Podcast Summary: "How to Be Anything"
Episode 8: How to Be a Tower Climber
Host: Emily McCrary
Guest: Brendan King
Date: August 27, 2025
Episode Overview
This episode of "How to Be Anything" dives into the high-flying, high-risk world of tower climbers through the story of Brendan King, a veteran in the field. Host Emily McCrary explores what draws people to this unusual job, what the day-to-day is really like, the unseen dangers, and the thrill and beauty of being hundreds of feet above ground—all from someone who’s spent over a decade on the nation’s cell towers. The show pulls back the curtain on an essential job most of us never notice, yet depend on every single day.
Key Discussion Points and Insights
1. The First Climb and Falling in Love with the Job
- Brendan’s first climb was at age 18, accompanying his father and a crew to a 200-foot tower in Arizona.
- He recalls the intense fear and awe as he climbed alone, with a digital camera to document his work and describe the moment the sunset hooked him:
"I hugged the tower with one arm...scraping the rust, taking a million pictures because I can't see the angle. ...But once I watched that sunset, I was still about 100ft in the air. And from that point forward I was like, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. It was the most beautiful experience ever."
(Brendan King, 00:56, 17:28)
2. What It Feels Like to Be So High Up
- Fear heightens with age, but so does respect for the job’s risks.
- The experience is described as a "peaceful bliss"—a perspective rarely available to others:
"You get to watch everything take place around you and no one knows you're there. So it's just like being a fly on the wall."
(Brendan King, 02:27) - Urban towers offer anonymity; rural towers provide stunning landscape views.
3. Tower Climbers: The Hidden Backbone of the World’s Connectivity
- Tower climbers build, install, and maintain the infrastructure for all generations of cellular technology (4G, 5G, 6G, etc.).
- They’re tasked with troubleshooting and repairs, often summoned by a complex web of tickets passed through multiple subcontractors.
4. Where Are the Antennas?
- Antennas hide in plain sight: disguised as Wi-Fi panels in hotels, fake cactuses, eucalyptus trees, church steeples, or behind facade walls and gargoyles.
"There's cactuses...you flip the rock over and crawl down in the vault...in Cali, they have eucalyptus trees that are fake eucalyptus trees...some that are intricate gargoyle systems."
(Brendan King, 04:04)
5. Daily Work: Physical Rigor, Hazards, and Quiet Moments
- Typical process: Assess site, gear up, rig ropes and harness, climb—sometimes hundreds or even thousands of feet.
- Crews send up equipment by rope, sometimes sitting in a harness (or makeshift hammock) for hours waiting for troubleshooting or instructions:
"I’m setting up my harness in a hammock and I'm taking a nap...you’re 350ft in the air when you wake up...That first initial shock in 10 years, I’ve never gotten over it, ever."
(Brendan King, 06:40)
6. The Hours and Travel: Always on the Road
- Work can mean weeks or months away from home—Brendan’s schedule is more settled now, but most climbers are always on the move across states and regions.
7. Most Memorable Climb: The Caribbean after Hurricanes (07:51–09:10)
- After hurricanes Irma and Maria, Brendan worked disaster recovery in St. Thomas, where existing towers were mangled.
- Free climbing (without safety gear) was mandatory due to the risque condition of the towers.
"We’re climbing over broken steel...I saw a microwave dish that went through someone's whole entire house...just the level of destruction was the craziest thing that I have ever seen." (Brendan King, 08:13)
- Climbing at night or in extreme conditions (like 120°F in Phoenix) presents unique hazards and sometimes breathtaking moments:
"You turn your light off up top, it's pitch black...it's literally like snorkeling at night and turning off your light."
(Brendan King, 09:26)
8. Hazards: Weather, Wildlife, and Fatigue (10:07–11:30)
- Tallest tower climbed: 500ft.
- Thunderstorms are deadly; Brendan descends if one comes within seven miles.
- Wildlife (like peregrine falcons) can deter climbs due to aggression.
- Fatigue and boredom are managed by pacing climbs and taking short breaks.
9. Industry Structure and Pressures (12:48–14:18)
- Jobs are subcontracted multiple times, increasing risk and often sacrificing safety and training to cut costs:
"We have entire companies...that literally only exist to take 40% off the PO and give it to a company that has a crew." (Brendan King, 13:14)
- Layers of contracting yield poor communication, unclear conditions, and pressure to finish fast, often resulting in unsafe practices and accidents.
10. Close Calls and Coping with Danger (14:52–16:16)
- Brendan never fell, but once nearly lost his grip when a pipe rolled underfoot; he described pausing to collect himself:
"It was terrifying. The tower is always going to move...we call it the spaghetti noodle. It's supposed to do that. If it's not, it means it's leaning." (Brendan King, 15:19)
- Describes rescuing a frozen coworker—sometimes panic on the tower becomes a risk to others.
11. Family, Motivation, and Legacy (16:16–21:39)
- Brendan’s father was also a tower climber, with a rough past; the job offered redemption and adventure.
- Brendan followed in his father's footsteps after reconnecting at age 11, moving to California for the trade.
- The industry was a way out of trouble and a source of pride, despite a fraught relationship:
"Our relationship was one of those ones that was always much better from a distance..."
(Brendan King, 21:05)
12. Risks, Adrenaline, and Personality
- Brendan thrives on risk and adventure, both in work and life—skydiving, skateboarding, and seeking new experiences.
- He attributes this to a childhood medicated with stimulants, leading to lifelong craving for excitement:
"I feed my own addictions with adrenaline. ...my brain was wired early on for synthetic interaction."
(Brendan King, 22:13)
13. What He Loves About the Job (22:55)
- Unpredictable days, constant travel, and the chance to see unseen beauty.
- "I've been in places where people have lived their entire lives and they’ve never once seen the view that I get to see. It’s amazing."
(Brendan King, 23:07)
Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments
- On witnessing unseen beauty:
"You get to watch everything take place around you and no one knows you’re there."
(Brendan King, 02:27) - On work risks and beauty:
"The older I get, the more scared I get. ...It’s a peaceful, a peaceful bliss."
(Brendan King, 02:27) - On the allure of the work:
"It’s a constant adventure no matter how you look at it."
(Brendan King, 22:57) - On industry pressures:
"When you sub that job out six times and you have some guy that’s willing to go do a $14,000 job for $2,500...There’s no way he’s doing it safely. It’s just not physically possible."
(Brendan King, 13:57) - On fear and survival:
"I managed to grab onto the tower and I got real scared."
(Brendan King, 15:14)
Timeline of Key Segments
| Timestamp | Segment | |-----------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:56 | Brendan describes his first climb and transformative sunset moment | | 02:27 | Describes the feeling and perspective from atop a tower | | 04:04 | Creative disguises for cell antennas in various environments | | 06:40 | Daily work routines, climbing process, and mid-climb hammock naps | | 07:51 | Story of disaster recovery climbing in the Caribbean post-hurricane | | 08:13 | The dangers of free climbing and hurricane wreckage | | 09:26 | Beauty and strangeness of night climbing | | 10:34 | Weather, wildlife, and realities of tower hazards | | 12:48 | Industry subcontracting and its safety consequences | | 14:52 | Brendan’s close call and reflection on occupational hazards | | 16:18 | Brendan’s first climb, early days, and relationship with his father | | 17:28 | Decision to pursue tower climbing as a career | | 18:15 | His father’s journey into tower climbing | | 19:52 | How Brendan got his start, emphasis on “learning by doing” | | 22:08 | Why he craves risk and new experiences | | 22:55 | What he loves about tower climbing |
Final Thoughts
Emily McCrary and Brendan King construct a vivid, honest portrait of tower climbing: equal parts adrenaline and awe, tedium and thrill, risk and reward. The episode uncovers not just the daily grind and working conditions but the personal histories, motivations, and systemic issues that tower climbers face. For listeners curious about the hidden hands keeping the world connected, this episode is a window into a job few see but everyone relies upon—told with unflinching honesty and a sense of wonder.
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