Tallest Towers

We've all seen lists of the tallest buildings in the world. But "building" is a limitation. We've built radio towers far taller than any building. I found a list on Wikipedia that was very complete. Their stories are fascinating, but the first two are amazing as they trades places twice for the rank of tallest. Click the Header for more towers.

Warsaw Radio Mast (2118 feet) The full name of the facility was Radiofoniczny Ośrodek Nadawczy w Konstantynowie. It was the world's tallest structure until its collapsed. It still remains the tallest land-based structure ever built. Approximately ten years after completion of the mast, inspections revealed structural damage caused by wind-induced oscillations. On August 8th 1991. The mast collapsed due to a human error while replacing guy wires. The contractor and worker involved most directly were actually sentenced to prison time over the catastrophe.

KVLY/KTHI TV Mast : (2063 feet) After the collapse, the KVLY-TV mast outside Fargo, ND regained the title as the world's tallest structure. The call letters of the television station for which it was built were originally KTHI, the "HI" referring to the height of the mast.

The picture to the right is the WSM tower. It's only 878 feet by comparison, but when it was built, it was the tallest tower in the world. The tower was erected in 1932 and is still in use today. More here.

WSM radio acquired licenses on FM and Television in the following years. In 1986 WSMV-TV put up a tower that was one of the world's tallest. At 1,369 feet it's 60% taller than their old AM stick.