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Sad news for KFXM.
- Thread starter 30james
- Start date
No idea at all. My question would be whether the station charges at all, or does it as part of its interpretation of community service. In fact, it might be found in some cases that the station operator is a member of that particular church and does it as a contribution.
Some good points David thanks
when i was at KLMI-FM Laramie, WY we normally didnt take ANY paid programming, religious programming or anything not local except for two specialtiy syndicated shows saturday and sunday night.
Well, during the midst of the covid lock down in 2020.. a church or town approached us and wanted to air their easter service i think it was... we charged.. well more then most new car payments are these days.. and go it. we never broke format and had to make it worth it.
Alot of small town AM's will charge what equates to about $1 an hour
One company that I worked for charged churches the same amount as any other block program provider. $50 for 28 minutes or $80 for 58 minutes. The churches were responsible for providing their message in a timely fashion via internet, mail, or hand delivery.
Seeing that KFXM is an LPFM in the desert, their rate is probably quite a bit lower than that.
Seeing that KFXM is an LPFM in the desert, their rate is probably quite a bit lower than that.
The population of Lancaster / Palmdale is 517,000.
Lancaster-Palmdale Metro Area Population 1950-2023
Chart and table of population level and growth rate for the Lancaster-Palmdale metro area from 1950 to 2023. United Nations population projections are also included through the year 2035.
Because the area is very flat, an LPFM covers most of it, although not particularly strong. I don't think being "in the desert" has any effect on coverage.
KFXM is one of the better LPFMs in the country, although it seems that the owner has had problems of late (hopefully not health related). I'm assuming, thought, that if he runs a church service it is done as a community service, perhaps for a church he is a member of.
There has been lots of debate as to whether a non-commercial station can charge entities that want to buy blocks of time. There's an FCC rule about controlling the station as in programming content. Since a non-comm cannot 'sell', a set rate card is out but there seems to be a bit of wiggle room on 'donation'. If the station and church, upon exchange of money, perceive the time slot as one where the church controls content, then there is an FCC Rules issue.
Non-comm Christian stations run programs by ministries with the understanding the station listeners that contribute to the ministry see a portion of that money returned to the station as a 'share'. This is a workaround of the FCC rule. In this scenario the station can edit, choose not to run or alter the program at will, something the FCC requires and something a ministry purchasing the time would have a problem with.
Non-comm Christian stations run programs by ministries with the understanding the station listeners that contribute to the ministry see a portion of that money returned to the station as a 'share'. This is a workaround of the FCC rule. In this scenario the station can edit, choose not to run or alter the program at will, something the FCC requires and something a ministry purchasing the time would have a problem with.
What was "Ride In The Country"? What other religious programming did they have?
They had on religion pastors that's all I know. Also a ride in the country was a 2 hour segment of classic country from 10 till 12 noon playing don Williams t. G. Sheppard, and other country stars.
I was amazed that when I was in radio how many religious/community/other "non-commercial" type business' would ask to have us run a program, ad or some other thing and then be outraged that we wanted to charge them for it. Hey, electric company doesn't give me power for free for my transmitter, water company doesn't give me water for free, employees don't work for "free". The ones that got really pissed off, I'd say to them "What do you do for a living?" Whatever it was [say a car dealership, for example] I'd say fine, I want a Honda CRV for free you can have it on my doorstep by tomorrow afternoon. Then it was "Oh, I can't do that!" I'd say "Why not? You're expecting me to give MY product away for free!"
It was a good run for them. Times change and so did the market.
KFXM occasionally has long outages. The one a couple months lasted about 11 days, but it was back after that.
This is a LPFM. Nothing in that kind of station is particularly expensive. Studio gear is computer based, and computers are cheap. Hard drives are even cheaper... a 20tb drive is now down to under $500. The transmitters used are generally modular, with replaceable parts. About the most costly part is the antenna, tower or tower mount / lease and coax. Still, at low power it is relatively cheap.
I'd love to hear from Michi about the estimated cost of building a "nice" but practical LPFM with leased tower vs. owned tower alternatives.
Often LPFM outages are not repair issues... they are health and economics issues with the operator or committee that runs the station. There are thinks like city licenses, power bills, insurance, FCC filing fees, etc., that can pile up in an all-volunteer station that may not get donations during a recession or in the current sky-high inflation period.
Thanks for the clarification David
It's up, but only playing Anne Murray, Bee Gees, and Paul Anka songs. Will be glad when KFXM is restored back to the station we know and love.
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