Alabama radio station's AM tower stolen!

[thewayne]

The station HAD a two-hundred foot tower! Had is the operative word as it has been stolen! And now the station is completely off the air. The station has an FM side, but apparently it is a repeat of the AM side and the FCC says it cannot broadcast if the AM side is down, so the station is completely off the air.

The tower itself dates back to the 1950s and is worth over $200,000. There's additional equipment installed on it in service of the broadcasting worth another $60,000. And these towers aren't exactly stocked and ready to be delivered. This seriously cripples the station, and if there's an area emergency like a tornado or wild fire, the people in its broadcast footprint won't be able to tune in for information!

And since they are licensed for broadcast by the Federal Communications Commission, interfering with their broadcast, perhaps by doing something like stealing their tower is a Federal crime and will earn you up to ten years in the Fed pen!

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/02/200-foot-am-radio-tower-disappears-halting-alabama-station-broadcast/

Comments

[thewayne]

The equipment mounted on the tower would not at all be easy to pawn or fence as they're very specialized for the broadcast industry.  Its main value is going to be the raw metal weight of the tower sold as scrap, guaranteed the metal scrap yards throughout the county are going to be looking for pieces resembling a broadcast tower.

[silveradept]

I wonder how much effort they'll have to put into things to make the scrap look like regular scrap and not broadcast tower scrap. And how far they might have to go to get it done.

[thewayne]

I don't know where scrap dealers, or pawn shop owners, for that matter, rate on the scrupulous scale.  I guess it depends on the individuals and stores.