200-foot radio tower disappears from small town 'without a trace'
Newsy
A station is now completely off the air after operating for decades — and without insurance, the tower could cost over $60,000 to replace.
WJLX 1240 AM general manager Brett Elmore says he "grew up in the halls" of the radio station.
"This radio station is like family to me, I'm a second generation broadcaster," he says.
The theft of his station's 200-foot radio tower has silenced "the sound of Walker County," as their slogan says. Since the 1950s, the AM-originating station has been a reliable source of news and information for Jasper, Alabama and the surrounding area.
Then last week, the station's transmitting tower was suddenly gone.
Elmore said last week, a landscaping crew sent down to the area on around 52 acres of land, where the tower stretches towards the sky, discovered that the long rural communications spire taller than the length of a football field had just vanished — "stolen without a trace," the station said.
