{"id":1500295,"date":"2024-02-14T20:29:52","date_gmt":"2024-02-14T20:29:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressfreedomtracker.us\/all-incidents\/alabama-radio-station-ceases-transmission-after-broadcast-tower-stolen\/"},"modified":"2024-02-14T20:29:52","modified_gmt":"2024-02-14T20:29:52","slug":"alabama-radio-station-ceases-transmission-after-broadcast-tower-stolen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2024\/02\/14\/alabama-radio-station-ceases-transmission-after-broadcast-tower-stolen\/","title":{"rendered":"Alabama radio station ceases transmission after broadcast tower stolen"},"content":{"rendered":"

A 200-foot AM radio tower for Jasper, Alabama, broadcaster WJLX was stolen \u201cwithout a trace\u201d on Feb. 2, 2024, according to the station. <\/p>

\u201cI\u2019ve been around the business my whole life, I\u2019ve been in it professionally for 26 years and I\u2019ve never heard of an entire tower being stolen,\u201d WJLX General Manager Brett Elmore told Birmingham television station WABM. <\/p>

WJLX, which is now unable to broadcast on its AM frequency, said it has<\/a> since had to shut down its broadcast operations entirely, including its FM station. The Federal Communications Commission told WJLX on Feb. 8 that it could not operate its FM transmitter while the AM station is off the air. It will continue to stream its programming only via the internet and its apps, it said.<\/p>

Elmore has also filed a request with the FCC for WJLX to remain silent for now without losing its license, The Washington Post reported<\/a>. The paper said if stations remain silent for more than one year, the FCC considers them expired.<\/p>

The station\u2019s absence was a cause for worry for Sharon Tinely, president of the Alabama Broadcasters Association, who told WABM, \u201cWhat if there were a crisis going on right now that the community needs to hear information from local sources on a local radio station and they can\u2019t.\u201d <\/p>

\u201cThis is a huge loss,\u201d Elmore told the Guardian<\/a>. \u201cPeople have reached out and asked how they can help, but I don\u2019t know how you can help unless you have a 200ft tower and an AM transmitter.\u201d <\/p>

The tower was uninsured, according to Elmore, and replacing it could cost $60,000-plus. WJLX has set up a GoFundMe account<\/a> and so far raised over $8,000.<\/p>

That station said it was alerted to the theft when a landscaping cleanup crew arrived at the tower site to clean up the property, only to find it completely cleared out by the thieves. \u201cI couldn\u2019t believe it,\u201d Elmore recalled.\u201d I asked him [the landscaper] if he was sure he was at the right place. He responded, \u2018the tower is gone. Wires are scattered everywhere.\u2019\u201d<\/p>

The radio tower was located in a wooded area, behind a local poultry plant, The Guardian reported. Elmore told the paper that thieves had cut the tower\u2019s wires and somehow removed it, while also taking the station\u2019s AM transmitter from a nearby building. <\/p>

Elmore said he believes the thieves may have targeted the tower to sell the metal and also told The Guardian that about six months ago, a nearby radio station had its air conditioning unit, copper pipes and other materials stolen.<\/p>

The station has filed charges with the Jasper Police Department and the case is currently under investigation. <\/p>

\u201cThis is a federal crime and whoever did this it\u2019s not worth your time, effort or energy,\u201d Elmore told WABM. \u201cBecause when we find you, you are going to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n


\r\nThis content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database<\/a> and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.
<\/p>\n

This post was originally published on Radio Free<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A 200-foot AM radio tower for Jasper, Alabama, broadcaster WJLX was stolen \u201cwithout a trace\u201d on Feb. 2, 2024, according to the station. \u201cI\u2019ve been around the business my whole life, I\u2019ve been in it professionally for 26 years and I\u2019ve never heard of an…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27704,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42961,6991,44701,74428,62373,62300,30177,785,27150,43808,42615,44329,63941],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1500295"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27704"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1500295"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1500295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1500297,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1500295\/revisions\/1500297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1500295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1500295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1500295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}