Crime Thieves somehow steal 200-foot WJLX radio tower

Police and radio station leaders now asking those with information come forward​

Thieves steal 200-foot radio tower

By Tristan Ruppert
Published: Feb. 5, 2024 at 6:50 PM CST|Updated: Feb. 5, 2024 at 6:51 PM CST

JASPER, Ala. (WBRC) - It is one of the weirdest and wildest thefts you’ll hear about all year. A 200-foot AM radio tower in Walker County is now gone, stolen without a trace.

WJLX’S AM Station signal has been greatly impacted by the theft. Station General Manager Brett Elmore remains hopeful that somebody will share information to help law enforcement find those responsible for the theft. Still, he is blow away by what happened.

“I have tried all weekend to figure it out and I just can’t. 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. I can say I’ve seen it all now,” says Elmore.

Elmore says they first learned of the theft on Friday. He says a bush hog crew went down to the WJLX tower site to clean up the property, but the thieves had already cleared it out.

“When he arrived he called me Friday and said, ‘the tower is gone.’ I said what do you mean the tower is gone. Are you sure you are at the right place, you know. He said ‘the tower is gone. There is wires everywhere and it is gone.”

Elmore says they are working with the FCC to get temporary authority to carry on while they rebuild the AM side of their operations. Still, its unclear just how long the rebuild efforts could take.

“This really hurts a small operation like this but like I said, I believe we will find out who did this. It is a federal crime and it absolutely will not be worth it to them.”

If you know anything at all, they are asking that you contact either Crime Stoppers or Jasper Police.

Source (Archive)

---

I believe this is the tower that was stolen:


Google Maps

 

[Fried-Rice12]

When SHTF this radio tower is going to become STALKER radio.

 

[LeChampion1992]

This will absolutely not work in an HOA, HOA Karens are another level of insane and nosey. The second you pull up in a truck to do work that they didn't hear about at the last meeting they'll be out there screaming bloody murder at you. Hell they sometimes still do it even if you have permission from the board.

You don't know construction crews if they say they're with the city or state they can tell Karen's in the HOA to go fuck themselves. Hell I know when the city was doing pipe construction to an HOA neighborhood work crews loved to show up early, rev their trucks up loudly and piss off the Karen's. When it comes to construction workers the mean old white/Hispanic guy at all construction sites scares away Karen's.

 

[Otterly]

A rusty old tower would fall apart when trying to take it down. So I don't think anyone stole it to reuse it.
Cut the guy-wires and down it will come. Maybe even fold in on it self in a neat pile. Then spend a few days cutting it up.

Small town local AM stations got a life line from the FCC a few years back and where allowed to put up what is called a "translator" on FM. So what ever is broadcast on 1240khz AM would be simulcast on 101.5 FM. You even get 2 call signs.
So WJLX 1240 AM would also be licensed as W268BM 101.5 FM. The translator was just supposed to be an addition to their flagship AM station. But lots of stations seem to abuse this and rebanded themselves as an FM station and just advertise the FM frequency. "Oldies on WJLX 101.5" or what ever, instead of "Oldies on WJLX 1240 and 101.5!"

Checking their website kinda makes it look like they are like this. WJLX is not the call sign for 101.5
View attachment 5708474
Not really in the sperit of the translator law imo.

The AM transmitter is now just a technicality to them, and they let it fall in to disrepair. I'll bet they have no clue when it actually went off the air because they stopped paying the alarm company for the shack and don't pay anyone to monitor the output off the air anymore. Maybe the tower did fall down on it's own and they removed it hoping for a special auth from the FCC to let them run FM only. The wiki seems to insunuate the AM site was already having problems becuase of lack of maintance.

AM radio stations have special regulations. If you don't run your rated power, or your rated pattern, or your off the air; that's just as bad as running to much power. FCC will fine you for each day being off the air and then cancel your license if you don't fix your shit.

Can I ask why? Why do they need to run AM as well as Fm? Sorry if this is a dumb question. Just wondered why

 

[Cheesegirl78]

I agree with @Otterly, all this radio stuff is interesting but confusing. I thought you got a DJ, antenna, a license, and didn't say fuck on the air, and that was it.

 

[JosephStalin]

I agree with @Otterly, all this radio stuff is interesting but confusing. I thought you got a DJ, antenna, a license, and didn't say fuck on the air, and that was it.

Far more complex than that, believe me. Many things to consider - which other stations are operating in the area, night-time vice daytime power, and more.

As an aside, AM stations' and FM stations' signals propagate differently. FM uses VHF frequencies, line-of-sight. AM uses much lower frequencies. During the day goes mostly by groundwave, at night mostly by sky wave due to ionospheric changes once the sun goes down. Much more to this, too.

 

[Pelican Bones]

Can I ask why? Why do they need to run AM as well as Fm? Sorry if this is a dumb question. Just wondered why

I agree with @Otterly, all this radio stuff is interesting but confusing. I thought you got a DJ, antenna, a license, and didn't say fuck on the air, and that was it.

I'm not a radio engineer (I have a different strain of autism) but as best as I've been able to find out, the FCC has made a special ruling a couple of years ago to "revitalize" the AM broadcasting market. While AM seems to have a much lower financial and regulatory barrier to entry, it is dying even faster than FM. A lot of AM stations are closing down because they can't get enough listeners, meaning they can't get enough advertisers.

Along with relaxing some existing AM operating regulations, the FCC is allowing AM owners to run lower power FM stations that are parented to the main AM station. The AM station is the main station, all programming originates from the main station, and that programming is allowed to be broadcast, through a machine called a translator, onto the FM band.

The owners are not allowed to shut down their AM operations and originate programming from these FM translators. That would defeat the purpose of relaxing the rules for them.

As a side note: the hillbilly tweeker theory doesn't add up. This isn't some HVAC warehouse that you smash into, grab some copper tubing, then get out quick. This had time and coordination put into it. Someone very specifically wanted this very specific tower gone for some very specific reason.

 

[TowinKarz]

Far more complex than that, believe me. Many things to consider - which other stations are operating in the area, night-time vice daytime power, and more.

As an aside, AM stations' and FM stations' signals propagate differently. FM uses VHF frequencies, line-of-sight. AM uses much lower frequencies. During the day goes mostly by groundwave, at night mostly by sky wave due to ionospheric changes once the sun goes down. Much more to this, too.

I love the ion skip phenomenon, it saved my sanity many a lonely third shift in the tow truck when the local AM sports station would decide to cover something truly awful like (no offense to the players) our hopeless university women's basketball team, and I could just tune in to the EPSN feed from Chicago, one whole timezone away, and listen to something GOOD at least until the sun came up.


Something stinks about the tower though, for the effort to take it down and succeed at it, you could've found larger and more valuable sources of scrap/parts that won't get the Feds on you.

I'll believe it was a group of those crazies who think wi-fi signals cause illness acting in misguided self-preservation before I agree it was just someone looking for easy scrap.

 

[Otterly]

The owners are not allowed to shut down their AM operations and originate programming from these FM translators. That would defeat the purpose of relaxing the rules for them.

Thanks for the explanation!
So maybe they had been doing just that, and it’s an inside job? Sorry we can’t run the AM, tower just got nicked…

 

[JosephStalin]

I love the ion skip phenomenon, it saved my sanity many a lonely third shift in the tow truck when the local AM sports station would decide to cover something truly awful like (no offense to the players) our hopeless university women's basketball team, and I could just tune in to the EPSN feed from Chicago, one whole timezone away, and listen to something GOOD at least until the sun came up.

Ya, also very important for shortwave listening.

In a nutshell, during the day solar radiation creates layers in the ionosphere, D, E, F1 and F2 layers, lowest to highest. These layers tend to soak up AM and many shortwave skywave signals. At night, sun goes down, D and E layers go away, F layers combine. Now the skywave signals can bounce, often multiple times, off that high F layer. That's why at night if you are in St. Louis you can pick up Denver or Chicago on AM, depending on weather, and why you can pick up more of what shortwave stations remain at night here.

Another aspect of this for the radio stations is power savings. Most AM stations licensed for 24-hour operations cut the power way down at night, signal goes about the same distance as during the day. If you are listening you can hear when the power is cut for nighttime broadcasting. The 'clear channel' stations don't. They tend to run the max power allowed, 50,000 watts, day and night.

As an aside, not all US AM stations broadcast 24 hours. FCC has licensed many for daytime operations only. Checking through a radio reference manual, WJLX-AM runs 1000 watts, day and night, 1240 KHz. There are four other stations in Alabama alone operating on that frequency, and 5-6 stations in each of the neighboring states (TN, MS, GA, and FL) using the same frequency. Suggest these stations are also running about the same power, or some are daytime only.

 

[Pelican Bones]

Thanks for the explanation!
So maybe they had been doing just that, and it’s an inside job? Sorry we can’t run the AM, tower just got nicked…

The two remaining theories I've seen people put out are:

1. Inside job. The AM station has not been broadcasting for quite some time (in defiance of FCC regs), some people saying up to 5 or 6 years. Tower and all equipment on site was taken. This was an effort to hide evidence of how badly in disrepair the equipment was.

2. Sabotage. The rival AM station in Jasper (WQJJ) was looking to make getting back onto the air so cost prohibitive that they didn't just wreck up the equipment (that would have been costly to repair), but actually took all of it, forcing WJLX to have to purchase all new equipment.

Apparently bad blood between WJLX (former owner and current GM) Brett "The One Armed Bandit" Elmore and WQJJ manager Terry Hammond. Hammond was arrested for theft, trying to sell a transmitter that didn't belong to him, FM piracy, and apparently threatened to blow up a courthouse (can't find confirmation of the last one, maybe just rumor).

I don't know. Shit's so weird I can't make heads or tails of half this mess.

ETA: the 5-6 yrs coincides with Elmore selling the station in 2018. Hammond no longer works for the station. He has been arrested for WAY more than what I listed. This is him https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/2018/05/walker_county_blogger_wanted_f.html

More ETA: Hammond seems to still be in jail. Lol idk anymore

 

[JosephStalin]

The two remaining theories I've seen people put out are:

1. Inside job. The AM station has not been broadcasting for quite some time (in defiance of FCC regs), some people saying up to 5 or 6 years. Tower and all equipment on site was taken. This was an effort to hide evidence of how badly in disrepair the equipment was.

2. Sabotage. The rival AM station in Jasper (WQJJ) was looking to make getting back onto the air so cost prohibitive that they didn't just wreck up the equipment (that would have been costly to repair), but actually took all of it, forcing WJLX to have to purchase all new equipment.

Apparently bad blood between WJLX (former owner and current GM) Brett "The One Armed Bandit" Elmore and WQJJ manager Terry Hammond. Hammond was arrested for theft, trying to sell a transmitter that didn't belong to him, FM piracy, and apparently threatened to blow up a courthouse (can't find confirmation of the last one, maybe just rumor).

I don't know. Shit's so weird I can't make heads or tails of half this mess.

ETA: the 5-6 yrs coincides with Elmore selling the station in 2018. Hammond no longer works for the station. He has been arrested for WAY more than what I listed. This is him https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/2018/05/walker_county_blogger_wanted_f.html

More ETA: Hammond seems to still be in jail. Lol idk anymore

Went to WJLX's website. They are running a GoFundMe to buy new equipment, not doing too well. Why am I not surprised.

 

[Jump]

1. Inside job.

Another inside job involving towers?


The only thing that makes me think it wasn't an inside job was they had no insurance on the site. And even the station manager posted he wasn't surprised the FCC denied his request to go FM only, they have never granted that in the past. And if he was worried about the FCC finding out his AM was off the air in the past he could have just "stolen" the transmitter and feed line to the tower. Make it look like a normal metal theft.

I wonder if there is a developer buying up plots of land around the area? Often times the land under old community AM stations is worth more then the whole radio station itself.

 

[Pelican Bones]

Another inside job involving towers?

Disclaimer, everything I've seen is all 2nd/3rd hand stuff I've seen on the internet, but...

The manager (former owner) knew they would say no to him because they already told him no on other occasions. They weren't maintaining the AM side while still trying to make a buck of the FM side. https://www.radiodiscussions.com/ makes it seem as though this sort of low level fuckery happens a lot and the FCC doesn't have the manpower to really do anything about it.

I have a hard time believing the inside job angle because it would be butt fucking stupid. However... You are potentially facing having your license revoked. Fines. Jail time for piracy. Your tower site (built in the 50s) is dilapidated to the point of being nonfunctional. The metal tower itself might not even be structurally sound anymore.

You could spend 60k to get it all in working order again (with money you don't have). Or, you can get a whole new setup for 100k. Scrap/sell whatever you can, plead for mercy from the FCC, and setup a Go Fund Me. With a bit a luck you can get back up and running on the cheap with your scrap money and some kind donations from some generous people out there.

Idk. It's weird.

 

[LurkTrawl]

So maybe they had been doing just that, and it’s an inside job?

For what, insurance?

Who insures radio towers?

 

[Al from Dadeville]

The only thing that makes me think it wasn't an inside job was they had no insurance on the site.

Probably the only saving grace, they won’t have the insurance company sniffing around on top of whoever the FCC sends out.

 

[LaxerBRO]

Lets get a poll.

Tweakers trying to get scrap or preppers who want a fully functional tower for when shit hits the fan.

Tweakers.

I assume disassembling a radio tower so it works when you get it where you need it to go takes longer than one night.

 

[Pelican Bones]

Tweakers.

I assume disassembling a radio tower so it works when you get it where you need it to go takes longer than one night.

Tweakers aren't stealing a whole fucking radio tower. They are just going to break into a liquor store at 2 am.

No one knows how long they took to take it down and remove it. All anyone knows is that it was there the last time the bush hoggers came in and it's gone this time that the bush hoggers came in. No one knows the actual timeline.

 

[LaxerBRO]

This. Hi-vis clothing is like wearing an invisibility cloak. It can be used as a disguise for almost anything from stealing copper at a building site to trespassing at a mine, all in plain sight.

Or the Federal Reserve Bank in New York:

 

[Sargon's wife's son]

Here's an example https://www.smh.com.au/national/the...rror-fighters-up-in-arms-20030905-gdhc5q.html (wow they would never write an article like this today, describing the men in the second sentence!)

Guerrilla maintenance is even a known thing in cities and HOAs - if you try to cut down a tree, someone will report you and the city will climb up your ass, but if you show up with a bucket truck and a safety vest and some cones, you can cut down the tree and nobody will even blink.

A friend of mine did this thing where him and a buddy went to a grocery store with clipboard matching polo shirt just to see if they could just Dolly out a gumball machine they did and no one asked any questions
And then they had a gumball machine they had no keys for like 5 years

 

[reptile baht spaniard rid]

And then they had a gumball machine they had no keys for like 5 years

Those keys are like, one key for all the machines and aren’t hard to find. You can also buy the keys for elevators and tractors and New York cabs on eBay.