Mystery befalls radio station as 200-foot tall radio tower completely disappears
- Radio station staff arrived at work this month to discover a mystery
- The 61 m (200 ft) radio tower had disappeared
- Additional vandalism will set them back a total of $60K
Published on Feb 14, 2024 at 3:20 PM (UTC+4)
by Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones
Last updated on Mar 18, 2024 at 12:35 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Alessandro Renesis
Radio station staff have been left scratching their heads as, in an unexplained mystery, a 61 m (200 ft) radio tower disappears without a trace.
The crime wasn’t discovered until staff arrived at the radio-station building for a shift earlier this month (2 February).
In an as-yet-unexplained mystery, workers at Jaspers radio station discovered that the huge radio tower that had been a landmark on the roof was no longer there.
READ MORE! Man returns home to land he bought in 1991 to find a $1.5 million house on it
It’s a pretty big theft in more ways than one in a mystery resembling the plot of a heist movie.
And, of course, mystery disappearances always dominate headlines: think missing flight MH370.
They also persist, such as Amelia Earhart’s plane, which is thought to have been recently found 87 years on.
Things appearing can also be a mystery, like this Boeing 737 that was discovered in field with no explanation.
Back to Jaspers, and the building had sadly also been vandalized by the thieves.
Staff had arrived to straighten out the studio before work began.
As well as reporting the crime to police, they also posted about the mystery on their Facebook page, WJLX 101.5 FM.
“This is going to get out eventually, so I might as well make it public before it does. I have heard of thieves in this area stealing anything, but this one takes the cake,” they said in the post.
“This morning, my bush hog crew went down to a tower site we have behind MarJac to do an early cleanup of the property before we did some more work down there.
“When he arrived, he called and notified me that not only was my building vandalized, but my TWO HUNDRED FOOT TOWER WAS GONE!
“They stole every piece of equipment out of the building, cut the guy wires to the tower and SOMEHOW managed to down a 200′ tower and take it from the property.”
“I have tried all weekend to figure it out and I just can’t,” station general manager, Brett Elmore, said in a statement.
“I have been around the radio business all my life, been in it 26 years professionally and I can say I have never heard of anything like this, I have seen it all now.
“When [staff] arrived he called me on Friday and said the tower is gone. I said ‘what do you mean the tower is gone?’ I was like ‘are you sure you are at the right place?’
“He said no, the tower is gone, there are wires everywhere and it is good.
“This really hurts a small operation like this but like I say, I believe we are going to find out who did this, it is a federal crime and it absolutely will not be worth it for them.”
A quick update on 9 February counted the cost of the vandalism and mystery theft.
“Unfortunately, the transmitter site was uninsured. We are currently working to rebuild, but being a small market station in Alabama, we have a large hill to climb,” it read.
“We must purchase a new transmitter, tower, various equipment such as processing, engineering work, etc. Our colleagues at Bohn Broadcast estimated this could be a $60,000 project, if not more.
“This has affected the operation of our AM, which needs a complete rebuild, and our FM, which is currently off the air.”
Anyone with information should contact Jasper Police Department 205-221-2121.
DISCOVER SBX CARS: The global premium car auction platform powered by Supercar Blondie
All Supercar Blondie contributors undergo editorial review and fact-checking to ensure accuracy and authority in automotive journalism. After gaining her BA Hons in French and English at the University of Nottingham, Amelia embarked on a vocational diploma from the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ). This led to numerous opportunities, from interning at Vogue to being on the small team that launched Women’s Health magazine in the UK, which was named the PPA Consumer magazine of the year for three years running. As Health, Beauty and Fitness editor, Amelia personally received a Johnson & Johnson Award and was shortlisted for both PPA and BSME titles. Since then, Amelia has created content for numerous titles and brands, including the Telegraph, 111 Skin, Waitrose, Red magazine, Stylist, and Elle, as well as being Head of Content at Vitality and Editor in Chief at INLondon magazine. “My superpower is translating technical jargon about the mechanical workings of a supercar into a relatable story you’ll want to share with your friends after you’ve read it.” After joining the SB Media family as a senior journalist in September of 2023, Amelia’s role has evolved to see her heading up the SEO output of the editorial team. From researching the most ‘Google-able’ key terms to producing evergreen content - it’s been a time of hard work, growth, and success for the editorial team and the Supercar Blondie website. “I like to think of myself as a ‘method journalist’. In other words: I live and breathe whatever I am writing about. When writing about fitness, I trained as a personal trainer, and as a beauty editor, I completed an ‘expert’ in scent diploma with the Fragrance Foundation. “During my tenure at Supercar Blondie, however, I did something I never thought possible: I passed my driving test at the age of 36. One day I’d love to train as a mechanic to better understand what happens under the hood, too. “My sweet spot is providing readers with a ‘takeaway’ (read: something new they didn’t know before) after reading every one of my stories. While I don’t claim to be an expert in the automotive world, I know the experts and bodies in the field to rely on to provide our readers with an informative and thought-provoking story every time they visit the site.”
