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Author Topic: BROADCAST TRANSMITTER STOLEN WHILE ON THE AIR  (Read 1398 times)

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BROADCAST TRANSMITTER STOLEN WHILE ON THE AIR
« on: May 20, 2010, 1824 UTC »
Thieves nick transmitter while radio station is on the air
May 1 2010 Exclusive by Keith Mcleod

A RADIO station was silenced yesterday when its £50,000 transmitter was swiped.

The plug was pulled on Lanarkshire's L107 - which broadcasts to a potential audience of more than 600,000 - shortly after noon.

Mike Smith's Log In To Lunch show was being broadcast when the airwaves went dead.

The owners said the transmitter had been "unlawfully taken" from the 17th floor of an office block in Hamilton.

The blow came amid a bitter dispute between the new and former owners.

The station was taken over earlier this year after claims that former major shareholder Alan Shields had failed to pay creditors and DJs.

New boss John Prendergast, 31, bought out the shareholding of shock-jock Scottie McClue and offered cash guarantees to creditors and staff.

Yesterday, the new regime at the station gave a statement to police over the transmitter, said to be the size of a large fridge.

It was claimed that CCTV cameras from the office block - South Lanarkshire Council's County Buildings HQ in Almada Street - show two men pushing it out on a trolley and loading it into a van.

Last night, Prendergast said: "It would be like something out of the Keystone Kops, if it was not so serious.

"What we know is that two men got into the office building saying they were from L107 and gained access to the room where the transmitter was.

"Maintenance guys checked the roof of the County Buildings and found the antenna was still in place.

"But when they checked the transmitter room, they found it was gone.

"What the people responsible did not know though was that the council has recently installed a state-of-the art CCTV system."

A police spokeswoman said: "We have had a complaint regarding the theft of a radio station transmitter. Our officers have been at the scene and are investigating."
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/2010/05/01/thieves-nick-radio-transmitter-while-station-is-on-the-air-86908-22225555/

 

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