The thief has been caught. You won’t be shocked to learn he is a homeless drug addict who was busted whilst doing another job in Leeds this week. He exchanged our gear for his gear, and that’s that. He’ll go to prison for a few months, then come out again with no prospects and a criminal record, only to repeat the cycle again. What he needs is treatment, not internment.
We could get angry, we could call him names, we could chastise him to make ourselves feel better, but really this has put things in perspective: there are worse fates than having your radio station disrupted for a bit. No one—except maybe Super Hans—choses to be an addict, and that should never be forgotten.
What this episode has taught us (apart from that we need to get better security. And insurance) is that KMAH has previously unknown levels of support out there. The outpouring really did touch us and, in private, we’ve taken huge inspiration from your love. We promise to come back bigger and better.
What’s more, we are overwhelmed at the donations we have received and feel we aren’t worthy of such kindness, so we’re going to donate a portion of anything we get to Simon on the Streets, a homeless charity in Leeds that does far more good than we ever could.
The Just Giving page is still up (link below), and no one will get anything if it doesn’t hit the target. So loath as we are to beg, any support you can give us–and in turn to Simon on the Streets–will be hugely well received and poured straight back into replacing our gear so the station can keep on bringing music lovers, record collectors and party people together in celebration of this great city and its ever underlying groove.
A thousand thank yous for everything so far: out of darkness comes light.
Much love from HQ.
