Brett Elmore, the owner of Alabamian WJLX-AM radio station, told InsideRadio on Monday that somehow thieves recently made off with his 200-foot-tall radio tower.
Elmore told the outlet that this heist also included the radio’s transmitter and other equipment. (RELATED: ‘Hold His Head Underwater’: Video Appears To Show Man Casually Stealing 50-Pound Live Fish From Bass Pro Shop)
Elmore said that in his opinion such a heist could not have been done by a random person but a true professional.
“I don’t see some guy off the street doing this,” Elmer said, “[This] looks like a professional hit.”
The radio station first announced the major heist Monday in a Facebook post.
“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…When he [one of the bush hog] arrived [at the tower site], 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. Jasper Police is investigating and hopefully they will find who did it. It is a FEDERAL crime to tamper with a federally licensed facility,” WJLX 101.5 FM wrote in the Facebook post.
“There was a meeting yesterday between the owner and our investigators concerning the matter,” Jasper Mayor David O’Mary told NBC News.
“At this point, we are still lacking information that we have to have to conduct a full-fledged investigation,” he added.
A radio station in Alabama was forced to go silent after thieves stole their 200-foot radio tower and other equipment from a building. https://t.co/K0VTrMLN25
— NBC News (@NBCNews) February 8, 2024
Elmore told InsideRadio that local broadcasting friends have offered to help find a temporary transmitter location but that the old station has a sentimental place in his heart.
“That’s where I first went on the air,” Elmore told the outlet.