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LPFMs and the pandemic ?

Steve Green NEPA

Steve Green NEPA

I see hardly anything on the LPFM forum about such stations during these urgent community times.

The late senator John McCain (Republican) and a Senator Feingold (Democrat) were much in favor and agreement of community radio. On that niche subject it wasn't possible to hear one name without the other's mentioned.
(Disclosure A : I voted for McCain for that reason)
Then, as things turned out, Barack Obama also expressed interest in the same community radio venture.
(Disclosure B : I voted for Obama for that same reason).

Is anyone here within the range of such a station ? And if so, how and what are they doing?
 
The LPFM which is licensed to broadcast less than a mile from my house (but isn't really there -- I've never found its actual transmitter site) has been running its usual loop of automated Oldies.

Another LPFM that is fringe reception for me runs the Catholic-faith Relevant Radio 24/7. I haven't listened to them, but I hope they've focused a bit on trying to bring the communal aspects of the faith to the faithful via radio -- my local Catholic diocese has cancelled all masses, and is hoping to resume on Palm Sunday on April 5.
 
@ Big A:
For a while, we had an LPFM up this way. It played the Standards, and was the proverbial 'computer in the closet'. But among the publicized 'staff' were six people who had experience in home health care; hence the musical format.

The station covered some 25 square miles, some 20,000 12+ people, several nursing homes and lots of mom-and-pop businesses. The average age of those within the signal was 44.8. That's more than three years older than the median age of the entire state (which itself is getting on in years).

I was live for an hour and a half per midday Mon-Fri. We got daily weather forecasts (long and short versions) from Penn State's meteorological facilities. The COL was invited and awkwardly integrated into the setup so that they could break in with anything urgent .... traffic jams, accidents, fires, and other community conditions.
Since I'm retired and otherwise have no productive life, doing a short, live air shift was no sweat. The last half hour of my 'show' was complete buffoonery, screwing up everything I could lay my hands on while still playing the AARP songs and following the format.

Point is, we had things arranged for two of the other 'headliners / jocks' on the station's flyer to go live. See, the original LPFM rules mandated that 75% of the group ownership had to live within ten miles of the tower ANYWAY. So there were minimal problems with those rudiments.
I reiterate : It was a nostalgia format and presentation for folks who were our parents' age. It was the only-game-in-town for the audience who mattered.
But those were different times.

I daresay that a number of LPFM's across the country tried the same thing, with the Standards, or 50's - 60's Oldies.
.... and was asking how some of them within DX range of us here are still keeping their community credence.
 
Steve Green NEPA said:
It was a nostalgia format and presentation for folks who were our parents' age. It was the only-game-in-town for the audience who mattered.But those were different times.
Click to expand...

That's great, and exactly what the Prometheus folks were hoping for. But my question is what the staff of six people say after they say what everyone else is saying? If the audience is already confined to home or nursing homes, they're already in some form of isolation. They are self-quarantining. There is no useful "play by play" that an LPFM can do besides the obvious. And it's likely already being done by the larger stations or TV. The smaller the target, the less useful the message.

BTW I'm not saying people shouldn't use whatever platform they have to help or provide service to people. I just wonder how useful it is. This is one of those emergencies where doing nothing is what's required. It's dull and boring, but that's really all there is.
 
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I would contend larger stations might not have the time to list everything (sort of like metro traffic reports that focus on freeways versus arteries that are well know only in one sector of a metro). The LPFM could do immediate local information (ie: store closings, help locations and such that a larger station might not mention because of shear quantity. A point however, if the LPFM is not already fairly universally known for local information, people will ot have the habit of tuning in to get updates. Likewise, if it's not also posted on the station's Facebook page and other social media, one is making best use of mediums available to them.
 
PTBoardOp94 said:
The LPFM which is licensed to broadcast less than a mile from my house (but isn't really there -- I've never found its actual transmitter site) has been running its usual loop of automated Oldies.

Another LPFM that is fringe reception for me runs the Catholic-faith Relevant Radio 24/7. I haven't listened to them, but I hope they've focused a bit on trying to bring the communal aspects of the faith to the faithful via radio -- my local Catholic diocese has cancelled all masses, and is hoping to resume on Palm Sunday on April 5.
Click to expand...


Relevant Radio has been touching on the corona virus pandemic, talking about how to help stop it, talking to people with it and I heard the other day, theyre broadcasting mass every day on the network from their green bay chapel as a service to those now confined due to corona virus
 
@ B-Turner's quote :

>> 'The LPFM could do immediate local information (ie: store closings, help locations and such that a larger station might not mention because of shear quantity. A point however, if the LPFM is not already fairly universally known for local information, people will have the habit of tuning in to get updates.' <<

Yessir. That is *exactly* where I was going with this. The various LPFM applicants had to sign and essentially go under oath with a mission statement when applying for a CP.
(Side note: Big A's observation about Prometheus's altruistic visions was dead-on. Thing was, none of us at the station even glanced at the Prometheus site for guidance. Moreover, our filed mission statement turned out to parallel -- eerily -- Chairman Bill Kennard's vision. And we didn't even read *his* outline fully until we'd gotten the CP!)

Gee. I had just been wondering if there existed now, in 2020, any such community stations within DX earshot.
 
Steve Green NEPA said:
Gee. I had just been wondering if there existed now, in 2020, any such community stations within DX earshot.
Click to expand...

Probably not within earshot. Most of the LPFMs are religious. There are a few real community broadcasters, in the style of Prometheus and Lorenzo Milam. I've been hearing a lot of good things about this station:

https://www.vianolavie.org/2017/05/01/whiv-shows-how-to-launch-and-maintain-an-lpfm/

Here's another one:

http://www.radiofreenashville.org/

Typically I'm seeing they use the word "mission" a lot. Quite often politics are part of the mission. If you don't agree with the politics, you probably won't agree with the mission. But that's the same situation you'll find with religion.
 
Our LPFM is still busily operating during this crisis. We're a school station, so the kids have their little home studios set up at their houses. Some are producing recorded segments, while others are working with their peers in multiple locations to do live shows. We keep connected via zoom class meetings for assignments. We're still broadcasting the City council meetings live in whatever form they use to comply with social distancing. A local church next door has their pastor preach a Sunday service isolated in his home. We broadcast live for their members who, of course, can't be there in person. We do weather reports, provide COVID-19 information, anything we can to serve our public.

We're not the only ones. Both LPFM and full-power stations in our area are keeping the "lights on" for their listeners. I'm a big fan of KUIC, the local commercial class B1 FM in our community. It's inspiring to see what they do to keep a sense of normalcy in our community. Many high school radio stations across the country are doing what they can to both serve the public and their students while keeping with the shelter-in-place rules. In a pandemic, you do what you can do. Broadcasters, both full power and LPFM, have a shared responsibility. It's times like these that radio can shine!

Ralph
KVCB-LP/HD
https://kvcb-online.com/
 
Ralph Martin said:
Our LPFM is still busily operating during this crisis.
Click to expand...

This is why LPFM was set up as a non-profit, in the hopes that people would run these stations without the expectation of making money. These kids are volunteering their time. Not unlike volunteer firemen or other volunteers.
 
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