High school station

[b-turner]

My negativity toward an FCC licensed station is the FCC Rules and responsibilities. It just costs a good deal of cash to run an operation legally. Given youth will likely be the driving force, they might cause the station to get a fine or two. Check what happened with some college stations such as failing to post their quarterly public affairs programming reports by the 10th of the month following the quarter or failing to maintain that file at all. Some kid playing an uncensored tune with plenty of 4 letter words on his last shift might seem funny to that student but that person that complained to the FCC might generate a fine or at a minimum there might be a couple of people at the next school board meeting blasting the members for this happening.

If you go online only, you miss out on all those regulations and just have to deal with the music played and paying all the rights to do so.

 

[radiofan2023]

Couldn't have said it any better myself

The only thing I forgot to add is, "Do a format that high schoolers will actually be interested in listening to and being a part of in 2024, not what you would have been interested in and were listening to when you were in high school however long ago. The station is not "your baby" ".

 

[bossbill]

I don't agree. An AM station would be available for listening with everyone in the community, not just for those who tune in on their computers, phones or tablets. Plus, students learn valuable engineering skills…skills that go beyond just being a board op and spinning music. I think there would be plenty of people in the community who would love to tune in to a football game or other sports activity from the local H.S. on their AM radios. The station might also attract volunteers who would want to help with programming or technical skills.

Unfortunately, pipe dreams. The best thing one can do with an AM station is to turn it off and make room for affordable housing. FM radio offers numerous advantages and none of the disadvantages. Anything AM can do, FM can do better.

 

[ZebraRadio]

Unfortunately, pipe dreams. The best thing one can do with an AM station is to turn it off and make room for affordable housing. FM radio offers numerous advantages and none of the disadvantages. Anything AM can do, FM can do better.

I've read of several AM stations that have lowered their power and installed a rooftop antenna such as the HPR.0990 and have been able to stay on the air under an STA. No land needed. They're still able to basically cover their COL. At 250 watts or so the cost to run such a station is minimal. Generally, AM offers better propagation characteristics over FM which, as we know, is line-of-sight.

 

[bossbill]

I've read of several AM stations that have lowered their power and installed a rooftop antenna such as the HPR.0990 and have been able to stay on the air under an STA. No land needed. They're still able to basically cover their COL. At 250 watts or so the cost to run such a station is minimal. Generally, AM offers better propagation characteristics over FM which, as we know, is line-of-sight.

Propagation, really? FM is generally consistent day and night. AM signals suffer from interference from far away signals at night, and nighttime protections are significant. At KOL Seattle, we had to protect Mason City, Iowa at night, which totally destroyed our signal east of Seattle. FM doesn't care. Growing up in Raymond, Washington, I listened to signals at night from KGEM Boise, Idaho, Canadian stations from BC, CKWX, CKLG etc, but couldn't hear my close-by stations 25 miles away. As far as "cost is minimal", an STA is just that "Special TEMPORARY Authority".

AM transmitters are inherently less efficient than FM transmitters, AM stations require anywhere from 2 acres to 90 acres in some cases, on land that is more valuable for affordable housing or industrial or retail uses. And at 250 watts on an STA you're not going to cover your market. Plus, FM requires only a fraction of the real estate.

I grew up on AM radio, and have been in the biz since 1962, worked at several AM stations, launched, bought, and sold several FM stations, observed numerous AM stations signing off, selling to religious organizations, etc, very little music programming on AM (for good reason). There are numerous reasons why AMs are dropping like flies.

Back to a previous comment "An AM station would be available for listening with everyone in the community, not just for those who tune in on their computers, phones or tablets". I'm not understanding the comment, since an FM station is also "available for listening with everyone in the community".

To paraphrase what a friend told me a while back "History is an okay place to visit, but not a great place to live". Same goes for vinyl, cassettes, 8-track, etc.

 

[KeithE4]

I've read of several AM stations that have lowered their power and installed a rooftop antenna such as the HPR.0990 and have been able to stay on the air under an STA...

I read the data sheet for that antenna. It can't pass an Ancient Modulation-quality audio signal below 1100 kHz without significant loss. At the low end of the dial, it'd be good for teletype and not much else. Not that it's overly efficient at the high end, but at least it can pass +/- 5 kHz there.

 

[xkxrx]

Vocational training stopped being a priority in most K-12 schools many years ago. So I think you would find it quite difficult to convince a K-12 school to add a new vocational program, especially one that prepares students to work in an industry with only a handful of local jobs.

Actually vocational training has been making a comeback the last few years, but I doubt any high school district would start a "broadcasting" program due to lack of interest.

"In 2024, career and technical education (CTE) is evolving and expanding, becoming a fundamental part of the K-12 educational experience, and reaching more students than ever before. CTE has shifted from merely being an alternative to college to becoming a viable career pathway for many students."

5 Ways CTE is Evolving in 2024: Navigating the Future of CTE

In 2024, career and technical education (CTE) is evolving and expanding, becoming a fundamental part of the K-12 educational experience.

intelitek.com

 

[bossbill]

I read the data sheet for that antenna. It can't pass an Ancient Modulation-quality audio signal below 1100 kHz without significant loss. At the low end of the dial, it'd be good for teletype and not much else. Not that it's overly efficient at the high end, but at least it can pass +/- 5 kHz there.

I read the data sheet for that antenna. It can't pass an Ancient Modulation-quality audio signal below 1100 kHz without significant loss. At the low end of the dial, it'd be good for teletype and not much else. Not that it's overly efficient at the high end, but at least it can pass +/- 5 kHz there.

 

[bossbill]

Correct. There is, however, the HEBA 103 AM antenna, which does work. But it's a quarter of a million dollars. Of course when you sell your home and buy the antenna you still have an AM station with all its limitations, but with a smaller footprint.

 

[nd2023]

The only thing I forgot to add is, "Do a format that high schoolers will actually be interested in listening to and being a part of in 2024, not what you would have been interested in and were listening to when you were in high school however long ago. The station is not "your baby" ".

88.5 KEOM in the Dallas market has a 70s-90s classic hits format. Playing the music that their grandparents listened to

 

[ZebraRadio]

I have to laugh. I don't mind my idea of giving AM stations to schools being trashed. I'm a big boy and can take my lick-in's. But it occurs to me that this whole notion of saving AM or keeping AM in cars being pushed mostly by the NAB is a total fraud. Nobody wants to save AM. Not the public, not broadcasters. Most of Europe has abandoned AM. Any attempts by the FCC to save the senior band such as giving FM translators to AM stations have been a joke. I used to be against expanding the FM band by taking channels away from television. But heck, hardly anyone watches FOTA TV anymore beyond local news. So why not give Ch. 5 & 6 to FM? Let the Commission recycle AM as an emergency use band or something else.

 

[radiofan2023]

I have to laugh. I don't mind my idea of giving AM stations to schools being trashed. I'm a big boy and can take my lick-in's. But it occurs to me that this whole notion of saving AM or keeping AM in cars being pushed mostly by the NAB is a total fraud. Nobody wants to save AM. Not the public, not broadcasters. Most of Europe has abandoned AM. Any attempts by the FCC to save the senior band such as giving FM translators to AM stations have been a joke. I used to be against expanding the FM band by taking channels away from television. But heck, hardly anyone watches FOTA TV anymore beyond local news. So why not give Ch. 5 & 6 to FM? Let the Commission recycle AM as an emergency use band or something else.

I agree with everything, except expanding the FM band isn’t ever going to be a popular idea, unless the FCC also lets the expanded lower frequencies be used for more than LPFMs if channels 5 & 6 (and 7 for the frequencies above 108) end up being silent.

 

[The New Chico]

Unfortunately, pipe dreams. The best thing one can do with an AM station is to turn it off and make room for affordable housing. FM radio offers numerous advantages and none of the disadvantages. Anything AM can do, FM can do better.

Not cook hot dogs, Bill!

Cooking a hot dog with RF

 

[bossbill]

Not cook hot dogs, Bill!

Cooking a hot dog with RF

Ya got me on that one... love it!

 

[ZebraRadio]

I agree with everything, except expanding the FM band isn’t ever going to be a popular idea, unless the FCC also lets the expanded lower frequencies be used for more than LPFMs if channels 5 & 6 (and 7 for the frequencies above 108) end up being silent.

Channel 7 doesn't make sense. That's 174-180 MHz. At least channels 2-4 would offer a contiguous band of 54-72. None of those channels are considered particularly good for DTV. So we would end up with an expanded FM band of 54-88.

 

[Michi]

Channel 7 doesn't make sense. That's 174-180 MHz. At least channels 2-4 would offer a contiguous band of 54-72. None of those channels are considered particularly good for DTV. So we would end up with an expanded FM band of 54-88.

Actually, it would have to be 54~72 and then 76~88 MHz. 72~76 is internationally allocated for nonbroadcast, specifically the area around 75 MHz which is the marker beacon frequency.

If the FCC wanted to deploy off-channel DAB, they could reallocate upper VHF channels 12 (204~210) and 13 (210~216) for such a service. Those channels are more used than the 2~6 channels. Really, reallocating 5 and 6 would still make the most sense.

 

[Greg Goodfellow]

And keep in mind that schools get no credit with the state board of education for offering a broad slate of electives. A broadcasting elective won't improve students' SAT/ACT scores or truancy rates or proficiency in math or grammar.

Vocational training stopped being a priority in most K-12 schools many years ago. So I think you would find it quite difficult to convince a K-12 school to add a new vocational program, especially one that prepares students to work in an industry with only a handful of local jobs.

When I started WRSG Radio, one of my many objectives was to reach out to students that “fell through the cracks,” finding difficulty to stand out in any area. My last year there, one of my classes was made up of students with IEP’s (individualized educational plans), a fact of which I was very proud. I taught those kids, some as young as 11, how to voicetracking one-hour shows they created. Not bragging-just stating fact. The kids were the stars!

 

[salemjedi54]

88.5 KEOM in the Dallas market has a 70s-90s classic hits format. Playing the music that their grandparents listened to

KEOM is not a bad station. Plus, it puts out a good signal over D/FW.

 

[Chad-Stevens]

I will note that the LPFM class of station brought three ostensibly "high school" radio stations to Alabama, which had previously never had an FCC-licensed HS station.
Of these, WVBC-LP and WTUS are nothing but 24/7 jukeboxes with no live or voicetracked announcements and certainly no student involvement. WTUS-LP has no on-line presence, not even a free Facebook page, and WVBC-LP isn't much better: their site hasn't been updated since 2022 and their original .com domain got cybersquatted to some sort of gambling site when they let the domain registration lapse.
That leaves - or should I say "left" - WSMX-LP which never had any on-line presence and turned in their license after only a few years.

I'm sure there are some high school stations out there that still have student involvement - likely with very strict adult supervision - but this still seems like an idea that died the very instant the first MP3 got downloaded.