standars

[@JoeSpinstheGlobe]

No kidding I'll have to look into it

[@jimihakovirta1648]

@@JoeSpinstheGlobe you found the info?

[@secretlee7957]

👍Great view,😎 were,just f l a t, "on top" see? 😁no 🐂sht...

[@thisischris5351]

Daaaang, boy you fiiine asf tho 😟 ok! 👌🏼👍🏼

[@ChristopherBosch-ff1dt]

Turn the Page 😮

[@CarlineMullins-te9hg]

😮who have known

[@jaycelauni]

1:02 break the law then💀

[@SajiSNairNair-tu9dk]

😩👽👈👉🧞‍♂️

[@techinoneminute]

merdeka 118 and shanghai tower is taller

[@user-ck9nm3et7c]

Omg looks like USA engineers hate climbers, we making platformals for rest every 20-30 meters

[@hareth3911]

Fall movie😅

[@datdudeinred]

I wanna know how the fuck they built it? 😂

[@toddhunter3137]

They lift the sections of it by helicopter and workers on the structure bolt it together, there is a video on KZbin of it but I forget the actual title, apologies.

[@datdudeinred]

@@toddhunter3137 thanks. 👍👏

[@gregorygregorsky5513]

Whats

[@WhatAreColors]

Is that all you're gonna say about it huh? I am disappointed. 3/10

[@pattycarol5191]

This is what they based the new movie..FAll off of

[@DarrylErickson]

Bro this random stupid pole doesn’t count

[@JoeSpinstheGlobe]

Try to define what counts

[@pole5640]

Wrong! The biggest structure everer bild was in poland ❤❤🇵🇱

[@timevans7261]

Skip to 20 seconds to avoid the garbage rap beat.