WTTM 1680 adds Brother Stair Overcomer Ministry overnights

[davideduardo]

I'd love to see more US domestic shortwave broadcasters with music formats a la WTWW, like there were a plethora of in the 80s (which isn't saying much), maybe even in stereo (Motorola or ISB). But we all know that bus has long left the terminal and it ain't gonna happen nowadays in this universe.

Unless something changed while I was not looking, US shortwave stations are prohibited from "serving" listeners in the US itself. This goes way back to the earlier 30's when legislators wanted to block radio outlets that might be more influential than local newspapers... they capped AM power at a relatively low 50 kw and limited ownership to just 7 of them. And shortwave was only allowed for international service.

 

[davideduardo]

Burkina Faso was last heard on AM in 2010 - it's another African country that has gone all-FM, partly out of necessity (limited resources to keep fixing tired AM transmission gear) and partly because that's where the listeners are.

Yes, I stand corrected. The last government AM in Ouagadougou ended several years ago... like many places, AM lasts until the equipment gives out and then it is over.

The BBC, RFI, VOA all have FMs at least in the capital. Ouagadougou seems to have about 25 FMs... so the argument that there is no FM service in lesser developed nations is no longer true.

 

[oldradiotapes]

Unless something changed while I was not looking, US shortwave stations are prohibited from "serving" listeners in the US itself. This goes way back to the earlier 30's when legislators wanted to block radio outlets that might be more influential than local newspapers... they capped AM power at a relatively low 50 kw and limited ownership to just 7 of them. And shortwave was only allowed for international service.

As I understand they get around that by saying they "serve" Mexico or Canada to keep the F¢¢ happy, even though their broadcasts are directly intended to target a domestic audience.

These days I strongly doubt the US federales even notice or care. For example, remember what happened to Smith-Mundt in 2013?

How do you expect them to pay for it? WTWW can only do it because they have paying clients on other signals. I'd wager the oldies format makes them little money.

re/Read the entire first paragraph of my post, not just the first sentence. Understanding the paragraph's second sentence is the key.

 

[ZantennaG1]

As I understand they get around that by saying they "serve" Mexico or Canada to keep the F¢¢ happy, even though their broadcasts are directly intended to target a domestic audience.

Or my personal favorite: "Western North America" and "Eastern North America" (check the WRMI Wikipedia page). This is definitely clever, and the coverage maps for WBCQ (on 9.33 Mhz), as an example, end up covering a huge chunk of the US to reach Mexico.

 

[oldradiotapes]

Precisely!

In fact, yoostuhbee VOA via Delano hit the Best Coast with so much RF it could easily be received on a portable receiver (like a DX375) at mid-day..... with the aerial down. It had such a clear signal on 9 MHz that it sounded like one of my local MW flamethrowers, e.g. KEX. In retrospect it's hard to believe they *weren't* indirectly broadcasting to a domestic audience -- never mind Smith-Mundt, this was post-cold war, after all.

I really can't help but feel a little pity for a buddy of mine who's big into radio communications, especially shortwave. He's fascinated with it, yet he'll never be able to experience shortwave the way we did when the band was relatively crowded (well, more than today) with big international broadcasters like the eastern European ones, BBC, VOA, Radio Australia, and even the pseudo-non-domestics like the rock and roll station KTBN had been prior. Not almost exclusively data bursts, dollah-a-hollah bible thumpers, WWV and old hammies banging on about their antennas, health problems and far-right political ideology. And it's not through any fault of his, either - he's only in his mid-20s, so was just coming of age when it was already in severe decline. These days DXing shortwave via North America is still possible but for the most part it's really, really boring.

 

[b-turner]

Mediafrog said: If you are taking a bath on operating a station, you put it up for sale and take whatever you can get. Then you pick up the pieces and move on, all with the hard-earned knowledge that investing $200k in a basket case AM is a really stupid idea.

I ran a daytime only in Houston for almost 25 years. In the end, it was tough and the owners put the station up for sale. It took 3 years to sell. For a good 20 years it turned a profit, usually about 35 to 50%. At the end anything that could lessen the loss was a good thing. Our so called basket case went to a ministry that has it working for them. They're pleased. In fact the station supported a staff for a good couple of decades. It takes time to sell a station. And like selling a house, the lowball offers come first then the serious buyer that wants to know details.

What I think will be happening more is we will see lots of directional AMs going non-directional. The most dramatic I've seen is KXEN in St. Louis going from 50,000 watts days and, I think 1kw. nights to a non-directional 160 watts daytime and 14 watts nighttime. They hit a million with the daytime signal and 100,000 at night. Now they have a chance of making it, especially since they have an FM translator now.

It's true AM is dying, especially in the big cities. In the small markets it is not that bad in some cases. A few AMs do quite well but they're heritage AMs and usually high power.

My point is taking cash from Overcomers is not so bad when you need revenue.

I was looking at David's site at station revenue estimates. One station I liked (an AM) had been billing about 1 million a year 30 years ago. From what I can figure, it bills about $160,000 a year now. They still have a .4 share like they did about 1990.

Yet another AM station in a Top 50 market where I know the GM will only do about $60,000 this year. They have been scrambling trying to monetize non-traditional advertising venues and it seems they have made enough to get by and not drop and staff. The radio station alone only takes in about $60,000. The other sources amount to about $180,000. About 2006 they were doing $30,000 a month on the station.

I felt the comment that if you had to take on Overcomers Ministry as an account it would be better to just sign off and turn in the license was shared by someone who had no clue of business. My post was to demonstrate just how nonsensical that comment was. To compare it to a home was to offer an example that a non-radio person might understand. I think you might have taken my response other than how I intended. Something I certainly have done more times than I want to admit.

 

[rtetro]

Seemingly out of nowhere. It’s interesting too that an entirely spanish-language station adds the recently deceased convicted sex-offender’s radio show in the late night hours.

Bottom Line: Money talks. They are probably making a lot more by brokering out the overnight to a religious programmer than they would otherwise.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

Bottom Line: Money talks. They are probably making a lot more by brokering out the overnight to a religious programmer than they would otherwise.

They likely wouldnt be making ANY money overnight, if they werent brokering out the time.

 

[kevtronics]

Brother Stair is also on 620 WSNR in the NYC area. I did a bandscan on Christmas morning and heard him there. What a lump of coal in my stocking that was...

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

Brother Stair is also on 620 WSNR in the NYC area. I did a bandscan on Christmas morning and heard him there. What a lump of coal in my stocking that was...

LOLOL

 

[gr8oldies]

LOLOL

I remember falling asleep to WSAI (then on 1530) during its adult standards era {(though they had mixed a lot of oldies by then) one December. I woke up a couple of hours later to Bro. Stair screaming about celebrating Christmas being sinful