Jasper AL Radio: iHM Helps WJLX To Get Back On-Air

WJLX Radio is back on the air. That is the Jasper radio station that went off the air when thieves reportedly stole the 200-foot broadcast tower.

Two weeks ago, the station management was informed the tower was gone. The value of the tower was about $200,000. The general manager Brett Elmore has been trying to figure out how to get another tower.

In the meantime, the situation caught the attention of national and international media. Elmore says he's done interviews with USA Today, The New York Times, and the BBC, just to name a few.

This week, iHeart Media out of New York found out about the radio station's dilemma and figured out a way to help. iHeart will basically share their HD3 signal out of Birmingham so the station will broadcast on 102.5 and 101.5 out of Jasper.

This is a temporary fix that Elmore says has been accepted by the Federal Communications Commission. Hear his interview about the good news he has been given.

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

Elmore says he was unaware the structure had gone missing until a land clearing company made the discovery and called him. The station had no remote monitoring equipment, Elmore says, so personnel were unaware the AM station was off the air prior to the discovery.

However, questions about how a 200-foot tower could “vanish without a trace,” as Elmore described it, swirled.

RadioWorld reports some commenters speculated that WJLX had failed to maintain its AM site over time but needed to keep its related FM translator on the air and required a cover story. One unattributed comment in a Facebook group insisted that the AM has been off the air for several years and the site neglected but that “rumors of an FCC complaint about the silent AM led him to believe there might soon be an inspection, revealing the tower’s sad state and inability to operate.”

Also, a YouTuber, William Collier, said he visited the WJLX tower site and filmed his experience to document it. His discoveries, according to the video, included rusted guy wires, dilapidated fencing, un-mowed grass and a transmitter building that had seemingly fallen into disrepair.

In the video, he challenges the owner’s assertions that the tower was stolen. Instead, he hypothesizes that the radio station operators let the property fall into disrepair and that the AM station was perhaps off the air for an extended time prior to the tower suddenly going missing. (Watch that here.)