Jasper, Alabama’s WJLX 101.5 FM/1240 AM reports their 200 ft tall transmission tower has gone missing like it was a case of vinyls that someone carelessly left outside the headquarters. The theft was discovered last week when a crew arrived to clear brush from the tower site.
“I’ve been trying all weekend to make sense of it, but I just can’t. I’ve been involved in the radio business my whole life, and I’ve never heard of anything like this. I thought I had seen it all,” said general manager Brett Elmore, who is asking for the public’s help to rebuild, setting a GoFundMe goal of $60,000, which has raised $416 in the first 17 hours of its campaign.
Although the tower was strictly AM, the station is currently off the air on FM too, apparently due to some FCC rule that we don’t really have the time or desire to try to understand. “The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has denied our request to remain on the air on 101.5 FM. Today, we shut down our transmitter and our programming will be streamed via internet and our apps only until we can restore our 1240 AM frequency,” the station wrote on their website Thursday.