AM Station Trivia Question

[SomeRadioGuy]

but that Russian coverage is not providing any financial benefit to them...........so far as I can tell from the posts and responses so far.

Your post talking about "5 hours of Russian programming into Siberia and apparently it does fairly well for them

I ask: In what way does it do "fairly well?..... the potential listeners aren't sending them money. - (or are they?)
Is that Russian language programming being specifically underwritten by a benefactor that if that coverage was not there would be missing?

I want to understand why having this coverage area is benefiting the station from a business standpoint.

KICY isnt a business so much as its outreach. Its more ministry based then profit based. And for them, fairly well would be listenership.. they obviously have listeners or it wouldnt have been going on for many years

 

[billmich]

"fairly well" does not equal "I think they are being supposed by church members for this purpose"

if it was a single sponsor entity, you would state this, it would be on the broadcast, it would be known.
to use" i think individual donors are supporting this" does not support your claim.

My apologies for asking follow up questions, I was genuinely interested on how having AM radio coverage over this relatively unpopulated area in a foreign country makes financial sense to this station.

EDIT: after going to the stations website, they mention it being part of their mission, so the correct answer to my inquiry is "it's part of their mission statement"...

This is an image showing the rough approximation of our signal into the Russian Far East. The Pastor in Provideniya receives many calls about the positive impact KICY is having on their lives. God’s Word prevails.

 

[Bongwater]

but that Russian coverage is not providing any financial benefit to them...........so far as I can tell from the posts and responses so far.

Your post talking about "5 hours of Russian programming into Siberia and apparently it does fairly well for them

I ask: In what way does it do "fairly well?..... the potential listeners aren't sending them money. - (or are they?)
Is that Russian language programming being specifically underwritten by a benefactor that if that coverage was not there would be missing?

I want to understand why having this coverage area is benefiting the station from a business standpoint.

That's not the (main) point of religious broadcasting. KICY is non-profit. It's thing is converting people's religion. Not making shareholders happy. Most religious broadcasting is non-commercial. Or not-for-profit.

First, Madison Ave. ad agencies: Yes, there are ways to insert energy drink promotions in Bible stories. All of them would suck. And all would be considered tasteless by Russian speaking people who can't buy the product on their side and couldn't afford it with rubles anyway.

Second, the Covenant church pays for KICY's operations. To them, KICY is a radio missionary to Russia. And missionaries aren't supposed to be rich.

 

[davideduardo]

but that Russian coverage is not providing any financial benefit to them...........so far as I can tell from the posts and responses so far.

Your post talking about "5 hours of Russian programming into Siberia and apparently it does fairly well for them

I ask: In what way does it do "fairly well?..... the potential listeners aren't sending them money. - (or are they?)
Is that Russian language programming being specifically underwritten by a benefactor that if that coverage was not there would be missing?

I want to understand why having this coverage area is benefiting the station from a business standpoint.

The station is not a "business" but a religious outreach facility. They do that Russian block as a way of reaching people in Siberia with their message.

 

[billmich]

The station is not a "business" but a religious outreach facility. They do that Russian block as a way of reaching people in Siberia with their message.

a very important distinction, thank you David.

I know you often espouse not paying attention to skywave coverage or out of market listeners because advertisers don't monetize that.
This is a different "model" for lack of a better term.

 

[davideduardo]

a very important distinction, thank you David.

I know you often espouse not paying attention to skywave coverage or out of market listeners because advertisers don't monetize that.
This is a different "model" for lack of a better term.

Obviously, we don't know if any of the folks who live in Siberia (called "natives" in one post) even listen. All the "rules" about AM being dead and nobody listening to it are likely invalid in that sparsely populated part of Russia.

"Siberia, a vast region of Russia, has a population of approximately 30 million people. This represents about one-fifth of Russia's total population. Most of the population is concentrated in the southwestern part of Siberia, with major cities like Novosibirsk, Omsk, and Krasnoyarsk located along the Trans-Siberian Railway. "

I suspect that listening may be more viable in the rural areas, but unless someone from that station gives us some data, we can just speculate.

 

[Mediafrog+]

Obviously, we don't know if any of the folks who live in Siberia (called "natives" in one post) even listen. All the "rules" about AM being dead and nobody listening to it are likely invalid in that sparsely populated part of Russia.

Russia shut down most of its AM stations in 2014. There are a very few that still survive such as Radio Vostok Rossii based in Khabarovsk that serves the Russian Far East using a dozen transmitters, all on 765 kHz. That area is too far away for KICY, which would be targeting the extreme eastern region of Siberia.

Elsewhere in Russia AM is essentially gone, so KICY might be the only option for those in that part of Siberia, unless they are able to capture more distant AM signals from Alaska, Japan, Korea, or China.

However it seems there are plenty of FMs everywhere in Russia. I was initially surprised at the 2014 shutdown of domestic longwave, mediumwave and shortwave, as there are vast areas of the country that you would think need fill-in coverage. But it appears that audience is served by FM in any populated place.

Website for Radio Vostok Rossii, which you can run through a translator: Радио Восток России