Man Climbs 1,999-Foot Tower to Change a Light Bulb and Inspect KDLT-TV's Antenna

Nick Wagner was very brave to do it!

As part of his job, Nick climbed a 1,999-foot tower to change a light bulb and inspect KDLT-TV's antenna in 2015. He works for National Tower Controls, LLC, which annually maintains these towers.

The KDLT towers are two towers used by the South Dakota television station KDLT. Both towers are high guy-wired aerial masts for the transmission of TV signals. The digital tower was erected in 1998 and is 609.2 meters (1,999 ft) tall.

Nick Wagner wore a GoPro for the whole experience and filmed it for almost 20 minutes. The climb took nearly 15 minutes and involved hopping on a lift for the first 1,900 feet before climbing up to the tower's peak with a pair of harnesses. The tower is so high that clouds obscure the ground.

The footage of Nick Wagner's climb went viral after being broadcast on Facebook Live and posted on YouTube in September 2015 and has had more than 109,000 reactions so far. One viewer commented: "How much do these guys get paid?" Another added: "Yeah…How about f****** nope!" And a third wrote: "I’d laugh if he drops the new light bulb!"

This reminds me of a 2002 survival thriller film that I watched not long ago. The movie is called “Fall.” I am sure that it has nothing to do with this story above.

This film was directed and co-written by Scott Mann and Jonathan Frank. The movie follows recent widow Becky (Grace Caroline Currey) and her bestie Hunter (Virginia Gardner) as they climb a 2,000-foot pole to spread the ashes of Becky's husband. They got stranded at the top with no way down.

When I saw it, it was terrifying. I am not that brave to go up that HIGH. No way!

They were crazy to do that. They did not have any backups, or they did not tell anyone. It was a dumb thing to do, and it was scary.

But this man had to replace a bulb during annual maintenance on those towers; I give kudos to him for being so brave, and I am glad he was okay. I am sure someone was watching to make sure he was okay.

There are no records or sources that he is still working for the company on annual maintenance today.