Line Life Podcast

Our Faces of the Future podcast series continues with Melissa Dawe, an apprentice lineworker for Connect Atlantic Utility Services in Canada. She first discovered the trade as a traffic controller when she saw the Nova Scotia Power line crews in action. After enrolling in a Utility Line Work Construction and Maintenance course at a community college, she joined her local union and pursued a career...

The May 2024 cover story of T&D World, "The Winds of Change for St. Lucia's Electric Grid," is now an audio story in our In Case You Missed It series for the Line Life podcast. In the article, Randall Wood and Mike Allison of Power Engineers, Inc. describe the major hurricanes that have hit the region in the past and then share how St. Lucia Electricity Services Ltd. (LUCELEC) is focusing on g...

For Part 3 of our Faces of the Future series for the T&D World Line Life Podcast, we are shining the spotlight on Joshua Hohenberg, apprentice lineworker at Evergy. He started out his career as a superintendent carpenter before launching his career in the line trade on the contractor side. He then  walked on for a Boot Camp at Evergy to get his foot in the door. During this episode, he shares...

For this episode in our ICYMI series for the Line Life Podcast, we are featuring the story, "A Slice of Life in the Florida Keys," which was originally published in the May 2024 Electric Utility Operations section of T&D World magazine. The story was written by Arborist Jason Richards, who oversees the vegetation management program for Florida Keys Electric Cooperative (FKEC).  In the story, R...

Part 2 of our Faces of the Future series for the Line Life Podcast takes us to western Kansas, where Theron Tucker is a fourth-year apprentice about to top out as a journeyman at Midwest Energy. Tucker, who competed at the International Lineman's Rodeo for the first time in 2023, was the PLP's Armor Rod Install Challenge champion at the 2023 International Lineman's Expo. After graduating from Nort...

In May 2024, T&D World not only included articles about wildfire mitigation in the annual Wildfire Supplement, but also in the print issue of the magazine. For this In Case You Missed It episode on the Line LIfe Podcast platform, we are featuring an audio version of the article, " Cutting Wildfire Risk ." In this story, Thuan Tran, Jesse Rorabaugh and Andrew Swisher of Southern California Edis...

To honor the up-and-coming lineworkers in the line trade, we launched a new department called Faces of the Future in T&D World magazine. Through this new podcast series, you can now hear the voices of these apprentices, who talk about their inspiration for working in the trade and their experiences learning on the job.  The first up is Zackery Gough, a fourth-year apprentice for Pedernales Ele...

For our latest episode in our In Case You Missed It (ICYMI) series for our Line Life Podcast on Podbean ,  we are showcasing a narrated version of T&D World's April 2024 cover story, " LUMA Embarks on Island-Wide Work Plan ." This article explores how LUMA Energy is aiming to boost reliability and resiliency by focusing on vegetation clearing, automation and substation modernization in Puerto...

Bruce Thompson, a retired journeyman lineworker, has worked for Southern California Edison and line contractors nationwide. After serving as a line foreman and training crew foreman, he invented a new product called the Step-Up to help fellow lineworkers to get in proper positioning when working on poles.  During this episode, he shares his story about going to work with his dad, a lineworker, in...

For this audio story in our ICYMI series for T&D World's Line Life Podcast, we are featuring the February 2024 cover story, "Line Monitoring, New York Style." The story, which was written by Alan Ettlinger, senior director of research, technology development and innovation at New York Power Authority (NYPA), describes how the utility is using fiber-optic sensing, based on the principles of dis...

For Part 1 of our new Problem Solvers series for the Line Life Podcast, we are highlighting Tim Barat, who worked as a sparky (electrician) before training to become a liney (lineworker) in Victoria, Melbourne, Australia. While working in the line trade in 2009, Tim experienced Black Saturday, a day he will never forget. Wildfires took the lives of 173 people, injured 414, burned half a million ac...

In the aftermath of a fatal tornado in Mayfield, Kentucky, Mayfield Electric & Water Systems navigated devastation and outages. By listening to this narrated version of an article, which is part of T&D World's In Case You Missed It series, General Superintendent Marty T. Ivy shares how his utility was able to swiftly respond after a tornado with wind speeds reaching up to 190 miles per hou...

Jason Mendoza, a journeyman lineworker for San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), served in the military before pursuing a career in the line trade. After working for utilities in the Midwest, he and his family moved to California, where he is now on a transmission crew at SDG&E. Listen to this episode to hear his stories of working from a helicopter and undergoing barehand training at his...

At Salt River Project , the transmission group strives to work smarter, not harder. After identifying tasks in pole maintenance and construction with room for improvement, JD Newham, transmission group supervisor for SRP, worked with LineWise , a product development company, to invent specialized tools to help the line crews improve productivity and safety. Read the full story published in the Ele...

Milton Draper, a journeyman lineworker and foreman for Ameren Illinois, married into a family of lineworkers. After working in the construction industry, he has worked in the line trade for the last 15 years, and he currently runs a three-member crew with two apprentices. He also divides his time between his work in the field and mentoring the next generation of lineworkers at the training center....

In this ICYMI episode, three top journeyman teams share their tips, techniques and memories from years of competition at the International Lineman's Rodeo. The event, which will mark its 40th anniversary in 2024, gives lineworkers and their families the opportunity to come together to celebrate the line trade. Listen to this Line Life Podcast episode to learn more about: Two-Time Champs: the South...

Kris Onda, a fourth-step apprentice for CORE Electric Cooperative in Conifer, Colorado, is an International Lineman's Rodeo competitor and the first lineworker in his family. During this episode, he talks about focusing on wildfire mitigation and wildlife protection and servicing his cooperative's members living on cliffs up in the mountains. He also shares his experiences with the International L...

This narrated version of the third article in the September 2023 T&D World Lineworker Supplement, " Powering Puerto Rico ," explores how LUMA's lineworkers are building a next-generation electrical system to increase grid resiliency and reliability.  The audio story is a follow-up to the two-part Line Life Podcast series featuring Dr. Shay Bahramirad, senior vice president, T&D, Strategy a...

This Line Life Podcast episode features two special women who have made their mark on the line trade. Susan Blaser, the lead line technician program coordinator at Metropolitan Community College-Kansas City, spent 21 years at Kansas City Power & Light (now Evergy) as a journeyman lineworker and in the training department before joining MCC 15 years ago to prepare the next generation of linewor...

For this In Case You Missed It (ICYMI) episode, we are featuring the second article in the 2023 Lineworker Supplement, "Training Women on the Line." This narrated article provides four strategies for electric utilities to attract, train and retain female lineworkers. It also gives tips for women to succeed in the line trade and reflects on the history and future of female lineworkers.  Click here...

Nick Cummins, a superintendent for IB Abel, shares his story about working for two decades in the line trade and being the son of a lineworker. He and his father, David "Check Check" Cummins, traveled the country to perform line work. During these projects, Nick learned new strategies and techniques, which he is now sharing with his field crews. 

Volunteer lineworkers are bringing first-time electricity to American homeowners through the Light Up Navajo project, organized by the American Public Power Association and the National Utility Tribal Authority. Listen to this narrated version of an article published in T&D World's 2023 Lineworker Supplement to learn how the line trade is joining forces on the humanitarian project. Lineworkers...

For Part 2 of our two-part series about LUMA, a utility in Puerto Rico, we are shining the spotlight on vegetation management, automation devices and substation work. Dr. Shay Bahramirad, senior vice president, engineering, asset management and capital programs for LUMA, continues the discussion about the grid modernization projects. For example, the utility's field workforce is clearing right-of-...

When severe weather strikes, lineworkers respond as part of mutual assistance programs. For the December 2023 cover story of T&D World, "Make the Most of Mutual Assistance," ComEd shares its best practices for coordinating crews and managing resources during storm restoration and using management teams as part of a utility's restoration strategy. This episode of ICYMI on the Line Life Podcast...

This Line Life Podcast episode features guest Dr. Shay Bahramirad, senior vice president of engineering, asset management and capital programs at LUMA Energy, the power company responsible for electric service in Puerto Rico. With its multiple tens of billions of dollars of investment, rebuilding the electric grid in Puerto Rico is one of the largest infrastructure projects in the country and amon...