How Do You Steal A 200-Foot Tower?
Alabama radio station mysteriously loses their tower and equipment.
On February 2nd in Jasper, Alabama, a maintenance crew arrives at a local AM radio transmitter site and finds that not only is the transmitter equipment missing, but also the 200-foot tower that had stood there since 1957.
According to AP News, the crew notified radio station WJLX manager Brett Elmore of the missing tower and equipment. Mr. Elmore then reported the incident to the Jasper Police Department, who have opened up an investigation.
According to FCC records, WJLX is licensed to operate on a frequency of 1240 kHz with a maximum power of 1 kilowatt (1000 watts). The station also has its own FM translator to rebroadcast their AM signal on a frequency of 101.5 MHz.
Mr. Elmore asked the FCC to allow the station to directly broadcast via their FM translator, but was denied permission as reported in this news article from AL.com.
So why was WJLX denied permission to switch over? Based on our research, here are the reasons we believe why the FCC made its decision…
WJLX is licensed as a commercial AM broadcast radio station.
WJLX’s translator is a separately-licensed station (W268BM) solely for the purpose of repeating the primary station’s over-the-air AM transmissions over FM.
Per FCC regulations , if the FM translator fails to receive an over-the-air transmission from the primary source (e.g., the station’s AM transmitter), said translator must immediately cease broadcasting.
Here is a video from Geerling Engineering with their analysis…
William Collier, a Birmingham-based YouTuber, recently documented his findings in the video below…
Based on watching these videos from Geerling and Mr. Collier, we are left with the following questions…
Why did WJLX not realize their station wasn’t on the air until a maintenance crew was actually onsite at the transmitter/tower facility?
If the theft had just occurred recently, why did the building housing the equipment look like it had been in neglect for an extended period of time (months or years)?
How did the thieves dismantle a 200-foot tower without there being any fresh ground imprints?
Why was the power meter missing? Did the thieves take it as well?
Why was the fence that surrounded the property missing?
RF radiation is a dangerous thing to mess with. To transmit on a lower frequency (e.g., 1240 kHz), the entire tower structure would be radiating to successfully transmit the signal without causing damage to the transmitter equipment. How did the thieves avoid being injured or killed by RF?
As we are not privileged to any information that has been received by the authorities, we respectfully decline to make a judgement on this matter.
For the sake of all parties involved, we hope that this matter is resolved and that WJLX can resume its over-the-air broadcast and service to their community. In the meantime, they are livestreaming their broadcast over the internet.
So how do you steal a 200-foot tower and equipment and leave little or no fresh evidence behind? Please feel free to offer your thoughts (NOTE: Please be respectful).
That’s it for now. Thank you for reading, please subscribe, and until next time…