Founded in 1976

Magnum Towers Inc. was founded in 1976 by Peter Smith (then of P&R Tower Company), who – after 15 years of installing products produced by the Midwest and East Coast tower manufacturers – decided it was time to start his own manufacturing company on the West Coast.
 

A Solid Reputation

 

Magnum Towers Inc. quickly earned a solid reputation in the industry by providing quality custom towers engineered for difficult situations. An example was a strong corrosion resistant guyed tower using a solid leg design with full 360° welds around each structural member. Only a few tower companies were using the solid leg design back in the 70s. Since that time, it has become the industry standard.

 

Family Owned and Operated

 

From the beginning Magnum has been a family owned and operated business. Pete’s son Larry Smith took on an active sales role from the beginning, and in the early 80s became the primary owner and president. It was during his first few years as president that most of our present sales and management team were hired. In fact, all of the initial core management and production teams are still in place today. This includes Jeff Styler our project manager and Mark Fabian our production manager, with us since 1983; and our office manager, Lori Morris, since 1987. Recently we tallied the extensive installation experience of just these three members alone, and discovered they provide a combined eight decades of tower manufacturing experience! And this doesn’t include the experience of our more recently added team members.

 

Pete and Larry continued to work together operating P&R Tower Company and Magnum Towers Inc. until Pete Smith passed away in 2002. At that time Larry took over as president of both companies and continued in that role until retirement in 2007. That same year Larry and his mother, Doris Smith, sold their company shares to Ron, Jeff, and Jason Kardokus, Pete and Doris’s grandchildren and Larry’s nephews.

 

Experienced Leadership

 

Ron and Jason Kardokus took over active roles in the companies after Larry’s retirement. Ron became president of Magnum Towers, while Jason became president of P&R Tower Company. During that time Jeff Kardokus was finishing his 20 year career in the US Air Force. He has since retired from the Air Force and is now working in Magnum's Sacramento office with Ron and Jason.

 

Ron, Jeff, and Jason had all worked summers at Magnum during high school and college. Ron went on to work as Project Manager for Keiwit Construction in the late 80s.  Jeff joined the Air Force in the early 90’s and Jason went to work at P&R Tower Company full time in 1996.  Ron and Jason eventually started their own successful tower and antenna installation company, Northstar Broadcast Contractors, in 2005.

 

Broadcasting and Beyond

 

Magnum has been doing very well over the last several years. Since its initial entry as tower manufacturers for the communications and broadcasting industry (at which they continue to excel), they have branched out to serve other areas as well: the wind development industry, railroad companies, the U.S. Military (and other government agencies), plus the internet/broadband industry.