I’m not always doom and gloom but when you meet so many who are running LPFM stations and haven’t a clue, I figured maybe somebody might see their station in one of these statements and take a moment to reconsider.
There is the LPFM that tells everyone they are ‘everything XXX County’. So, they paid for a British guy to do liners and do not do anything local on the air. They play rather decent music in the early morning but Ozzy Osborne, Uriah Heap, Rush and Jethro Tull are not great at work artists to play by 10am. They refuse to do weather updates and community announcements because they don’t have the time. Tornado Warnings and such? Nope. Not here. And for underwriting they only allow your business name. When you are J & S Services they won’t even mention what the company does nor the town it’s in (as they hit 3 towns).
Here's an LPFM that was playing 1950s and 1960s songs. The average listener is 70+ at the youngest. The fellow had no clue how to sell to businesses. That’s why he had one underwriter. He claimed a good listening audience, mostly online. He claimed no listeners donated. Only thing is, he forgot to ask for donations. Once he was tired of footing the bill or maybe his wife was, the format changed. Listeners complained. This LPFM isn’t the first to go NOAA Weather Radio.
Then there was the guy that went classic rock by putting every track on every album in rotation because people bought albums then. When his online ‘sales’ for underwriter spots produced no phone calls and the money ran out, this fellow blamed the town not his lack of knowledge. Oh, and he said the town wasn’t ready for him because so few listened.
Now a few things:
1. You need to understand sales. Radio is all about relationships and being liked. You must know the business owner, what they like, what they want and be sure they know you so they can build trust in you and like you enough to say yes. If you offer sales jobs for commission only, you haven’t a clue about sales. If you want underwriting, it is a fulltime gig because much of the time is visiting new businesses and visiting those already on.
2. Radio does NOT revolve around you. Radio the way you want means you have 1 listener, you. You will not change radio. As much as you hate me for saying this, the big stock-owned companies have invested lots of money to research how to maximize radio audiences and keep listeners listening. They have to. Their income relies on this.
3. You want listeners and as many as you can get. The more you have, the more will donate, underwrite and attend fundraisers. The greater the audience, the better the chances you might get that grant. If you do something that attracts 1% of radio listeners that’s slim pickings in your 60 dbu. And you’d be amazed the number of stations that hit 1% or less.
4. Market yourself. People that are in to radio discover new stations but not everyday radio listeners. You’ll only cover about 40-45 square miles so saturate the area methodically. Any schools, churches and such should be contacted as well as all local non-profits. Everybody should know you as the local station.
5. Be the one source of local information. That means you are local many times a day, minimum once or twice an hour. I laugh at the ‘local’ station that does the community calendar every Thursday at 7:30pm. People should know you are local after listening a few minutes.
6. If you wonder what to do, take a trip to the country and listen to small town stations. You’ll hear successful ones that do local weather, PSAs, news and such. They will have a healthy commercial load too. Emulate what the small market station does. Your LPFM is essentially an ultra small market station.
7. Have an online presence and utilize that in building income. The FCC does not regulate your web presence. Promote yourself and promote local,
8. Communicate. Communicate some more. Continue to constantly communicate. Here is an example of not doing so: station has a website and Facebook page but neither has been mentioned over the air. They post station news on Facebook but nobody listening to the radio knows that Facebook post how the computer went down and the station would be off for the next 48 hours. When there was an explosion blocking a main highway in their service area it was never announced on the air or on Facebook. Instead the Facebook post was about hoping First Responders were well hydrated on such a hot day. This might sound absurd but it is much more common than you’d think.
9. You cannot have enough income. If you need, say, $500 a month and get 10 Underwriters at $50 a month, don’t stop there. There will be some that won’t renew. There will be emergencies. Ever tried to raise money to get back on the air? It’s tougher than when you started, If your transmitter and antenna and coax take a direct lightning hit during tomorrow’s thundershower, what happens to your LPFM? Can you cover that expense before you can convince your insurance company to write a check? Do you have relationships where an engineer can find you a replacement until you can rebuild? I hope you do.
10) Know the FCC Rules. Abide by the rules. If you’re not going to follow the rules, please bow out. It gives everybody else a bad name. Case in point: two rival LPFMs in a small town both operating at sites other than licensed, at heights and powers way beyond authorized and both running full length commercials were dumb enough to complain about each other to the FCC. Many have been silent for years. Many overpower. Quite a few sell commercials. Some have moved but not filed. Some have changed equipment without notification and the list goes on. I stress, know the FCC Rules.
11. Underwriting. My pet peeve is thinking 30 seconds. There’s much to know about Underwriting and one is the FCC suggests 20 seconds or less. In fact, I’d spell out what you get in an underwriting spot and not even talk length. The message is as long as it takes to convey the listed information. Even in commercial radio the business owner doesn’t care about length. They just want their message aired. Remember to dictate content on underwriting: example: business name and a description of the category of business if name does not say; address, website, one product or service company offers and perhaps business hours. People generally do not demand something not on the list of what the announcement can include. Even in commercial radio they don’t ask. I sell lots of name mention spots and nobody asks for more, ever, because we dictate content.
A Tip: You might not have a filing window yet but start work online and methodically start getting to know your community. Talk about the station. Ask questions. Rally support now. Get to know business owners now. Have a website and maybe a Facebook page. Get business cards. In other words, work now just as you would once you are on the air.
People like to help. You will be led to funding sources. Do not look for volunteers. They might destroy all you have built. I have seen this happen very often and a few LPFMs have been hijacked from the founder by such people by bring in their friends until they can force a takeover.
If you will make regular visits to folks, you will be that far along when you hit the airwaves, easily a year or so ahead of the average station.
There is the LPFM that tells everyone they are ‘everything XXX County’. So, they paid for a British guy to do liners and do not do anything local on the air. They play rather decent music in the early morning but Ozzy Osborne, Uriah Heap, Rush and Jethro Tull are not great at work artists to play by 10am. They refuse to do weather updates and community announcements because they don’t have the time. Tornado Warnings and such? Nope. Not here. And for underwriting they only allow your business name. When you are J & S Services they won’t even mention what the company does nor the town it’s in (as they hit 3 towns).
Here's an LPFM that was playing 1950s and 1960s songs. The average listener is 70+ at the youngest. The fellow had no clue how to sell to businesses. That’s why he had one underwriter. He claimed a good listening audience, mostly online. He claimed no listeners donated. Only thing is, he forgot to ask for donations. Once he was tired of footing the bill or maybe his wife was, the format changed. Listeners complained. This LPFM isn’t the first to go NOAA Weather Radio.
Then there was the guy that went classic rock by putting every track on every album in rotation because people bought albums then. When his online ‘sales’ for underwriter spots produced no phone calls and the money ran out, this fellow blamed the town not his lack of knowledge. Oh, and he said the town wasn’t ready for him because so few listened.
Now a few things:
1. You need to understand sales. Radio is all about relationships and being liked. You must know the business owner, what they like, what they want and be sure they know you so they can build trust in you and like you enough to say yes. If you offer sales jobs for commission only, you haven’t a clue about sales. If you want underwriting, it is a fulltime gig because much of the time is visiting new businesses and visiting those already on.
2. Radio does NOT revolve around you. Radio the way you want means you have 1 listener, you. You will not change radio. As much as you hate me for saying this, the big stock-owned companies have invested lots of money to research how to maximize radio audiences and keep listeners listening. They have to. Their income relies on this.
3. You want listeners and as many as you can get. The more you have, the more will donate, underwrite and attend fundraisers. The greater the audience, the better the chances you might get that grant. If you do something that attracts 1% of radio listeners that’s slim pickings in your 60 dbu. And you’d be amazed the number of stations that hit 1% or less.
4. Market yourself. People that are in to radio discover new stations but not everyday radio listeners. You’ll only cover about 40-45 square miles so saturate the area methodically. Any schools, churches and such should be contacted as well as all local non-profits. Everybody should know you as the local station.
5. Be the one source of local information. That means you are local many times a day, minimum once or twice an hour. I laugh at the ‘local’ station that does the community calendar every Thursday at 7:30pm. People should know you are local after listening a few minutes.
6. If you wonder what to do, take a trip to the country and listen to small town stations. You’ll hear successful ones that do local weather, PSAs, news and such. They will have a healthy commercial load too. Emulate what the small market station does. Your LPFM is essentially an ultra small market station.
7. Have an online presence and utilize that in building income. The FCC does not regulate your web presence. Promote yourself and promote local,
8. Communicate. Communicate some more. Continue to constantly communicate. Here is an example of not doing so: station has a website and Facebook page but neither has been mentioned over the air. They post station news on Facebook but nobody listening to the radio knows that Facebook post how the computer went down and the station would be off for the next 48 hours. When there was an explosion blocking a main highway in their service area it was never announced on the air or on Facebook. Instead the Facebook post was about hoping First Responders were well hydrated on such a hot day. This might sound absurd but it is much more common than you’d think.
9. You cannot have enough income. If you need, say, $500 a month and get 10 Underwriters at $50 a month, don’t stop there. There will be some that won’t renew. There will be emergencies. Ever tried to raise money to get back on the air? It’s tougher than when you started, If your transmitter and antenna and coax take a direct lightning hit during tomorrow’s thundershower, what happens to your LPFM? Can you cover that expense before you can convince your insurance company to write a check? Do you have relationships where an engineer can find you a replacement until you can rebuild? I hope you do.
10) Know the FCC Rules. Abide by the rules. If you’re not going to follow the rules, please bow out. It gives everybody else a bad name. Case in point: two rival LPFMs in a small town both operating at sites other than licensed, at heights and powers way beyond authorized and both running full length commercials were dumb enough to complain about each other to the FCC. Many have been silent for years. Many overpower. Quite a few sell commercials. Some have moved but not filed. Some have changed equipment without notification and the list goes on. I stress, know the FCC Rules.
11. Underwriting. My pet peeve is thinking 30 seconds. There’s much to know about Underwriting and one is the FCC suggests 20 seconds or less. In fact, I’d spell out what you get in an underwriting spot and not even talk length. The message is as long as it takes to convey the listed information. Even in commercial radio the business owner doesn’t care about length. They just want their message aired. Remember to dictate content on underwriting: example: business name and a description of the category of business if name does not say; address, website, one product or service company offers and perhaps business hours. People generally do not demand something not on the list of what the announcement can include. Even in commercial radio they don’t ask. I sell lots of name mention spots and nobody asks for more, ever, because we dictate content.
A Tip: You might not have a filing window yet but start work online and methodically start getting to know your community. Talk about the station. Ask questions. Rally support now. Get to know business owners now. Have a website and maybe a Facebook page. Get business cards. In other words, work now just as you would once you are on the air.
People like to help. You will be led to funding sources. Do not look for volunteers. They might destroy all you have built. I have seen this happen very often and a few LPFMs have been hijacked from the founder by such people by bring in their friends until they can force a takeover.
If you will make regular visits to folks, you will be that far along when you hit the airwaves, easily a year or so ahead of the average station.
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and unlike commercial radio and what i say to most LPFMs "you cant be something to everyone.. find your niche and do it".. i have to carefully be a bit of something to everyone here
