How did they not notice this immediately themselves instead of having a landscaping crew notify them?
When I was a broadcast engineer, we were required to constantly monitor the on-the-air signal. In addition, that tower is live. How did they disconnect it without serious shock?
The most plausible theory to me: this is all FCC licensing related, where the owner is operating an FM station that is licensed as an AM station + repeater, but _nobody_ listens to the AM station or cares. Other comments say they haven’t been broadcasting on AM in ~5 years, so it seems likely that it was stolen much earlier and nobody noticed. The Jeff Geerling video kind of supports this, but doesn’t call anyone out since it is speculative. Because if it is true, the station either didn’t notice, or ignored it until the landscapers filed a report, forcing them to address it and pretend like it just happened.
A small-town radio station likely doesn't have a 24/7 monitor. And it is AM, which they seem to be have kept running only to facilitate their FM license. I bet they just sent it a feed and checked on it ever few days/weeks. If a small AM station drops off the air, would any listeners think to inquire about why?
When I was a broadcast engineer, we were required to constantly monitor the on-the-air signal. In addition, that tower is live. How did they disconnect it without serious shock?