The "church" station is Catholic (as I'm an ordained deacon). It started for only $2000 and a donated computer. The 4 cd changers and control program were mine. "Holy Name of Jesus radio." It has about a 2 mile radius and is rebroadcast at a church belltower 2 miles away for about another mile radius.
The Catholic station takes the most work, but it's very classy. The Pastor thinks I'm a genius. It features hourly news from USA, delivered by a satellite reciever since about 3 months ago. Prior to that was an internet connection. Not only do they have hourly newscasts, but good long form stuff to play with, sportscasts and headlines too.
That station broadcasts 12 hours in English and 12 in Spanish daily. It has several SPANISH businesses that BUY advertising. We broadcast Mass, Rosary, and LOTS of promos about church events, promos for our great bi-lingual school, and plenty of Catholic evangelism, Saint of the Day, Bishop Sheen, Fr. Mitch Pacwa (a grade school friend) Fr. Groschel, Cathoic dramas, all kinds of Catholic music and Catholic devotions. We do NOT use more than a few hours daily from EWTN (they send us cd's) because we find most of EWTN to be a bit "extreme."
We have a 400 cd library of Catholic music that continues to grow. EVERY CD was sent from a Catholic artist. THEY want exposure, and have signed a letter from me that they do NOT want compensation for airplay.
We have international NEWS, (very classy) the Popes messages, and other programming (including GREAT MUSIC both religious and secular) from Vatican Radio that adds up to about 4 hours daily. THAT is delivered on the internet. The Sister that runs Vatican radio in Rome allows us to download any English and Spanish program or play live shows. She's a doll.
All 3 programs (4 stations) have "time tones" on the hour. The beautiful music station has a weather radio so the old foks get weather warrnings.
There is also a "push to talk" microphone on the landlords desk - so she can use it as a "pa system" to the whole complex. This station is on in nearly EVERY of the 100 apartments. Age 65+ People LOVE Mantovani, Andre Kostelanetz, Ray Conniff, etc. There is a Sinatra song every 2 hours and the instrumentals are NOT random. Never 2 piano songs or violin songs in a row. The same artist and/or song title is NEVER less than 2 hours apart. The vocals are Peggy Lee, Perry Como, Jo Stafford, Jack Jones, Kay Starr, Vic Damone, Nat King Cole, etc. There is a liner between each SET (2 instru/1 vocal) liner, a psa or promo, then the next set.
Everything but the net and some promos and I'ds is on CD. Some stuff is in the computer. We run this with WinTrax and have been very happy. 18 times out of 20 we hit the net dead on. The Sony cd changers are very reliable, even after 2 years of continous 24/7 use.
We basically follow the "FM100 Plan" format; 2 instrumentals, and a vocal, a break and 2 instru and a vocal.
Nearly every hour closes with one of my 300 Ray Conniff tunes, then a psa or promo, legal id and it can wait up to 15 seconds before the recorded announcer (me) says "it's 8 o'clocck and the tone followed by 5 seconds of silence and the first song. 4 times an hour the "beaut A" category plays. These are the BEST instrumentals.
SILENCE between songs was common on these kind of stations. It sets the "easy" mood. Alan, your "tribute" wjjd station is much like MY tribute FM100 station, but a beautiful music format.
The oldies station is OTS automation and a computer. It has run basically uninterrupted since 2004. Old "Pepper-Tanner jingles say "oldies radio" and "where all the good songs have gone" and other voiced liners after every 3rd song. It has a mile radius, and an orban audio processor.
