UPDATE Broadcast engineers have expressed doubts that the 200-ft tower for WJLX-AM in Jasper, AL was really stolen, as General Manager Brett Elmore claims. Elmore is sticking to his story.
Inside Towers recently reported that Elmore said the on-site transmission equipment was removed from the site as well and that he was notified of the theft by a landscaping crew cleaning up the site.
Ron Johnson of the Alabama News Beacon says it looks like a hoax. He says on Facebook he’s heard from people who used to work at the station that about five years ago, Elmore deemed the AM too costly to maintain and shut down the AM transmitter periodically when it needed costly repairs. The tower “rotted” over this period and locals stole pieces of the structure, according to Johnson’s account.
Joe and Jeff Geerling of Geerling Engineering said in a video there’d be evidence if someone torched the guy wires to get the tower to fall fast and someone would be aware if the tower came down quickly as Elmore claimed. Joe Geerling also said it takes time to cut up a tower, and someone would notice that too. “So that stuff is weird,” he says on the video. “If the tower was hollow, I don’t think it would have lasted this long,” he said. “But maybe it did, and it was hollow and it was easier to take out in a small truck.”
YouTuber @WilliamCollier visited the tower site last Monday and “documented the tower base, fence, building… and details like a missing power meter.” He says evidence points to a tower site that’s been unused for a long time.
Elmore has created a GoFundMe page, seeking about $60,000 to replace the tower, transmitter and repair the transmitter building, which he says was vandalized.
Elmore has been trying to return WJLX to over-the-air broadcasting. With no tower, the station obviously cannot broadcast on the AM band. Its FM translator (W268BM at 101.5), which is also licensed to Jasper but was located on a separate tower, is unable to resume broadcasting since the originating programming source, WJLX, was no longer operating on 1240 kHz. Inside Radio reported the FCC denied Elmore’s request to broadcast solely on the FM translator.
Elmore tells AL.com the speculation that he’s lying about the tower being stolen and he’s responsible for the structure being gone is “completely bogus and false. Obviously people speculate about a number of things,’’ Elmore said. “Why would I do something like this when it completely shuts down our entire operation, my entire livelihood. Why?’’ he said. “Can anyone answer that question? We didn’t have any insurance so I’m not making a claim of insurance.”
The Jasper police continue to investigate and ask for help from the public. Anyone with information about the case is asked to call (205) 221-2121.
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
Reader Interactions