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FCC grants Construction Permit to Kids First. WITT 91.9 Zionsville !!!
- Thread starter perenoel6218
- Start date
Replying to "radioho":
Not quite sure what a RIGHT wing newscast is. Commentaries and editorials can
be RIGHT wing or even LEFT wing...in other words Conservative or Liberal....those
in power and those of the loyal opposition. A newscast would hope to deliver a story
with as many known facts as are available and feature the main points if time is
allowing. This board and threads have tempted to label newscasts from the Netherlands
as very liberal. Is this because that country has social programs and laws that differ
with those here in the U.S.? Is the BBC an ultra-liberal voice simply because
Britain supports a national health care system? Does Ireland or the Vatican look upon
the U.S. as ultra-liberal because of our liberal abortion stance? Thus network newscasts
here in the states.....CBS, ABC, FOX, etc.....are all ultra-liberal. Or as someone pointed
out "far left of even Sen. Edward Kennedy". Is it fair to judge a network's
doctrine of fairness by applying that network's homeland's laws and customs?
Many of the program ideas for WITT are still being discussed. There are general
themes, yet each of these will need a bevy of loyal volunteers to bring about successfully.
Can those individuals be found in the Indy area? The input on this forum is healthy
and fruitful, just as long as personal political views and opinions do not cover over a
basic structure of intelligence and well-meaning.
Perhaps others on this forum have good positive ideas for WITT. Share them.
Share the network newscasts you prefer....remember, they need to be noncom.
Share ideas of programming. Nothing is written in stone yet. Public radio needs
to be an open forum for expression, not only in the areas of politics, but also in
the artistic concepts and oral expressions. Truth and beauty lie not only in obvious
settings, sometimes they are hidden behind hard boulders formed by millenia
of cultural beliefs and lifestyles. Occassionally there are other ways of
expression to obtain a given. Just ask John Adams, Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson,
and those liberal-thinking patriots who never gave up the concept of independence
and liberty for all.
Not quite sure what a RIGHT wing newscast is. Commentaries and editorials can
be RIGHT wing or even LEFT wing...in other words Conservative or Liberal....those
in power and those of the loyal opposition. A newscast would hope to deliver a story
with as many known facts as are available and feature the main points if time is
allowing. This board and threads have tempted to label newscasts from the Netherlands
as very liberal. Is this because that country has social programs and laws that differ
with those here in the U.S.? Is the BBC an ultra-liberal voice simply because
Britain supports a national health care system? Does Ireland or the Vatican look upon
the U.S. as ultra-liberal because of our liberal abortion stance? Thus network newscasts
here in the states.....CBS, ABC, FOX, etc.....are all ultra-liberal. Or as someone pointed
out "far left of even Sen. Edward Kennedy". Is it fair to judge a network's
doctrine of fairness by applying that network's homeland's laws and customs?
Many of the program ideas for WITT are still being discussed. There are general
themes, yet each of these will need a bevy of loyal volunteers to bring about successfully.
Can those individuals be found in the Indy area? The input on this forum is healthy
and fruitful, just as long as personal political views and opinions do not cover over a
basic structure of intelligence and well-meaning.
Perhaps others on this forum have good positive ideas for WITT. Share them.
Share the network newscasts you prefer....remember, they need to be noncom.
Share ideas of programming. Nothing is written in stone yet. Public radio needs
to be an open forum for expression, not only in the areas of politics, but also in
the artistic concepts and oral expressions. Truth and beauty lie not only in obvious
settings, sometimes they are hidden behind hard boulders formed by millenia
of cultural beliefs and lifestyles. Occassionally there are other ways of
expression to obtain a given. Just ask John Adams, Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson,
and those liberal-thinking patriots who never gave up the concept of independence
and liberty for all.
CityRadio91.9 said:
Are the two paragraphs a paradox or something else? If the input is something you don't agree with, is it simply a personal political view or worse yet, an opinion? While if it's something you do agree with, it's an idea? If this station is truly going to be something primarily directed at children then all aspects of the station's programming are of public concern. From a practical standpoint I think those kids are going to keep listening to Radio Disney anyway.
gr8oldies said:
XM sales soaring? Don't think so. It's as simple as popping in a CD or simply dubbing one's favorite songs to an mp3 or other similar device. Look for HD radio to go the way of AM stereo. HD's not going to be radio's savior.
People driving down the road will always want their regular free radio for the spontaneity of the music. A CD gets just as boring as a radio station playing the SAME playlist every 12 hours.
HD will go the way of LASER DISCS, maybe it sounds great, but why spend the money on the technology when there is so much free access to radio, downloading, etc.?
HD will go the way of LASER DISCS, maybe it sounds great, but why spend the money on the technology when there is so much free access to radio, downloading, etc.?
As one of the City Radio folk it's time for me to chime in.
As Jim said, we don't know for sure what the programming will be yet. We've got a lot of stuff to do first--fundraising, building a studio, getting equipment, etc. We may be a year or more away from air.
But wow. You guys sure do jump on the mere scent of liberalism. Perhaps you already know this, but let me bore you for a minute anyway. A recent content analysis of talk radio found that 91.4% of all talk radio in the US is CONSERVATIVE. So perhaps there's room for um, another point of view? Or perhaps you'd like to keep things exactly this way?
In Indianapolis, we have not one, not two, but THREE right wing talk stations and no liberal talk station or even a single liberal talk show, and there wasn't even a brief token appearance by an Air America/Clear Channel weaksister AM station like there was in some other midwestern cities. You can say that NPR is liberal (sorta) but it's been hijacked by Bushies who have made sure they present both sides of every story: the facts, and then some made up stuff. The university non-com doesn't really air much in the way of news programming, it's mostly classical music and a bit of afternoon jazz programmed by a college class. So it's not a factor.
Also it's interesting to see you jump on the Kids First thing. You know, that organization was formed more than 15 years ago by two guys who were volunteering their time to create and air original kids programming on the one or two little stations that would allow them to do it. That we used that 501C3 organization to get the license was a matter of convenience as there was already a not-for-profit set up. We will be programming some "all-family" and kids/teens oriented stuff. We don't exactly know what yet. But lighten up, gentlemen. You try busting your asses for 15 years for a single little non-com license to come your way. It's amazing the group is still together, but here we are, a little older and hopefully a little wiser. And all along, we've just wanted to do some community-oriented broadcasting like the airwaves were supposedly meant to be used for.
You guys can keep on listening to hacks like O'Reilly, Hannity and Limbaugh as long as you're not bothered by their curious approach to truth. As Stephen Colbert likes to say, "The facts have a well-known liberal bias."
We'll be looking for and reporting facts, from wherever they may be found.
Cheers.
Indiana Media Guy
As Jim said, we don't know for sure what the programming will be yet. We've got a lot of stuff to do first--fundraising, building a studio, getting equipment, etc. We may be a year or more away from air.
But wow. You guys sure do jump on the mere scent of liberalism. Perhaps you already know this, but let me bore you for a minute anyway. A recent content analysis of talk radio found that 91.4% of all talk radio in the US is CONSERVATIVE. So perhaps there's room for um, another point of view? Or perhaps you'd like to keep things exactly this way?
In Indianapolis, we have not one, not two, but THREE right wing talk stations and no liberal talk station or even a single liberal talk show, and there wasn't even a brief token appearance by an Air America/Clear Channel weaksister AM station like there was in some other midwestern cities. You can say that NPR is liberal (sorta) but it's been hijacked by Bushies who have made sure they present both sides of every story: the facts, and then some made up stuff. The university non-com doesn't really air much in the way of news programming, it's mostly classical music and a bit of afternoon jazz programmed by a college class. So it's not a factor.
Also it's interesting to see you jump on the Kids First thing. You know, that organization was formed more than 15 years ago by two guys who were volunteering their time to create and air original kids programming on the one or two little stations that would allow them to do it. That we used that 501C3 organization to get the license was a matter of convenience as there was already a not-for-profit set up. We will be programming some "all-family" and kids/teens oriented stuff. We don't exactly know what yet. But lighten up, gentlemen. You try busting your asses for 15 years for a single little non-com license to come your way. It's amazing the group is still together, but here we are, a little older and hopefully a little wiser. And all along, we've just wanted to do some community-oriented broadcasting like the airwaves were supposedly meant to be used for.
You guys can keep on listening to hacks like O'Reilly, Hannity and Limbaugh as long as you're not bothered by their curious approach to truth. As Stephen Colbert likes to say, "The facts have a well-known liberal bias."
We'll be looking for and reporting facts, from wherever they may be found.
Cheers.
Indiana Media Guy
Thanks for decloaking and confirming all their fears. 
"WITT Leftist Radio ... we hate Bush, and so should your kids"? :
Congrats on the license - if your format doesn't work out for you I'm sure something more popular can be put on your station.
"WITT Leftist Radio ... we hate Bush, and so should your kids"? :
Congrats on the license - if your format doesn't work out for you I'm sure something more popular can be put on your station.
Indianamediaguy said:
Typical of the FCC giving these license out to libs. Don't think there needs to be any more speculation on that fact.
First, Liberal radio DOES NOT attract listeners. It's not even because there aren't enough people who are liberal - it's because MOST lib talk hosts have no point of view other than BUSH IS BAD! You can't sustain a talk show every day with that mantra, even to your hardcore lib-base.
ANY person that pays attention to the radio biz knows that Air America is forced to PURCHASE time on stations because with NO listeners, stations cannot sell advertising. And yes, many stations DID try Air America and other lib shows for FREE, but again, with no reportable listeners, they were losing their butts, and could not continue the spewing of hatetalk (hate Bush, hate the war, hate the christians, hate capitalism, etc.)
The only place to hear the libs is on stations like the KIDS FIRST/LAST - that will be nothing more than a liberal outlet for the Wine and Cheese Zionsville crowd.
If you are a serious radio person, you would know that LISTENERS support radio. Whether it's a commercial or non-com - you either have to have ads, or donations. Put your lib news on, and you'll lose it. But since it sounds like it's being run as a HOBBY anyway - suppose it doesn't matter.
I realize your response will be "see another HATE filled conservative." But from a pure radio point of view - there is a reason there are no liberal talk stations in Indy (or elsewhere that are successful in any way other than tax write-off.)
At least you laid your cards on the table and admitted the left-leaning political beliefs of the ownership of this new station.
To be fair the FCC followed the points system and doesn't care about liberal vs conservative ... at least "Kids First" came to the table with honest local ownership. WITT's coverage isn't really good ... more Lebanon than Zionsville (unless they manage to move the CP - which I would consider fraud on the points system since they got points based on new coverage).
Here's the coverage ---
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=FM1153608.html
Here's the coverage ---
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=FM1153608.html
Lurker...thanks for clarifying the point system being non-political. That said, it's commonly known that the Feds (FCC and Congress) have dragged their feet on anything that would add community radio stations because commercial radio (and NPR) doesn't want the competition. Our license competition took seven years but should have taken like seven months. Or seven weeks if the FCC was run like a business.
Radioho...thanks for sharing. Air America is indeed a f'd up organization, but that doesn't mean there isn't an audience for a non-neocon POV. Lots of stations with liberal talk have done well in the ratings, even though they have almost always had the lousiest AM in the market. For example, Franken was often beating Limbaugh in NYC until Air America had to move to a crappy frequency there.
There is liberal talent out there. Stephanie Miller is tremendously entertaining but she's on the Jones network. There are others as well, including Mike Malloy and Thom Hartman.
Also, you, like most, leave out the very important fact that Rush Limbaugh had several years to build his audience on otherwise sleepy/underutilized AM stations with absolutely no demands on him for ratings success. Having Clinton in the White House in the 90's did wonders for his ratings as he primarily stood for ANTI Clinton, ANTI women, ANTI environmentalist (hello global warming), ANTI liberal anything. So I really don't see much difference between the lib and con talkers, except that the cons had a long period of incubation warmly encouraged by the mostly right-wing corporate radio ownership. Plus my previously mentioned point about the con talkers' tendency to manufacture their own reality...
By the time liberals woke up and realized they need to get some airwaves, Clinton (the liberal) had allowed the radio mega mergers and the train had nearly left the station.
Conservatives, we may never make you happy as listeners, but that's not our concern. We'll do the best we can to put together a good radio station that presents programming not presently heard in the market. If we do our job, the listeners and the $ will follow.
Meanwhile, we're just enjoying the fact that after 15 years we got a license. Can you blame us?
Respectfully,
IMG
Radioho...thanks for sharing. Air America is indeed a f'd up organization, but that doesn't mean there isn't an audience for a non-neocon POV. Lots of stations with liberal talk have done well in the ratings, even though they have almost always had the lousiest AM in the market. For example, Franken was often beating Limbaugh in NYC until Air America had to move to a crappy frequency there.
There is liberal talent out there. Stephanie Miller is tremendously entertaining but she's on the Jones network. There are others as well, including Mike Malloy and Thom Hartman.
Also, you, like most, leave out the very important fact that Rush Limbaugh had several years to build his audience on otherwise sleepy/underutilized AM stations with absolutely no demands on him for ratings success. Having Clinton in the White House in the 90's did wonders for his ratings as he primarily stood for ANTI Clinton, ANTI women, ANTI environmentalist (hello global warming), ANTI liberal anything. So I really don't see much difference between the lib and con talkers, except that the cons had a long period of incubation warmly encouraged by the mostly right-wing corporate radio ownership. Plus my previously mentioned point about the con talkers' tendency to manufacture their own reality...
By the time liberals woke up and realized they need to get some airwaves, Clinton (the liberal) had allowed the radio mega mergers and the train had nearly left the station.
Conservatives, we may never make you happy as listeners, but that's not our concern. We'll do the best we can to put together a good radio station that presents programming not presently heard in the market. If we do our job, the listeners and the $ will follow.
Meanwhile, we're just enjoying the fact that after 15 years we got a license. Can you blame us?
Respectfully,
IMG
Perhaps you're not seeing the level of hatred in your posts? By name your station looked like a good deal for the Lebanon area ... and searching the web for other references to "Kid's First" found only a reference to children's programming. A positive message.
The first hint of "trouble" (as it were) was the simple positive mention of using Pacifica and Radio Netherlands content. While seeing those content providers was a red flag - a scarlet L - the comments made by CityRadio91.9 were made in a positive way ...
Not trashing and bashing other talk radio or radio in general, not a frustrated rant against those who happen to be successful (like some nerd who couldn't get a date to the prom trash talking the prom). Nothing like your (so far) two posts. There was defense of his viewpoint but not out of the gate vileness toward the industry.
But now you have opened the floodgates ... and presented your view of what radio should be. We respectfully disagree. But it is your license and perhaps in a few years you will be broadcasting something that the people of Lebanon (and Zionsville) will find acceptable and support. Or you will sell the license to someone who will broadcast something with support.
If you are waiting for err-America and other Liberal content to become popular perhaps you should check your demographics. Indiana is a red state, and while Marion County leaned toward Kerry for President in 2004 your station serves Boone County. In 2004 Boone County voted 17,055 to 5,636 for Bush - in 2000 it was 13,161 to 4,763. If your station comes across on the radio as a Liberal crazies you won't do well.
Plus look at your frequency ... FM band. Look around at how many talkers survive in the FM band and what they are doing. Are you finding hard core conservative talk in the FM band in Indiana?
So I suggest you follow Jim's lead ... put a GOOD radio station on the air that meets the needs of Boone County and the communities in Boone County and if people find a Liberal viewpoint in your programming perhaps you will make a difference in 2012. But come across as you have in the past two posts and you will make the same mistake as err-America ... and will have similar results.
Welcome to radio.
The first hint of "trouble" (as it were) was the simple positive mention of using Pacifica and Radio Netherlands content. While seeing those content providers was a red flag - a scarlet L - the comments made by CityRadio91.9 were made in a positive way ...
Not trashing and bashing other talk radio or radio in general, not a frustrated rant against those who happen to be successful (like some nerd who couldn't get a date to the prom trash talking the prom). Nothing like your (so far) two posts. There was defense of his viewpoint but not out of the gate vileness toward the industry.
But now you have opened the floodgates ... and presented your view of what radio should be. We respectfully disagree. But it is your license and perhaps in a few years you will be broadcasting something that the people of Lebanon (and Zionsville) will find acceptable and support. Or you will sell the license to someone who will broadcast something with support.
If you are waiting for err-America and other Liberal content to become popular perhaps you should check your demographics. Indiana is a red state, and while Marion County leaned toward Kerry for President in 2004 your station serves Boone County. In 2004 Boone County voted 17,055 to 5,636 for Bush - in 2000 it was 13,161 to 4,763. If your station comes across on the radio as a Liberal crazies you won't do well.
Plus look at your frequency ... FM band. Look around at how many talkers survive in the FM band and what they are doing. Are you finding hard core conservative talk in the FM band in Indiana?
So I suggest you follow Jim's lead ... put a GOOD radio station on the air that meets the needs of Boone County and the communities in Boone County and if people find a Liberal viewpoint in your programming perhaps you will make a difference in 2012. But come across as you have in the past two posts and you will make the same mistake as err-America ... and will have similar results.
Welcome to radio.
A
ASO
Guest
justalurker said:
If I owned the license I wouldn't care what others in the industry thought either. And I can only envy the new owners.
However, if the government is going to be involved in the process of regulating and deciding who can obtain licenses, then they should also require at least that the surrounding county stations REMAIN in their counties. For starters, ALL offices, sales and programming, should be located in their county of license. Second, station ids should be exclusive to their counties. Brownsburg, Shelbyville, Noblesville, etc should not be allowed to also say, Indianapolis.
Otherwise, what is the point of signals being placed in counties? All it takes is cash to cover tower/signal costs.
Just a non-owners opinion.
Best of luck in Boone County. Hopefully this time it will get a station that doesn't turn south for attention.
Unfortunately Kids First did not claim points under Section 307(b) - (Application available here at the FCC).
Which means the four year holding period does not apply, and the credit that they received for "superior technical parameters" does not prevent them from moving the station to a location that would serve more population than the 60865 they claimed on their application. (The original 1998 application was on paper making less available for review.)
In other words, even though they requested a signal from the FCC to serve Boone County they are able to not only turn their attention Southeast to Indianapolis but physically move closer as long as they serve more people than their location in Boone County. (This move would depend on where other stations are located.)
I agree that would be a shame. The CP was granted with a COL (city of license) of Zionsville and a tower location just south of Lebanon. WITT should respect that and serve their Boone County community.
Kids First offices are currently in Indy - 9 miles (LOS) from Zionsville and about 20 miles (LOS) from the tower location. IIRC that is still close enough to serve as a "main studio" but I hope they have a better location closer to Lebanon.
BTW: The FCC doesn't care about what you say after your legal ID ... as long as this station says "WITT Zionsville" or "WITT 91.9 FM Zionsville" or some other form of their legal ID there is nothing stopping them from adding any text they want. They could say "WITT Zionsville San Fransisco" if they really wanted to! (Silly, but true.) They just can't put anything but their frequency or network affiliation between the WITT (calls) and Zionsville (COL). So no "WITT Indianapolis Zionsville" or they could be fined.
Which means the four year holding period does not apply, and the credit that they received for "superior technical parameters" does not prevent them from moving the station to a location that would serve more population than the 60865 they claimed on their application. (The original 1998 application was on paper making less available for review.)
In other words, even though they requested a signal from the FCC to serve Boone County they are able to not only turn their attention Southeast to Indianapolis but physically move closer as long as they serve more people than their location in Boone County. (This move would depend on where other stations are located.)
I agree that would be a shame. The CP was granted with a COL (city of license) of Zionsville and a tower location just south of Lebanon. WITT should respect that and serve their Boone County community.
Kids First offices are currently in Indy - 9 miles (LOS) from Zionsville and about 20 miles (LOS) from the tower location. IIRC that is still close enough to serve as a "main studio" but I hope they have a better location closer to Lebanon.
BTW: The FCC doesn't care about what you say after your legal ID ... as long as this station says "WITT Zionsville" or "WITT 91.9 FM Zionsville" or some other form of their legal ID there is nothing stopping them from adding any text they want. They could say "WITT Zionsville San Fransisco" if they really wanted to! (Silly, but true.) They just can't put anything but their frequency or network affiliation between the WITT (calls) and Zionsville (COL). So no "WITT Indianapolis Zionsville" or they could be fined.
Actually, we were thinking of something along the lines of:
"THIS IS 91-9 WITT ZIONSVILLE, ALSO SERVING THE QUAINT VILLAGE OF INDIANAPOLIS."
I mean after all....we are witt (wit).
Now, as Steve Allen used to say, all seriousness aside....there is something known as the
WTTS proclusion line which in fact would not allow us to move our stick very much further
south....perhaps a mile or so from where we are. We have no intention of trying to serve all
of Indy...but some of our signal will spill over into NW Marion County.
Boone County is just fine. And I must reaffirm all that even though our corporate name
is Kids First, that does not mean the bulk of WITT programming will be Raffi etal.
We have plans for music mixes which will be very diverse and new and hopefully refreshing.
The Pacifica and Radio Nederlands have been mentioned simply because most of the other
public radio nets are affiliated with the other two NCEs in Indy....WFYI and WICR.
And we would like to have at least some reports on a national and international basis.
"THIS IS 91-9 WITT ZIONSVILLE, ALSO SERVING THE QUAINT VILLAGE OF INDIANAPOLIS."
I mean after all....we are witt (wit).
Now, as Steve Allen used to say, all seriousness aside....there is something known as the
WTTS proclusion line which in fact would not allow us to move our stick very much further
south....perhaps a mile or so from where we are. We have no intention of trying to serve all
of Indy...but some of our signal will spill over into NW Marion County.
Boone County is just fine. And I must reaffirm all that even though our corporate name
is Kids First, that does not mean the bulk of WITT programming will be Raffi etal.
We have plans for music mixes which will be very diverse and new and hopefully refreshing.
The Pacifica and Radio Nederlands have been mentioned simply because most of the other
public radio nets are affiliated with the other two NCEs in Indy....WFYI and WICR.
And we would like to have at least some reports on a national and international basis.
A
ASO
Guest
CityRadio91.9 said:
Of course it will be serving Marion County. ALL stations within earshot vacate their rightful counties to serve Indy. Indy doesn't have enough stations serving it. Please bring MORE! Lebanon is full of radio stations, they don't need another one.
My point is that if you are licensed in Boone County, you should serve Boone County. If you are licensed in Hendricks County, you should be serving Hendricks County, NOT located in Castleton. Something else the government has completely screwed up while letting money talk.
But again, I can't afford it, so kudos to all who obtain the brass ring. I'm on the northwest side, I'll give it a shot if I can pick it up.
(The more I read this board the more I think RadioHo is on to something, scary!)
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