August 2026 Newsletter

Billboard lighting has changed considerably over the years. Today, LED fixtures can produce more usable light with much less electricity than the old high-wattage systems. But the basic rule has not changed: there is no single lighting package that works for every billboard. You have to design the illumination around the individual location.

So you’re driving down the road and you see an abandoned billboard – either some barren poles or some weathered plywood with no ad on it. Believe it or not, that rotting sign might pay your utilities for the rest of your life. What am I talking about?

One of the oldest styles of billboard structures in America are what are called “roof mounts” – signs that are physically built into roofs of buildings as their structural support. Dating from around the 1920s to 1960s, most cities will no longer allow you to build these, but they sometimes come on the market to buy. In this Billboard Mastery podcast we’re going to review the history of this type of sign and what you need to know if you are looking at buying or operating one.

Old commercial signs are now displayed in museums, restaurants, and private collections, but they were never created as decorations. They had a job to do: attract attention, identify a business, and communicate an idea quickly. The technology has changed, but the basic rules behind an effective sign have not.

Whether it’s monopole, I-beam, or telephone pole, every billboard begins with digging giant holes in the ground. And there are many things that can happen when you dig a hole, and many things you can hit below the earth’s surface. In this Billboard Mastery podcast we’re going to explore the lessons learned from digging hundreds of such holes.