Some of the world's largest man-made structures are TV broadcast towers in little rural communities. Which maybe isn't too surprising, but it's fun to compare them to those oft-blogged-about behemoths (click the image to expand). The KVLY-TV Tower's lattices of red and white metal stretch to 2,063 feet, making it the fourth tallest structure in the world. When compared with the current tallest structure—the Burj Khalifa skyscraper in Dubai—maybe it's easy to see why people aren't collecting in droves to go visit the thing. But once upon a time people did.
In 1963, the KVLY tower was the tallest structure in the world, living out its golden years. It was a source of pride for locals and a bar in a nearby town even had a drink dedicated to the tower. Tourists ventured to the small town of Blanchard, North Dakota just to visit the site. Sadly, KVLY's 15 minutes came to an end in 1974, when it lost its title to the Warsaw Radio Mast, but KVLY resumed the title when that collapsed in 1991. Compare it to a few other supertalls above, and head to Medium to learn about the country's other sky-reaching radio towers.
·Where the Real Skyscrapers Are (Hint: North Dakota) [Medium]