The KVLY tower rises out of the flat countryside like a needle. It’s so narrow that it’s just a vertical line on the horizon until you get close up. Built in 1963, it was the tallest structure in the world for many years.

“Our population isn’t exactly very dense out here, so you need to cover a large area to get to enough people,” says Doug Jenson, the chief engineer at the NBC affiliate that broadcasts from the tower. Blanchard, North Dakota is “just a little blip on the road,” he said.

An elevator goes up most of the way to the top.

“You can see quite a ways out on the prairie, and although it gets kind of misty on the horizon, it’s pretty awesome,” Jenson says. “Especially when you have another 2,000-foot tower you can look at.”

That’s right — five miles away from the KVLY tower, there’s a second TV tower that reaches 2,060 feet. That tower, KXJB, which broadcast a competing station, has fallen down and been rebuilt twice — first in 1968 when a helicopter got caught in the guy wires, killing four, and again in 1997 after what Jenson called a “freak ice storm.”

Neither tower is exactly picturesque — just narrow lattices of red and white metal, about 10 feet on each face, anchored to the ground by thick wires.

When it was first built, the KVLY tower was a big deal. Tourists would come to see the tallest structure in the world, and locals were proud to have a landmark in their backyard. Old-timers remember a “tall tower” drink served at a bar in the nearby town of Mayville — Bali Hai wine, vodka, grenadine, and mix, served in a tall, frosted glass — for 75 cents.

These days, however, the tower doesn’t get nearly as much attention.

“It’s a fixture, it’s there. You don’t really think about it,” says Kathy Carlstad, the manager at the Top Hat Lounge, which served the drink. It’s no longer on the menu.

Jenson, who’s lived in the area his entire life, agreed. “2,000-foot towers aren’t unique anymore,” he says.

According to Federal Communications Commission records, 16 towers in the country reach 2,000 feet and above, with dozens more only a few feet from the 2,000 mark. Federal Aviation Administration regulations prohibit building above that limit, and only three currently standing towers have exceptions to the rule.