Tennessee radio station targeted by copper wire thieves; off air for six months

​​AM radio broadcaster WGSF in Memphis, Tennessee, was knocked off the air for six months after three men allegedly vandalized the station in an attempt to steal copper wire on May 18, 2025.

Ivette Butron, who operates the station, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker via email that thieves cut and removed all the copper wiring from inside the station’s building, as well as the copper connected to two antennas.

The men also destroyed an expensive piece of antenna tuning equipment called a phasor by removing all the copper components from within it, she added.

Estimated costs due to the theft, damage and repairs are close to $283,000, Butron wrote. Insurance covered only part of the losses.

The station came back on air in December, but only during daytime hours, and has yet to return to its full-time broadcast.

“We have been unable to resume nighttime broadcasting because the cost to replace the additional equipment required for three antennas is extremely high,” she wrote.

Butron and her husband Sergio Butron, both from Oaxaca, Mexico, started the station to offer Spanish-language music, news and programming for the Hispanic population in Memphis.

“As a minority woman business owner, this has been an extremely difficult experience. In one hour, more than 15 years of hard work and investment were severely damaged. We have had to work twice as hard to recover, and we continue to face financial challenges as a result of this crime,” wrote Butron, CEO of Butron Media, which operates two other radio stations, a marketing company and news outlet.

“Since we are the only Spanish-language mass media outlet serving the Latino community in this area, this incident placed us in serious jeopardy,” she wrote. Not only were station employees out of work but the greater community was left without its primary source of communication, she said.

The station has since upgraded its security with surveillance cameras, enhanced lighting and fencing.

The Memphis Police Department charged each of the three men — Terrence Goodman, Kyle Walton and Jonathan Yarbrough — on May 20, 2025, with burglary of a building, theft of property, and tampering with evidence, according to an article in the Radio+Television Business Report.

The theft and destruction of radio station towers and equipment are becoming more commonplace around the country due to a soaring global demand for copper.

In January 2024, thieves seeking copper wire toppled the radio tower of KITX in Oklahoma. The following month, WJLX in Alabama reported that its 200-foot AM tower was stolen, most likely for its copper.

A coalition created to address copper theft and vandalism reported 9,770 incidents from January to June 2025. Apparently, individuals steal encased copper cables, remove the sheathing and then sell the raw copper to scrap metal dealers, the report from Protecting America’s Critical Communications Infrastructure explained.

The Federal Communications Commission, which regulates interstate communications, has recognized the severity of copper wire theft, but has no jurisdiction over privately-owned communications facilities.

“These are deliberate acts of destruction that cut off communities, put lives at risk, and cost millions of dollars to repair,” FCC Commissioner Olivia Britt Trusty said at an infrastructure vandalism summit in October 2025. “This is not a handful of isolated incidents. It is a growing epidemic, and it is hitting every part of the country.”