Jay Panozzo, President of MidAmerica Towers, Inc., does it all—from running a corporation, owning 39 towers, overseeing job sites, to climbing towers. Jay’s passion for the industry really shows how much dedication it takes to work in this field. Jay started working in the industry in 1982 for Andrew Corporation. “It was a pretty good time because MCI had just beat AT&T in the court system and that’s when MCI, Sprint, WPCI, and several other companies got carrier licenses to build microwave antenna systems. They all needed the products that the company I worked for supplied and tower climbers were in high demand, as they are today,” Jay said.
While he got his start as a tower climber, Jay has many different roles now when it comes to his day-to-day tasks. “Basically I wear all the hats, so I could be sitting at the office doing lease amendments, working with the engineers designing and approving drawings for new sites, or, like today, I’m headed to Ohio to re-guy a tower. I’ll be the supervisor on the project,” said Jay. When working on a job site or building a tower, Jay works with one crew as to not make mistakes. As the industry is booming and the demand for tower climbers is high, careless mistakes have been made but Jay makes certain that he and his team remain safe while on site. “There have been a lot of accidents in the industry so our exposure is greater than it’s ever been. We’ve always used those accidents in a positive way. A climber and a crew will continue to think about the consequences of making mistakes. In this industry, sometimes you don’t get away with mistakes. You have to continually think about your next move, think and rethink the procedures you’re using,” Jay shared.
Some people would let fear stop them from doing this job, but Jay uses fear as motivation to stay safe. “I’m scared every day. I’m afraid to be scared and I use that fear to keep everyone safe because it makes you look at everything. There’s so much you need to see and pay attention to. My biggest fear is a tower collapsing underneath us because of something we don’t know about. For instance, guyed-towers have anchors that could be rotting and the rot can be six to eight feet underground and you can’t see it. There are certain times where things can happen—where things are out of your control 100%, but some of the accidents have been human error and a lack of knowledge, which is why we have training courses to teach you about fall protection, terminology, and basics.”
“Right now tower modification is really, really popular. From what I see in the field, I would say 75-80% of the existing infrastructure is at capacity, which means towers are going to need to be modified. Right now the only tower work I do is tower modification. I took on the task because I know we can do it, I know we can do it safely, and I figured it was a niche. There’s just so much of it and a lot of guys are taking it on and learning as they go,” Jay said. But at the end of the day, Jay feels a sense of accomplishment when his crewmembers return home safely and a tower modification is complete. “I always have that feeling of accomplishment after finishing a tower mod,” Jay explained.” Jay’s sense of accomplishment isn’t solely in completing the modification; it’s completing the modification the right way, keeping everyone safe, and perfecting the finishing touches. “I like the finishing touches, kind of like a custom home builder—the curb appeal or the landscaping. I’ll spend the extra $8,000 or $9,000 on landscaping and planting trees. The end result is the beautification of the site. It’s all about the finishing touches, the trim, and the quality of the foundation.”
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