how can this be no classic oldies

[hangman]

I always listen to KFXM, from the High Desert, CA on the net, they boast an oldies library of over 50,000 titles. How can a station in a market which is mostly barren, with very little humans have a great station like this and in this city there is nothing like it. I dont mean the old WOGL oldies format, with their stale Motown library they had for ages, I am talking about Mass Appeal Oh Wow tunes.

 

[davideduardo]

I always listen to KFXM, from the High Desert, CA on the net, they boast an oldies library of over 50,000 titles. How can a station in a market which is mostly barren, with very little humans have a great station like this and in this city there is nothing like it. I dont mean the old WOGL oldies format, with their stale Motown library they had for ages, I am talking about Mass Appeal Oh Wow tunes.

View attachment 281

It is an LPFM with no commercials in a market of 300,000.

 

[GuestGuy]

It is an LPFM with no commercials in a market of 300,000.

So what does that have to do with the original post, that is exactly what the original poster said. Its a small station, in a small market, yet has a great selection of Oldies. So why not the same type format in a metro of over 6 million people???

 

[davideduardo]

I always listen to KFXM, from the High Desert, CA on the net, they boast an oldies library of over 50,000 titles. How can a station in a market which is mostly barren, with very little humans have a great station like this and in this city there is nothing like it. I dont mean the old WOGL oldies format, with their stale Motown library they had for ages, I am talking about Mass Appeal Oh Wow tunes.

View attachment 281

To expand on my previous post, I was off a bit on the population. Here is the Wikipedia information, which can be verified via the ACS data that underlies it...

Major housing tract development and population growth took off beginning in 1983, which has increased the population of Palmdale around 12 times its former size as of 2006. Neighboring Lancaster has increased its population since the early 1980s to around 3 times its former level. Major retail has followed the population influx, centered on Palmdale's Antelope Valley Mall. The Antelope Valley is home to over 475,000 people, and the population is expected to reach 1,000,000 by the year 2020.

 

[K.M. Richards]

The Antelope Valley is home to over 475,000 people, and the population is expected to reach 1,000,000 by the year 2020.

Not that this matters to KFXM, since as a LPFM they can't sell commercial time (to make that clear for the OP).

 

[Small Market Guy]

It is an LPFM with no commercials in a market of 300,000.

Don't be silly. Stations shouldn't have to make money. One person wants a heavy metal polka station, so there should be one!

 

[davideduardo]

Don't be silly. Stations shouldn't have to make money. One person wants a heavy metal polka station, so there should be one!

In this case, it's a pretty good true oldies station run out of love for the music and radio. A big "A" for effort.

Of course, the original poster said "a market which is mostly barren, with very little humans ". I assume he was not saying that the Antilope Valley is populated by "little people" but rather, that he thinks it's something like Death Valley. And, of course he is wrong almost a half-million times over.

 

[K.M. Richards]

I probably should add that I know the guy who runs KFXM; in fact, I worked with him for a while back in the 1980s.

His name is Chris Compton, he is a competent programmer and an excellent radio engineer, and he loves oldies. So when LPFM was authorized by the FCC, he got several local businesspeople that he knew from having lived in the Antelope Valley for years, formed a non-profit corporation to seek the license, then once he won the CP, he pretty much single-handedly built the studios and transmitting facilities.

Chris has kept his engineering consultancy business, so he can afford to run KFXM for no personal compensation. Being a LPFM, he doesn't have to worry about ratings or ad sales, so they only solicit donations to cover operating expenses. Being that he is a long-time resident, he knows all the right people to bring in for community-based programming, and it works.

KFXM has been on the air for 11 years now, so obviously it brings in enough donations to pay the bills, but you have to understand that LPFM is far different from commercial broadcasting. In fact, LPFM was designed to serve community interests that aren't served by commercial radio. That's what Chris is doing, and it works. The same "formula" would likely work in other areas where there are enough listeners to support it; if you could find a geographic area with enough fans of heavy metal polka that would ante up and support it, LPFM would work there as well.

I think LPFM would work, in many cases, to maintain a lot of formats whose demographic appeal has "grayed out". If I had one in (for example) Lake Havasu City I think I'd play beautiful music. I bet the snowbirds would happily donate a few bucks apiece to keep it on the air.

 

[davideduardo]

I think LPFM would work, in many cases, to maintain a lot of formats whose demographic appeal has "grayed out". If I had one in (for example) Lake Havasu City I think I'd play beautiful music. I bet the snowbirds would happily donate a few bucks apiece to keep it on the air.

Chris' station is not unique but it is unusual in that it is ideally placed to serve with a limited signal a pretty significant population center. Add to that the fat that the Antilope Valley is as flat as the surface of a pond on a calm day and you have a pretty neat FM scenario.

Many LPFMs are not so situated near the center of a big market of population area. Some are less than the maximum power. And a lot are either run by religious groups or entities that are not well financed or focused.

But those that do have the right location and market area can certainly provide services that commercial radio can't ever offer. Being non-commercial means, mostly, being volunteer staffed. Keeping volunteers motivated over time is not easy. Maybe Chris should be asked to write a guidebook for similar "lost format" operations.

 

[oldies76]

"The Lost Goldmine in the high desert!
We do not have consultants to tell us what to play.
We answer to a higher authority;
The Listener"


Gotta love this statement!! Answering to the listeners with thousands of hit songs, in the middle of the desert!! Great job!! Keep throwing out the REAL hits. I'll add you to my bookmarks. Small town stations.......the best!

 

[davideduardo]

Gotta love this statement!! Answering to the listeners with thousands of hit songs, in the middle of the desert!! Great job!! Keep throwing out the REAL hits. I'll add you to my bookmarks. Small town stations.......the best!

As posted on the LA forum, you make it seem like this LPFM run by a talented broadcast engineer and oldies lover is out in some desolate stretch of sand and boulders. In fact, it is in the middle of the Lancaster / Palmdale market, which has nearly 450,000 persons. In other words, slightly smaller than Colorado Springs and more than twice the size of the Pueblo MSA. Not a small town.

Nearly all of Southern California, including the LA area, is technically desert. You know, as in "It Never Rains in Southern California". You would not say that "KRTH is out in the California desert", would you?

 

[atrainradio]

Well anyway we put it, LPFM can be a great service, if it is able to aim to the right market. KFXM seems to be doing a great job, and more power to them. If they want, I'll bet someday they can be made into a full power commercial broadcaster.

 

[davideduardo]

If they want, I'll bet someday they can be made into a full power commercial broadcaster.

Unlikely. Even if they had the $1 million or more to buy a commercial signal, the format is not commercially successful. As i said, it is the perfect use of an LPFM where non-viable formats in the commercial world can have a life on an LPFM.

 

[oldies76]

Unlikely. Even if they had the $1 million or more to buy a commercial signal, the format is not commercially successful. As i said, it is the perfect use of an LPFM where non-viable formats in the commercial world can have a life on an LPFM.

Well, maybe they should try first, before we know the outcome. Among 55+, it would be a smash in that area, lots of retirees live in the desert areas.

 

[oldies76]

Nearly all of Southern California, including the LA area, is technically desert. You know, as in "It Never Rains in Southern California". You would not say that "KRTH is out in the California desert", would you?

Well of course not, although KRTH's signal can be heard out to Barstow out on I-15 and south to Yucca Valley on the 62. (If I'm not mistaken). That song you mention will be a myth if a strong El Nino comes to fruition this winter. I'm glad there's a station like KFXM out there. Most probably aimed at desert retirees, seems like the perfect choice for them. Now if they were to increase that signal just a tad and add a relay tower along the 15 and become a highway station, that would be sweet!

 

[davideduardo]

Well, maybe they should try first, before we know the outcome. Among 55+, it would be a smash in that area, lots of retirees live in the desert areas.

Spoken as a Colorado resident.

The Antilope Valley population is very young. There is no perception that it is a retirement market.

What the market really is is a bedroom community for LA, with over 70,000 cars going and coming to LA on the 14 Freeway each morning and evening (look up traffic counts on the Antelope Valley Freeway online). In addition, the LA Metrolink runs to that area with a station in Lancaster, one in Palmdale and one at the western edge of the metro.

And the "metro" is inside LA County, so it is part of the Los Angeles MSA.

Because it is an area with very recent explosive growth, there is not much in the way of strong local business that would use radio. Most retail is big box and shopping mall based.

Local radio billings are low, and several of the stations simulcast LA stations that don't have signals there due to terrain blockage.

 

[davideduardo]

Well of course not, although KRTH's signal can be heard out to Barstow out on I-15 and south to Yucca Valley on the 62. (If I'm not mistaken).

You are mistaken. KRTH gets a bit of a signal into the Apple Valley area, the part of the Victor Valley market closest to LA. It does not get to Barstow. And it does not get to the Yucca Valley unless you are a DXer.

That song you mention will be a myth if a strong El Nino comes to fruition this winter.

I have been in several El Niño seasons in LA. It rains more in the rainy season, but most of the year is rainless. The positive effect of a Niño event is to create massive precipitation over the northern parts of the state, particularly the Sierras, which is where LA's water mostly comes from.

LA is what is referred to as "Semi Arid Desert".

I'm glad there's a station like KFXM out there. Most probably aimed at desert retirees, seems like the perfect choice for them. Now if they were to increase that signal just a tad and add a relay tower along the 15 and become a highway station, that would be sweet!

There is no way to increase the signal of a maxed out LPFM. They are intended to be community stations, a job which the station does a great job at. Fortunately, the owner is more dedicated than many LPFM operators (who sort of collapse after the first year of fun is past) and he is able to subsidize the costs and contribute the manpower.

Adding some kind of repeater on the 15 would have no benefit. There is no population along most of the high desert part of the freeway, and it would add huge expenses to the operation and many headaches to the owner.

 

[K.M. Richards]

Unlikely. Even if they had the $1 million or more to buy a commercial signal, the format is not commercially successful. As i said, it is the perfect use of an LPFM where non-viable formats in the commercial world can have a life on an LPFM.

Well, maybe they should try first, before we know the outcome. Among 55+, it would be a smash in that area, lots of retirees live in the desert areas.

You going to donate the $1 million or more, oldies? How generous of you!

As I pointed out originally, KFXM is pretty much a one-man show, and that one man's broadcast engineering consultancy isn't making him rich enough to buy a commercial signal ... not even in the Antelope Valley, even if there was one for sale. (A huge percentage of the stations up there are owned by Clear Channel and rebroadcast their Los Angeles stations.)

 

[K.M. Richards]

Nearly all of Southern California, including the LA area, is technically desert. You know, as in "It Never Rains in Southern California". You would not say that "KRTH is out in the California desert", would you?

That song you mention will be a myth if a strong El Nino comes to fruition this winter.

1. We could use the rainfall.
2. The song would be a myth anyway, since if you listen to the lyrics you will find that it is about someone who moves out here to make his fortune but is living in less-than-ideal conditions, his spirit broken.

Personally, I'd rather hear "Have You Ever Seen The Rain" by Creedence Clearwater Revival.