Iowa’s Powerball Billboard Crews

We just posted a really fun video on our Web site and YouTube about the folks who climb into the air to change the jackpot numbers you see on Powerball billboards around our state. 

We met a ClearChannel Outdoor billboard crew on a bright, sunny morning in Des Moines and watched as Bryan Byre of Pleasant Hill got out a couple ladders, put on a safety harness and started climbing up to get to work. We expected it to be a complicated process, but Brian made it look easy. In fact, he was done in just a few minutes. So that left us time to pick his brain about his unusual job.

Brian says he’s been climbing on billboards for years. There’s a training process where newbies start out working on lower signs and then gradually work their way up to the highest billboards in Iowa, which are about 100 feet up there. Brian says he doesn’t have (much of) a fear of heights, which has got to be a plus for his job!

Brian says people driving by often stop to watch what he’s doing and drivers honk at him all the time. When he was new on the job, he waved back a lot, but he’s so used to it now, the horns often just blend into the background.

So, what’s worse for a billboard worker: snow, rain, cold or wind? Brian says it’s wind, definitely wind. You’re on a billboard ledge dozens of feet in the air trying to paste a large sheet of artwork onto the surface in front of you and the wind whips everything around, sending glue into your face and hair. I’m sure Brian has a renewed appreciation for his safety equipment on days like that!

The crews change out the numbers on Iowa’s Powerball billboards twice a week after each drawing. Their goal is to have that work done by 11 a.m. so people can see the new jackpot amount as soon as possible.

Here’s another unusual billboard fact for you: The paste that’s used to put up the signs is a natural product made from potatoes! The starch in potatoes makes for an extremely sticky solution. It doesn’t look too appetizing though – it’s thick, lumpy, green stuff!