Robbing Radio – The Weird Side of the Internet

Robbing Radio – The Weird Side of the Internet – by Liam Sweeny.

Remember radio? Yeah, I know it’s still around. Yes I work for a radio station. But remember it, though? You were driving to work or from work and that voice coming out the speakers had the sole task of entertaining you. You learned what was out there by what went on the rotation and whatever box of vinyl you had in the closet. Or casettes (my generation.)

But there’s something regal about radio. Being licensed to hit the airwaves. And I can’t think of doing anything as sh*ty and what was done to WJLX-AM in Jasper, Alabama. They were just minding their own business when they went off the air. Now radio is tricky, atmosphere, wind, all that. But when they went to the maintenance shed, wanna know what they’d found? That’s right, they were robbed. In fact, they were robbed of their two-hundred-foot antenna. They had it cut to the guy lines and all kinds of talk that would be known by two souls; the one who steals two-hundred-foot antennae and the one that’s gotta catch them.

Thing that really sucks is that the FCC won’t let them go FM on their sister station for just a little bit.

It’s commonplace to do the Spotify thing, but I can promise you, you’re missing out. And the people of Jasper, Alabama are without their friends in the morning and I, on behalf of all other internet radio stations, offer my condolences, and a gift certificate for a half-hour consultation with Sherlock Holmes, or a guy who says he is.

A number of local licensed businesses are going to help WJLX-AM. Hopefully, they’ll get back on the air soon, but the town is a little devastated. Like I said, radio is a personable thing. The DJ of your local station is a local celebrity. They may be where you first heard the breaking news of a historical event. Radio stations are an integral part of society, whether society thinks it’s needed or not.

More from Liam Sweeny…