From April of 2003 until last August, I ran a part-15 AM station out of my apartment in Houston, TX called "Soft Gold 1610 AM" (as well as the faux callsign KSFG). The format was gold-based soft AC, which consisted primarily of light songs from the 70s and early 80s, with a few 50s and 60s oldies and some mildly upbeat 80s pop songs thrown into the mix. (Core artists included Barry Manilow, Olivia Newton-John, Gordon Lightfoot, Bread, Neil Diamond, Barbra Streisand, Anne Murray, Rita Coolidge, Seals and Crofts, Simon and Garfunkel, Cat Stevens, Carole King, and James Taylor, just to name a few.)
Since I had a regular job during the week, my broadcast schedule was limited to Friday evenings from 7PM to midnight (unless I was working the following Saturday), and 4PM to midnight on Saturdays (5PM to 1AM on Saturdays that I was working.)
On Saturday late nights (9P-12A if I was not working, 10P-1A if I was), I strayed from the station's regular format for a show called "Jammin' Gold Saturday Night", which consisted primarily of 70s disco, with some 80s pop, rock, and dance thrown in as well. I also played some audio clips from various "Adult Swim" cartoons, as well as various tracks from the "Crank Yankers- Best Uncensored Crank Calls" CDs. (And yes, I did play them uncensored, with all of the swear words left fully intact! However, I did only play them after 10PM, and gave numerous warnings at the beginning and throughout the show.) Sometimes I would make a few smartass comments about whatever was on my mind, be it a serious issue or something stupid and mundane, and I even did my own bad voice impressions of cartoon characters, or of co-workers at my regular job.
My set-up was rather crude- the transmitter/antenna was simply a Wild Planet Radio DJ (yes, I know it's a child's toy, but that's all that was really in my budget; besides, I learned about the WPRDJ on this message board). The mixer was a Quick Shot Studio 4, which I got for Christmas when I was 12 (back in 1988), and I had two small personal CD players- one was connected into the Studio 4's auxiliary input, the other using a car cassette adaptor to connect it through the Studio 4's built-in cassette deck. (To conserve battery power, I only used the tape deck on the WPRDJ itself for playing short station IDs). All of this equipment was laid out on my dining room table, and only while I was actually broadcasting. (If I left it sitting out unsupervised, my cat might have gone after it as something to play with.)
No fancy automation equipment, so the station was 100% live and local. If I weren't there, there was no broadcast.
Had no known listeners other than myself. I did not want to give my phone number out over the air, so I gave my e-mail address instead; never did get any replies. At first, my station barely got out into the parking lot in front of my building, since Hobby Airport used to have a TIS station on 1610. However, in late 2003 the TIS went off the air (and has been off ever since), and I did a "field test" and found that my station got out half a block in at least one direction, and in another could be heard halfway to the other side of the apartment complex! (On my truck's radio, anyway.) Reception was perfect in the parking lot in front of my building.
Of course, the real fun part was bringing tapes of may radio programs up to work on Saturdays and playing them. Most of the time, if one of my co-workers happened to be in the room during a part of the show where I was talking, they did not know it was me. The funniest moment was when my voice was coming out of the radio saying "It's 8:30", when it was about 1:00 in the afternoon, and a couple of guys were saying, "That guy needs to reset his watch!"
The voice impressions of other co-workers got a lot of laughs out of the guys who worked in my department as well.
Last August, I moved to Rockford, IL for a new job (and in doing so moved back in with my folks), so I'm not currently doing any broadcasting. All my CDS and broadcasting equipment are in boxes in my parents' garage. However, I do plan to move into my own place again in the next couple of months and hopefully start my station up again shortly thereafter. It will be the same format and station name (although I'll probably change my calls to WSFG, now that I'm in W territory).
Maybe I'll run a few stunts for a few weeks prior to relaunching my radio station. And when I do begin regular broadcasting again, if possible, I might subscribe to Dish Network satellite TV (which my folks have), since they provide some Sirius music channels, and use Sirius's "Movin' Easy" channel as an "automation" system and just broadcast during the entire weekend. Of course, I'll still do my live shows on Friday and Saturday evenings.
Maybe, if I can one day afford a transmitter that doesn't require BATTERIES, I might leave the station on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
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Richard Head - formerly known as Dr. Johnny Fever.
"Give a larbage, throw out your garbage." - Gary the No-Trash Cougar
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