AL Radio: FCC Denies Translator Only Authority To Victimized Station

WJLX in Jasper, AL has had its request for temporary authority for translator-only broadcasting denied by the FCC.

The AM station was forced to go silent a week ago after thieves stole its 200-foot radio tower and other equipment from transmitting building.

WJLX had sent a landscaping crew to the site last Friday morning for spring cleaning, only to find the 200-foot radio tower gone. When a crew member called the station’s general manager to break the news, he was in disbelief.

“What do you mean the tower is gone? Are you sure you’re in the right place? I actually used more colorful words than that,” Brett Elmore recounted to NBC News. “He said there’s wires all over the ground and the tower is gone.”

The concrete slab where a 200-foot-tall tower once stood

Not only was the radio tower stolen, but a nearby building was also vandalized. When Elmore heard the door was left ajar, “that’s when reality was starting to set in that something bad had happened.”

The thieves stole every piece of equipment from the building, including a transmitter. Elmore has filed a report with the police.

“There was a meeting yesterday between the owner and our investigators concerning the matter,” Jasper Mayor David O’Mary told NBC News on Thursday. “At this point, we are still lacking information that we have to have to conduct a full-fledged investigation.”

WJLX notified the FCC that its AM station was silent. The station was hoping to continue broadcasting its program through FM radio in the meantime. “We requested a temporary authority to keep the FM translator on until we get the AM back on the air,” Elmore said on Thursday. “But unfortunately, this morning, I was notified the FCC denied our request to stay on air on the FM side, so actually, we’re about to go power down the transmitter.”

WJLX 1240 AM (1 kw)

Despite the setbacks, Elmore has faith WJLX will bounce back.