Birmingham WERH, Hamilton's Commercial non-commercial station is on the air and soliciting advertisers for high school football!

[wattwatcher]

This really isn't a "Birmingham" post but, this quirky thing refused to allow me to post it I didn't select a price so, I did the best I could.

We all knew this would be another "not quite right" station when we saw who had applied for it, right?

It appears the $23,000 which was raised through the "Save WJLX" campaign on GoFundMe has been put to good use as a new WERH has been constructed in Hamilton just in time to cash-in on high-school football and the coming holiday season.

Of course, Brett Elmore is still begging for donations to rebuild WJLX about five years after the license should've been deleted for being silent longer than a year.

An most interesting way of providing, I'd say but, then again, I'm only watching this from the sidelines...

 

[wattwatcher]

I haven't been there to observe it personally (maybe, this warrants a trip) but, I've received several reports from reliable sources telling me that WERH in Hamilton has been broadcasting only a dead carrier since Thursday, October 31, 2024.

 

[w00t]

Brett Elmore died in October.

Brett Elmore, Who Reported Stolen AM Tower, Is Dead at 41 - Radio World

Brett Elmore has died, according to the Facebook page of radio station WJLX in Jasper, Ala.

www.radioworld.com

 

[wattwatcher]

If anyone's interested or cares, WERH has now been silent for almost two months. (Yes, it went silent several weeks before Brett Elmore died.) I'm guessing not enough people wanted to advertise with them.

I also found this updated story on Jasper's "Vanishing Tower". Day what you want, I think this is about as close to truth as we will ever get.

WJLX, Jasper, Brett Elmore, Johnny Elmore and Why Jasper is Corrupt. - Alabama News Beacon

The Untouchable "Good Old Boys" of Jasper & Walker County, Alabama. A lot like his father, local "Radio God" Brett Elmore was once celebrated as Jasper, Alabama’s “radio genius.” Young, ambitious, and extremely charismatic, he was credited with revitalizing local radio with his "creative" vision...

alnewsbeacon.com

 

[secondchoice]

One has to wonder how much money is there locally for radio in a county of 64k?

 

[radiofan2023]

If anyone's interested or cares, WERH has now been silent for almost two months. (Yes, it went silent several weeks before Brett Elmore died.) I'm guessing not enough people wanted to advertise with them.

I also found this updated story on Jasper's "Vanishing Tower". Day what you want, I think this is about as close to truth as we will ever get.

WJLX, Jasper, Brett Elmore, Johnny Elmore and Why Jasper is Corrupt. - Alabama News Beacon

The Untouchable "Good Old Boys" of Jasper & Walker County, Alabama. A lot like his father, local "Radio God" Brett Elmore was once celebrated as Jasper, Alabama’s “radio genius.” Young, ambitious, and extremely charismatic, he was credited with revitalizing local radio with his "creative" vision...

alnewsbeacon.com

I'm still laughing at this part of the article: "Outraged and eager to help, as always anytime Brett sneezed or had a sore throat"

 

[tomservo]

If anyone's interested or cares, WERH has now been silent for almost two months. (Yes, it went silent several weeks before Brett Elmore died.) I'm guessing not enough people wanted to advertise with them.

I also found this updated story on Jasper's "Vanishing Tower". Day what you want, I think this is about as close to truth as we will ever get.

WJLX, Jasper, Brett Elmore, Johnny Elmore and Why Jasper is Corrupt. - Alabama News Beacon

The Untouchable "Good Old Boys" of Jasper & Walker County, Alabama. A lot like his father, local "Radio God" Brett Elmore was once celebrated as Jasper, Alabama’s “radio genius.” Young, ambitious, and extremely charismatic, he was credited with revitalizing local radio with his "creative" vision...

alnewsbeacon.com

That article reads more like someone's secretive gossip than actual news, but it's interesting nonetheless. Although I didn't grow up in Walker County, I did know and work with people from Jasper and these sort of scandalous accusations do track with what I have heard about the area from them.

I also couldn't help but notice that the Al News Beacon site seems heavily tied to some radio station streams, one of which is Fox FM. That was the slogan and logo of WQJJ-LP in Jasper, a station whose owner had his own issues with the law in Walker County if I remember right.

One has to wonder how much money is there locally for radio in a county of 64k?

You'd think there'd be enough to support an FM and an AM/translator, at least. Although it's part of the Birmingham metro area and gets all the local media from that market, it's far enough out that it should be able to support at least one station. In that sense it's like Dallas County being near Montgomery or Escambia County being near Mobile and Pensacola, but each area supports local radio to one degree or another.

 

[Charles1]

That article reads more like someone's secretive gossip than actual news, but it's interesting nonetheless. Although I didn't grow up in Walker County, I did know and work with people from Jasper and these sort of scandalous accusations do track with what I have heard about the area from them.

I also couldn't help but notice that the Al News Beacon site seems heavily tied to some radio station streams, one of which is Fox FM. That was the slogan and logo of WQJJ-LP in Jasper, a station whose owner had his own issues with the law in Walker County if I remember right.



You'd think there'd be enough to support an FM and an AM/translator, at least. Although it's part of the Birmingham metro area and gets all the local media from that market, it's far enough out that it should be able to support at least one station. In that sense it's like Dallas County being near Montgomery or Escambia County being near Mobile and Pensacola, but each area supports local radio to one degree or another.

And two full-powered FM stations that did serve Walker County read the writing on the wall years ago. What is now WDXB started focusing on Tuscaloosa (and to a lesser extent Birmingham) in, what, 1987? And once WFFN moved from 92.9 to 95.3, it became a Tuscaloosa station.

From the demographic research I do in my work (not in the broadcast industry), counties like Walker, Winston and Marion are graying quicker than what they once did. Industries that were the lifeblood there have dried up. That could explain part of the issues broadcasters would encounter there.

 

[wattwatcher]

I also couldn't help but notice that the Al News Beacon site seems heavily tied to some radio station streams, one of which is Fox FM. That was the slogan and logo of WQJJ-LP in Jasper, a station whose owner had his own issues with the law in Walker County if I remember right.

I'm going to try to not say too much so this will not be removed but, I can assure you everything I am saying is fact and I'm posting a link to a local TV news report before someone calls me a liar.

As a local person, I'm a bit more familiar with that situation than most. You may recall that the claim was the general manager of WQJJ-LP was involved in all manner of theft and scamming and anything possible to make him look really bad after he had reported on crimes committed by employees of the Walker County Sheriff's Office under the previous administration. These claims were reported as "fact" statewide online, on radio, TV and newspapers for weeks.

In the end, all of the theft and scam charges "went away" but, none of that made statewide news like the original claims used in dragging the man's name in the mud for months.

The sheriff's department employees he had originally reported as criminals are now, one by one, pleading guilty, accepting plea-bargains and being sentenced for their parts in "questionable deaths intentionally caused", abuse of power and other criminal acts and I don't mean "just a few", either.

Walker County, Alabama, is indeed a work of art unto itself. Maybe, from now on out, we should pay attention to reports of crime in government offices and not immediately discount them when the criminals themselves say "It ain't so!"

For those wondering, Tony Mitchell is only one person "unalived" at the hands of Walker County Sheriff's Office employees. There are more.

Investigators are only now still scratching the surface in that rat-hole.

Here are links to two articles. There are many, many more and even more coming.

https://www.cbs42.com/top-stories/9th-person-set-to-plead-guilty-in-anthony-tony-mitchells-death/

Also

Walker County jailer to plead guilty to falsifying records in inmate abuse case

Federal court filings reveal another Walker County jailer has agreed to a plea agreement related to the mistreatment of inmates.

abc3340.com