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I Wish...
- Thread starter DanScott
- Start date
I understand we're just daydreaming here, but it started me thinking. Is there anything that could be programmed on that station that would garner more than a handful of listeners? And if there won't be many listeners, why not do it online where it's a lot less expensive to play radio?
Well, sitting where it is I think you'd tailor some of what you do toward Furman University. Sports, news, public affairs... Besides whatever your "official" programming was.
Something else I'd do - use it as a teaching ground for prospective young broadcasters. Starting as early as grades 8-9. With only 10-15 watts of night power, what more perfect setup to raise a new generation of broadcasters. Infusing all the internet and social media stuff, sure. But giving them a grounded base in the business. Part classroom, part work experience.
An on-air broadcast school, if you will.
Something else I'd do - use it as a teaching ground for prospective young broadcasters. Starting as early as grades 8-9. With only 10-15 watts of night power, what more perfect setup to raise a new generation of broadcasters. Infusing all the internet and social media stuff, sure. But giving them a grounded base in the business. Part classroom, part work experience.
An on-air broadcast school, if you will.
So what's stopping you? To be honest, $300,000 is about the price of a nice home. People borrow that kind of money every day. It's not that hard to do. OK, so maybe you don't have the personal collateral to get a loan that big. Why not partner with someone. Partner with the college, for example. Tell them you'll take the risk if they join you in being an investor. Come up with a plan. If you really believe it would work, and you'd like to use it as a training ground, then find the way to do it.
You have to do the legwork if you want to get the cash. I can't tell you how many posts I've read from former programmers who want to do what you want, but lack the connections to get it done. I have a friend who managed to do it in New York State. He found a couple of rich old guys in his town who shared his dream, and got them to bankroll his company. Make a list of all the local people who might have the money, and start selling shares. Or you mention "donations," how about looking into Kickstarter or a similar online thing. The problem is the range of this station limits your potential base. But if that's your dream, you have to make it happen. No one is going to show up and hand you a bag of money. That's the difference between having a dream, and making it happen.
I'll volunteer to work there if you get it going.
Regarding Furman. Do they still have a campus radio station already? And if this AM station was FM, it probably would have been acquired by Clear Channel or Entercom already. I know that Gaffney station 105.3 was bought and made a Charlotte market station for oldies R&B. You can still get it in the Upstate, but they moved the signal more towards Charlotte. But seems like there should still be a niche for AM radio with very local focused programming.
Except the cost of doing very local focused programming is too expensive given the potential ad revenue a station like this could expect. That's why it's not typically done.
It's been my experience is the cost of buying the station is a fraction of what it will cost to run. If you can't get the initial expense of buying, how will you be able to pay all the staff and facility costs? And by the way, that's one of the hurdles you have to pass for FCC approval.
Maybe you should do it as a KickStarter.
S
Scooter Lesley
Guest
However,...when you have a small town, which does not have a Big-Ass Fm, due to it being bought, and moved to an adjacent Big-Ass city,....and/or still have a small AM,.......Chicken Salad has been successfully made outta Chicken Manure. Money? Yep!...and a lot of it. The Rich & the Brave will try. Brevard, NC, is a very tranquil place, the several times that I have been on an Antique Hunt, in that area. "The White Squirrel" is their hometowner,....with the very Dangerous, Ruthless,
....that's right, he has no idea where "Ruth" is....Bill Kelly. Greenwood has one too. Yeah!....It Can Be Done!
....that's right, he has no idea where "Ruth" is....Bill Kelly. Greenwood has one too. Yeah!....It Can Be Done!
Brevard is somewhat successful and somewhat insulated. WBCU is still chugging along trying to be as local as possible with news, sports coverage, community interviews, etc. Greenwood has a moderately successful FM but the two am stations are just hanging on. Wally's old Mighty 1090 is trying very hard to serve the african american community and the Ellers are keeping CRS on the air. At least they are trying. Long gone are the glory days of WCRS. WRHI seems to be rock steady and very locally active. WLBG is still ticking along with a lot of local news, talk shows and local sports. Jimmy and Powell work very hard at WKDK to be local and active and have a great on air product.I think Rick is still managing to keep WAIM on and WRIX is still very local. Not as comically hokey as it was in Matt's day but community minded nonetheless. Two small town upstate stations just went silent and another was shut down for a North Carolina station power increase.
So, Scooter is right. It can be done if you are willing to work your butt off. Here is what it takes:
News rounds at 3am, council and board meeting coverage 3-4 nights a week at 7pm. Writing, producing and recording in time for a 6am newscast..oh, and recording actualities.
That's just the news guy's job and if you don't have the payroll you can end up doing all of that and a live morning show on top. Get a kid to do it and the product sucks on air. Hire stringers and they let you down. It's tough.
Somebody has to handle traffic. Orders have to be entered, spots have to be produced and ready. Automation logs (or manual logs and carts if you are still living in the 80's) have to be handled.
At least two effective driven people that don't expect to get rich have to be on the street hitting every local business they can. Catch 22 here. You need the ad revenue to produce a quality product. You need a quality product to get the listener base so the ads are effective for the client.
If you offer something truly unique and listenership builds quickly you will still need 3-4 books out before you show enough numbers to get any agency attention. And if you have the capital to hire good people can you keep them long enough to show positive cash flow or do you have to result to second tier talent or untrained sales staff.
And lastly, you have all the initial fcc fees, annual regulatory fees, and license renewal fees eventually. Little things at an AM will eat at you like biannual NRSC measurements. Don't file quarterly reports on time, get a fine. Then the bank note, the power bill, phone and internet, website maintenance and hosting, IT and engineering, equipment maintenance, taxes, taxes and taxes and then....The blood sucking Music Mafia. Even under a blanket contract of a no music station the Mafia will eat you alive with their ridiculous licensing fees. Don't pay them, face a lawsuit. After La Cosa Nostra in Nashville get their cut....can you afford a salary? Can you work that hard for $20k a year.
I haven't even mentioned air talent, voiceover fees, jingle packages or remote equipment, promotional items and the cost of a sports crew if you are going to broadcast high school sports. What about a station vehicle with a cool wrap and a pneumatic marti mast. As soon as you sign the lease papers on it that old console in your production room takes a dump.
I had to get all of that off my chest. That's what it takes to make small town community radio work.Truth is I love this business. I have been at it for 20 years and can't imagine doing anything else. There is no other feeling in the world like raising money for a child to have surgery, hosting a school supply rally and hot dog party then personally handing those school supplies to a kid that has very little and seeing their excitement about getting a book bag or asking a vietnam veteran to come in and share his story and the phone lines light up with one listener after another thanking that vet for his service. Sometimes all that work is worth it.
Some people spend a lot of other people's money just to play disk jockey and can't keep a station on for more than a few months. We all saw that happen not long ago. We all wanted to be air talent when we were 16, and some of us got to live that dream but it really doesn't exist anymore. Scooter's favorite people, the consultants, ruined it for anybody with some intellect and a set of pipes. You have to love every aspect of it to make it work these days.
So, Scooter is right. It can be done if you are willing to work your butt off. Here is what it takes:
News rounds at 3am, council and board meeting coverage 3-4 nights a week at 7pm. Writing, producing and recording in time for a 6am newscast..oh, and recording actualities.
That's just the news guy's job and if you don't have the payroll you can end up doing all of that and a live morning show on top. Get a kid to do it and the product sucks on air. Hire stringers and they let you down. It's tough.
Somebody has to handle traffic. Orders have to be entered, spots have to be produced and ready. Automation logs (or manual logs and carts if you are still living in the 80's) have to be handled.
At least two effective driven people that don't expect to get rich have to be on the street hitting every local business they can. Catch 22 here. You need the ad revenue to produce a quality product. You need a quality product to get the listener base so the ads are effective for the client.
If you offer something truly unique and listenership builds quickly you will still need 3-4 books out before you show enough numbers to get any agency attention. And if you have the capital to hire good people can you keep them long enough to show positive cash flow or do you have to result to second tier talent or untrained sales staff.
And lastly, you have all the initial fcc fees, annual regulatory fees, and license renewal fees eventually. Little things at an AM will eat at you like biannual NRSC measurements. Don't file quarterly reports on time, get a fine. Then the bank note, the power bill, phone and internet, website maintenance and hosting, IT and engineering, equipment maintenance, taxes, taxes and taxes and then....The blood sucking Music Mafia. Even under a blanket contract of a no music station the Mafia will eat you alive with their ridiculous licensing fees. Don't pay them, face a lawsuit. After La Cosa Nostra in Nashville get their cut....can you afford a salary? Can you work that hard for $20k a year.
I haven't even mentioned air talent, voiceover fees, jingle packages or remote equipment, promotional items and the cost of a sports crew if you are going to broadcast high school sports. What about a station vehicle with a cool wrap and a pneumatic marti mast. As soon as you sign the lease papers on it that old console in your production room takes a dump.
I had to get all of that off my chest. That's what it takes to make small town community radio work.Truth is I love this business. I have been at it for 20 years and can't imagine doing anything else. There is no other feeling in the world like raising money for a child to have surgery, hosting a school supply rally and hot dog party then personally handing those school supplies to a kid that has very little and seeing their excitement about getting a book bag or asking a vietnam veteran to come in and share his story and the phone lines light up with one listener after another thanking that vet for his service. Sometimes all that work is worth it.
Some people spend a lot of other people's money just to play disk jockey and can't keep a station on for more than a few months. We all saw that happen not long ago. We all wanted to be air talent when we were 16, and some of us got to live that dream but it really doesn't exist anymore. Scooter's favorite people, the consultants, ruined it for anybody with some intellect and a set of pipes. You have to love every aspect of it to make it work these days.
Exactly. We managed to get a license for free, but after about a year of construction and preparation, we were about a million in debt. That's why I say the operating costs are a whole lot more than the initial purchase price. Like buying a boat. A big fat expensive leaky old boat.
Where I live we have a community radio station which has just been sold to the local college and will be used to train students. We have been promised no changes but I worry what these students are going to do to it. The most important thing for me is the music which right now comes mostly from Dial Global. It's certainly not what will appeal to students, and I remember yesterday the morning host, who also runs the station and will continue to even though he sold it, saying to a person he was interviewing that we have lots of baby boomers and seniors listening.
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