- Criminal as it is, stealing an entire radio tower is bizarrely impressive.
If it’s not nailed down, somebody will try and steal it. From gallons of bull semen to a home’s driveway, it seems enterprising criminals will pilfer anything, no matter how big.
Yet, this latest case really pushes the limits of what’s feasible to steal. When we first learned about it, we figured there must be some kind of a twist or misunderstanding here.
But nope. Someone has stolen a radio tower.
WJLX, a local radio station serving Jasper, Alabama, was knocked off the air by an utterly mind-boggling crime. Its 200-foot-tall radio tower, along with its AM transmitter has gone missing.
“I have tried all weekend to figure it out, and I just can’t,” the station’s owner Brett Elmore told WBRC.
We can’t blame Elmore for being baffled. This whole case is just completely incomprehensible.
Who? How? Why?
We don’t know. But Elmore remains hopeful that the case will be resolved — if only because of the sheer scale of the stolen object.
‘What Do You Mean the Tower’s Gone?’
WJLX is a small, local radio station in Jasper. Originally founded in 1957 as WARF, the station plays mostly oldies music.
The station has gone off the air a few times over the last few years due to its malfunctioning antenna tower. But on February 2, the WJLX fell silent for the foreseeable future for an absolutely bizarre reason.
That morning, a landscaping crew had gone down to the tower, located in a remote, wooded area near Jasper. Soon after, Elmore received a call from the landscapers.
At first, he thought they were saying someone had vandalized the tower. However, the man on the phone insisted Elmore had misunderstood what he was saying.
“He called me Friday and said, ‘The tower is gone.’ I said, ‘What do you mean the tower is gone?’” recalled Elmore.
Well, he meant it’s gone. Someone had stolen the tower, alongside the AM transmitter from a nearby shed.
In a Facebook statement, Elmore explained that the criminals had cut the guide wires to the tower, taken the structure down, and transported the whole shebang off the property. How they did it without anyone noticing or stopping them, no one knows.
“I have been in the radio business, around it all my life, and then in it professionally for 26 years, and I can say I have never heard of anything like this,” Elmore said.
“I can say I’ve seen it all now.”
‘A Huge Loss’
The outlandish theft has presented WJLX with a huge problem. After all, without the AM transmitter and antenna tower, the radio station can’t broadcast on AM frequencies.
Elmore still has his FM transmitter and antenna, but he can’t operate it due to licensing issues. The Federal Communications Commission on February 8 served WJLX a notice informing the station that it can’t transmit solely over FM frequencies while the AM service is off the air.
So, Elmore can’t run his radio station. With no income, the already outrageous bill for a new tower seems all the more steep.
According to Elmore, replacing the stolen tower and transmitter could cost $60,000 — at minimum. It’s perfectly possible for the final bill to climb up to $150,000, and WJLX doesn’t have that kind of money.
“This is a huge loss. People have reached out and asked how they can help, but I don’t know how you can help unless you have a 200-ft tower and an AM transmitter,” said Elmore.
Still, he has opened a GoFundMe campaign to try and raise the money for a tower replacement.
‘We Won’t Be Silent for Long’
But why? Why would anyone steal a radio tower?
Well, the thieves certainly aren’t looking to set up their own radio service. Elmore believes whoever is behind the theft plans to dismantle the tower and sell the metal for scrap.
In fact, this isn’t the first crime in the Jasper area targeting radio equipment. According to Elmore, another nearby radio station lost an air conditioning unit and copper piping to thieves some half a year ago.
The good news is that this might make the crime easier to solve. After all, someone showing up selling 200 feet worth of metal should set off alarm bells by now.
Elmore has reported the crime to the Jasper Police Department and says they’re working to find the criminals. Despite the seemingly disastrous situation, Elmore is positive and believes the crime will be solved.
There’s a poultry plant near where the tower used to be, and their property bristles with security cameras. Elmore also believes that one of the plant’s staff may have useful information.
“Surely, someone saw something or heard something,” he said.
Ultimately, Elmore is confident WJLX will pull through.
“We’re silent, but we won’t be silent for long. I’m gonna work tirelessly to get this thing back up and running, one way or the other.”