Anyone else doing live programming on Part 15?

[radioboy]

How many of you are doing some local live shows on your stations?

I used to do mornings on my former 1160 station from sign-on until 10 a.m. I didn't ever think too much about it until a friend of mine, who works in radio in Muchigan now, called the other day.

During the conversation, he said, "A day or two before I moved away, I happened to have the radio on
in my truck and it stopped on 1160 since I was pretty close by. And what do I hear? A weather report,
in a weather jingle bed, even, then time checks and a traffic accident mention..then back into an older
country song. It sounded quite professional..especially since the other AM stations were on the satellite feed,
or playing preachers. 1160 sounded like a REAL station."

Hey, I was never sure that ANYONE was listening!

I'm now also doing some live shows on Musicbox 1610, although I can't do mornings now due to other obligations. I'm live from 1 to 3 pm almost every weekday and sometimes during the weekends. I was
live this morning from about 7 am til noon with classic CCM. (I use Zara when I'm not live.)

I built my station for the enjoyment of radio, more than anything else. Running a show this morning off of record albums, cassettes and CDs may have been more physical labor..but it was fun. It reminded me of
what radio was like when I got into it back in 1979. I loved every minute of it.

So anyone else having some fun with your stations?

 

[WCWalker]

Alan:

When my station returns to the air it will contain live and local programming. I plan to do a live show five days a week and then some of the other on air personnel will likely be live as well.

The only way to have a chance at making any money with a Part 15 AM is to provide some real live and/or local programming to serve the community. Playing music through an automation system won't be enough to attract advertisers. Adding public service announcements, public affairs programs, local news, weather and sports and talks shows will give any Part 15 station with a reasonable signal, an opportunity to gain sufficient listeners that will in turn, attract area businesses looking to advertise on the radio.

You may recall a few years ago that I launched my station in Medina, NY. I offered a Full Service format like I outlined above and the station had a large number of listeners in the very short time it was on the air. If it were not for the very corrupt local government I would have kept it on the air and eventually obtained some advertisers. Thankfully, the new communities I am looking at are not nearly as corrupt as Medina and my station will be welcome in each.

 

[Tom Wells]

Until August of this year, I never had anything but live operation with tape or CD as my only prepackaged content.
I have never had a proper studio area, nor bothered much with providing for proper microphone inputs.
I am currently using the mic input as reverb spring input, and need to add the mic upstream somewhere else.

It is fun to listen to Zara play records for me, but it doesn't feel like radio in the same way as cueing records, carts, and
having a live newsguy around.

 

[XRQKFM]

Going live is a must!, if you want to set yourself apart from the other stations on the dial. We are near the area of southern California that is on fire right now, we have had power outages almost everyday this week for hours at a time. Not a problem for us as we kept on going with our back up power providing traffic and fire updates, now the EBS station for the area was dark because they have no power back up.
The last thing you want to do is sound like an Ipod with a transmitter, our News/talk station is live all day everyday, including weather & traffic updates.

Now hiring staff that shows up on time is another matter!


Steve
XRQK RADIO GROUP
www.xrqkfm.com

 

[Timewarp]

You can be live and local without using antique equipment. Isn't it great to be alive in 2007?
I don't miss cuing up old tapes and records one bit. Thomas Edison said, "Why should a human being
do what a machine can do?"

 

[radioboy]

Timewarp:

Only the Sunday morning show is done with the "old school" equipment,
and that's by choice. It would take months and months to convert all of that
programming to mp3..it's complete music libraries out of three OTA radio stations.

Everything else is loaded in Zara and runs off the computer, including the
weekday show. I'm still converting the variety format to mp3 but there's a couple of thousand
songs in Zara..I just add another 40 songs or so a week.

 

[rickradio]

I don't miss cuing up old tapes and records one bit. Thomas Edison said, "Why should a human being do what a machine can do?"

Isn't it ironic?

Our friend "Timewarp" (who says it's great to be alive in 2007!) decries using the phonograph, and then quotes its inventor! ;D

Thanks for the chuckle, Timewarp!

 

[WCWalker]

Alan:

Here are a few ideas that you may be able to imlement with your own station. I used these for the station in Medina.

The Director of the Chamber of Commerce did a weekly 15 minute program covering Chamber news, sponsored events and attractions.

The President of the area Health Care Assocation did a weekly 30 minute show on health care issues. She interviewed the President of the Hospital and a Chiropractor among others.

A retiree from the VA in Batavia was the News Director. He created two news reports, six days a week. Sunday's he was off because we did not have that much news going on in town.

The owner of a computer shop did a weekly feature on computer maintenance.

A couple of days a week I would talk to a woman at the local Animal Shelter and have her talk about some of the pets they had up for adoption.

 

[CaptainFirstReturns]

I've been off-air for over three months while settling into my new hometown of San Francisco, but
once I return to the air next month I plan on doing lots of live shows- it's what makes the whole thing fun.

 

[cee]

the station in Medina

William,

A couple questions....

I'm live in upstate NY and am somewhat familiar with Medina(have driven through it on trips on Rt. 31...for those of you not familiar with the region, it's along the Erie Canal, somewhere between Buffalo-Niagara Falls and Rochester)...

How did you choose Medina as the location of your community station? Are you from the Western New York area or have family there?

I remember you postings on radio-info when you were there. It didn't sound like you got a Mayberry style welcome from many of the locals. I don't doubt your accusations of a corrupt local government. What was it about your station they took issue with?

 

[WCWalker]

Cee

Cee:

I chose Medina by accident. Back in 1998 I was working for a company in Kansas City and was planning to take a job with a new branch of the company in Rochester. At that time I pulled out a map and started to look for communities near Rochester that didn't have any local radio. Albion and Geneseo were the two that stood out first but I nixed Geneseo when I learned it was a small college town. Not the market I was looking for at that time. Albion seemed closer demographically to the kind of community that would support my station. Well, I never moved to Albion because the transfer from KC fell through. I wound up moving back to my home state of Connecticut for a while to get back to researching communities for radio potential.

After a couple of failed attempts in rural western Kansas (technical issues with equipment the primary culprit) in 2002 I was ready to find something closer to CT that was big enough to support the station. Medina stood out because it was the same size as Albion and the proximity to Lockport and parts of the Buffalo metro area made it attractive for job opportunities. Plus, at some point I could have expanded into Albion with a translator.

The corruption at the city and county level there is appalling. About the time I moved there in early 2003,
three police officers out of their ten man force in Medina were under indictment for drug dealing and usage. My News Director, a retiree, actually was the victim of two cops that were burglarizing homes while people were on vacation. One of the Mother's of one of those cop's drove the getaway car in each of the burglaries! Eventually they were caught and prosecuted.

In my case, a rogue Village Attorney took it upon himself to make up some regulations that conflicted with state and Federal laws in an effort to "control" my Part 15 AM station. The guy in Zoning didn't seem to care either way even though my initial meetings with him resulted in a "thumbs up" to locate in that particular location. So, even though I was operating in accordance with local regulations, the Village Attorney, a doddering old fool, decided to try to neuter my station. In addition, someone apparently from the local area, called the State Police in Buffalo and alleged that my station was interfering with the TIS at BUF, that my signal was listenable on the NY Thruway some 15 miles south of Medina and that I had been in trouble with the FCC before. Each accusation was a lie. I told the Sgt. in Buffalo to stay out of this matter because it was a Federal issue and primarily one for the FCC but he would not leave well enough alone. He said he was going to call the FCC to report it and I said go right ahead. Three days later the Sgt. called me back to tell me he was closing his investigation because the FCC said they were not going to do ANYTHING about the complaint! More or less the FCC politely told him to stick it where the sun don't shine. The FCC knows who I am and they know that I use a FCC Type Accepted Hamilton Rangemaster.

Those were the primary reasons why I pulled the station off the air. There were a couple of additional issues that added fuel to the fire but these two issues were very clear indicators that the negative forces in town were not going to stop until they could put the station off the air.

It was not all bad news though. The local business association invited me to be their guest speaker at the Apple Valley Inn and I took that as a real honor. I addition, I had a lot of listeners and local involvement from local people with the station. And I met a number of really good, decent people too. Something that I cannot say about the Kansas City region!

It's a shame Orleans County is so corrupt. I was content living there and really wanted to develop this idea to ultimately serve Medina and Albion. But after talking to enough local people about what I was facing, it seemed wise to pull the plug.

I am from the Hartford area and I would like to live closer to my home state. CT housing is just too expensive now and taxes are outrageous. CNY and WNY are better in this respect. I will be in Kansas City for about one year to a year and half until I can find the best community to do this. I already have a very promising location in a city of about 20,000 (west of Albany and east of the PA border ) that happens to be a college town. I've had people recommend a college town because it is likely to be more open to new concepts such as this and it will be a better place to meet intelligent people and single women. This community is welcoming me and even the Mayor's office would like me to locate there. The current administration is trying to clean up the corruption of the previous administration, and by no accident, that previous administration acted as if they did not want me there. They did their very best to discourage me from moving there. I've learned that communities that run a fairly clean ship and are not too corrupt are the places that want my station. Now I steer away from considering any places that are too corrupt.

If all goes according to plan I will be buying a house in this prospective new community between this up coming Spring and before next Fall. Then I hope to relocate when it is fixed up and ready for occupancy and then I will launch the station soon after. The place is large enough to support a commercial Part 15 AM station, has expansion possibilities in at least one nearby community and currently their local AM and FM outlets are nothing more than translators for stations in the metro area where it resides. No local programming exists right now but my station will take care of that.

That is all that I can say right now. I don't want to divulge too much information because someone might try to "steal" the new location right out from under my feet.

 

[cee]

Wow, you wouldn't think a small town like Medina would be so corrupt. And I can't understand why any town would be against having their own community radio station. There's so many things you do - local news, sports, community event remotes, interviews with local leaders..and on and on. All I really know about Orleans County is that it's a dirt poor agricultural area in a state who's economy has seen better days. When our new Governor, Elliot Spitzer, was running for election last year, he got some flack for calling upstate NY the "new appalachia." He was right. So much for being the "empire state"(some empire).

Willliam, best of luck with your next move. I'm sure you'll be successful.

 

[WCWalker]

Cee. Believe it or not, over the years, my experiences in Kansas City have been even worse than Medina. The primative behavior of the people in Medina and KC is borne out of ignorance by paranoid, shallow people. Rumors are started and they try to run you out of town. I'd liken it to the same kind of mentality that was displayed by certain people upon hearing Orson Well's War of the Worlds broadcast about this time of year in 1938, that believed we were being invaded by Mars. Pathetic...

Some of the trouble can be attributed to the fact that corrupt and despotic regimes hate a free press. If they can't control it they want it eliminated. Part 15 radio, being unlicensed and under the control of the Federal Government is just that, free press. I strongly suspect the local government in Medina was worried that I would try to dig up dirt on their evil behavior and then report it to the listeners. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. I don't particularly enjoy much gossip and I value my own personal space and privacy and try to respect that of others. Unfortunately, with the media getting into the face of everyone these days and turning privacy into a thing of the past, it is easy to see why some people would fear a radio station.

I am looking forward to moving to the new community. From the Mayor's office on down to the former owner of the local AM and FM, my station and I have been given a much kinder reception there than many places I've visited. Of course this move is contingent upon being able to find the right house that will be suitable to reside in and locate a transmitter. I can worry about the office location at a later time. Any part 15 AM operator can tell you that it is a huge challenge given the technical limitations of 100 milliwatts of pure RF, to be able to overcome the problems associated with a poor location. Power lines, tall buildings, bad grounding etc. all play a pivotal role in destroying an AM signal. If I can buy a home that won't present these problems for the station then everything will be a go by March 2009.

 

[rickityone]

We do lot's of live shows.

GulchRadio AM1670 / gulchradio.com - Jerome, AZ (pop 450 residents and 3,000 tourists per day) is live from 5 AM MST to 8 AM MST Mon- Fri with the the Ric-N-Roll Show, a variety of musical genres, local bits and weather, on the air for more than 4 years and live Mon - Thursday 5 to 6 PM MST with Chaz Live at Five (Chaz is GulchRadio's musical boss), Friday's 5 to 8 PM MST (ChazFri Live at 5) - GulchRadio's new music and dj special picks, every other Saturday live 6 to 8 PM MST (Carsos Live - a unique offering - romantic says one listener) and the Geezer Rock show, Sunday afternoons 4 to 6 PM MST - a mid fifties to mid sixties rock and roll show, requests taken.

In addition we feature Motown Tom's Motown Memories, pre-recorded Saturdays at 5AM and Sunday 6 to 8 PM MST and Undercurrents with Gregg McVicar, Mon- Fri 9 PM to 2 AM, prerecorded. Sunday nights 8 to 11 PM and midnight to 2 AM monday morn. Tonight we are broadcasting our first EarthSongs from 11 to midnight. These shows are music shows with a fcous on Native American music. Undercurrents, we also run on Sunday mornings. We have a native american community in our 1670 daytime signal range and we hope to build some audience there. We've considered addign a secnd transmitter to give nightime coverage o the reservation and it's nighboring community, Clarkdale, Az.

Occasionally, either myself, Ric, or my partner in GulchRadio, Chaz, will take over the board and go live, for instance when last years Sedona fires were causing lot's of local problems we were live covering the fire spread and traffic situation, or when some special mood strikes, like the day Ray Charles died we lowered the GulchRadio flag to half mast and did a live tribute to Ray and we've over the years done so for other artists as well - in other words, when the mood strikes, we'll go live.

Sometimes we build our playlists while being live on the air. You gotta be there anyway, why not crack the mic? Say hi to the folks, tell them what you are doing, people are interested.

We also have an occasional DJ known as "The Occasional Thomas B" who drops by and does live shows.

Listeners like it - our internet listenership usually picks up 30% to 50% when shows are live, we announce the time, no "quarter till the hour" (I hate that) - instead we might call the time "6:05 Mountain Stranded, 7:05 Mountain Daylight" and depending on who's listening on the net we might give the time in various listener time zones, "7:05 Central Daylight" - we also add weather notes for online listeners, for instance during the San Diego fires we covered the San Diego weather and fire conditions - we often do a pick a listeners community and toss their weather in as well - listeners do like it and they comment and it's fun for us, after all what is there to talk about on the air other than TWT - tune titles, weather and time - makes djing much more fun than reading liner notes.

We've had a a number of other live shows over the years. They pull in listeners who hopefully will stay around for longer than just that one show. You have to be careful with live shows, they may pull listeners in, yet drive others out who won't tune back in. that's easy to watch on the internet side, when you see when a live show ends and all the listeners drop off - not a good thing.

Anyway - we make no pretense about trying to sound like big city radio, we cultivate a rural home town feel, because we are a rural home town, we announce local events, bad weather traffic, deaths, including the some special tunes for the death of a station neighboring horse that was loved by town folk and so on. We've provided music for weddings, parties and funerals.

Hey it's fun! It's also a LOT of work - quit feeding the baby and it screams.

We are on the net - gulchradio.com

Drop by sometime - is it a speeding streamliner or a trainwreck? - maybe you'll like it, maybe you'll loathe it - but, hey, it's free and no ads.

Rickity