A radio station is on hold after thieves somehow stole a 200-foot radio tower in Alabama.
No one is sure how the ambitious bandits made off with the heavy steel structure, station WJLX general manager Brett Elmore told WBRC.
“I’ve been trying all weekend to figure it out and I just can’t,” Elmore told the television station.
“I’ve been in the radio business, around it my whole life and then professionally for 26 years, and I can say I’ve never heard of anything like this,” he added. “I can say I’ve seen it all now.”
Elmore learned of the theft Friday when a landscaping crew went to the rural tower site to maintain the property, but there wasn’t much left to maintain.
“When he arrived, he called me on Friday and told me: ‘The tower is no longer there,’” the station director explained.
“I said, ‘What do you mean the tower doesn’t exist anymore?’ Are you sure you are in the right place? He said: ‘The tower has disappeared. There are cables everywhere and it’s gone.’”
The radio tower was made of steel and was 200 feet tall. COLORS OF THE WIND – stock.adobe.com
Thieves dismantled the tower by cutting the cables securing it and also stole other equipment from the property, Elmore said in a Facebook post.
Elmore said the radio station will work to rebuild the tower, but he wants thieves to know, loud and clear, that he will work with investigators to find out who committed the baffling federal crime.
“This really hurts a small operation like this, but like I said, I think we’ll find out who did this,” he said. “It’s a federal crime and it won’t be worth it for them.”
If caught, suspects could face a fine or up to 10 years in prison.
The station’s general manager, Brett Elmore, said he had no idea how thieves made off with the large tower.
The Jasper-based radio station used the tower for its AM radio channel, Elmore said.
Elmore said WJLX was able to obtain temporary authorization from the FCC to continue broadcasting its AM channel through other means.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn