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I want an LPFM license in Madison, Mississippi
- Thread starter Thisi
- Start date
The next LPFM window will be sometime after the FCC has gone through the NCE window. We are currently in a settlement period for the NCE applicants. We may see the window as soon as 2Q of 2022 but it may be later.
This will never happen under my watch. Virtually everyone in the LPFM community opposes commercial LPFMs. Once commercial comes into play, then you have auctions. The LPFM service was intended for small pre-existing local non-profit educational organizations to extend their educational programs to radio. It was not intended to start a commercial business or run a format that directly competes with commercial radio.
There were two technical proposals (RM-9208 and RM-9242) that were filed to create LPFM. RM-9242 was written by an LPTV speculator who wanted LPFM to mirror the LPTV service including being a commercial service. During the initial rulemaking, there was strong opposition from the real LPFM supporters (those who were working behind the scenes in the grassroots movement) as well as non-profit interests who strongly opposed commercial LPFM, especially since it would require auctions and all of the laws regarding commercial radio would apply (such as no ownership caps). We did not want to end up with Clear Channel (at the time) and EMF owning all of the LPFM stations. That wasn't what LPFM was intended for. LPFM originally was adopted with an ownership cap of 10, but the LPFM community worked to decrease the ownership cap to one per organization.
I advocate the use of LPFM as the smaller version of what was once a town's sole radio station in rural America. There are so many communities that have small populations that could never support a full power FM but could support a LPFM that is run as a NCE by volunteers or minimally paid management to reflect life in the locality via the airwaves where all segments of the community have a slice of the airtime. My earliest article in Radio World about LPFM spoke of Sanderson, Texas as an example.
By the way, Michi is the one to go to in my opinion, as a starting point. I continue to be amazed at how much Michi has done and accomplished for the LPFM community from bending the ears at the FCC to the databases and engineering help.
By the way, Michi is the one to go to in my opinion, as a starting point. I continue to be amazed at how much Michi has done and accomplished for the LPFM community from bending the ears at the FCC to the databases and engineering help.
So if LPFM was commercial, there would be even fewer locally programmed radio stations, considering that Electromagnetic Fields is buying up more and more of the locally programmed full-power stations and converting them into satellite-fed Air 1 or K-LOVE, without airing any local programs, other than public affairs shows.
no, just no no no no.. for multiple reasons.
you are in no way prepared to operate an LPFM
EMF is not deserving of a snide pseudo name. They serve a significant portion of every market they are in with programming that you may not like (neither do I) but they back it with online or telephone counseling, local service groups and a "family" feeling. It's just not my personal family, but it's a smooth, and well respected group.
Radio's problems in the US have much to do with restrictions that go back 90 years to when members of Congress were concerned that broadcasters with too much power or too many stations would be stronger than newspapers and would influence elections. So they capped AM at rather low power and limited ownership to 7 stations.
In most of the rest of the world where there was private radio, programming was predominantly national as soon as costs and technologies permitted it. For example, in Colombia the three main networks did microwave links that united the entire nation back in the late 50's. Spain's private national stations date back to the same period. And those are just two examples.
But in those nations where networks built national o&o coverage, radio took a much higher percentage of ad budgets. When the US had 8% of ad budgets in the late 90's, Colombia had 18%.
And the big advantage is that those networks have full service news coverage if that is their specialty. If they are pure music operations, they have the best talent, lots of artist participation, fun contests and lots more. In that sense, the US is a backwater of multimarket national radio.
Michi, please feel free to put a link to your site in your signature line.
For those that don't know, Michi has this site https://home.recnet.com/ and it is fabulous. I encourage giving an occasional Thank$ via a donation, too.
I like them better than I do Radio-Locator. The info is more accurate, up to date and very detailed.Educational Media Foundation buys up stations in markets they want to reach and generally pay a relatively low price for stations. Since they run Air 1 and K-Love as non-commercial stations, it doesn't matter if they buy commercial or non-commercial frequencies. No, they don't just buy to buy. They have strategic markets where they want stations. Even EMF has to pay the bills. If they over-saturate they'll never get enough funding to support the station. Actually they are a class act although they're not my cup of tea and their formatics are impressive. They actually do more than just the audio signal. There is a local connection in each market and several off air features to what they do. And by the way, these stations were available to anyone to buy. Why do people get upset when the one that opens the wallet is EMF?
Not to gang up on you, but a person who wants a radio station would be well advised to send less time with such postings and more time talking to and learning about the business. Based only on what you have posted so far, if you should get a station, I would not think you could make it a success. Trust me, if you can't make a station a success on all fronts, the hard work, long hours and dedication will certainly leave a mark if it doesn't pan out.
I have watched too many fail for a lack of knowledge. One station claimed to be everything local. The operator plays his preference of music, heavy rock from the past forward for a small farm town. There is not one word that is local on his station and he wonders why he has to kick in dollars each month to stay on the air. When I suggested a community announcement and maybe a weather forecast each hour or a promo to say how to get in touch, I was told that was too much work. In another instance a station played every track off classic rock LPs because people bought albums then. His station website offering underwriting never got an inquiry. Listeners never stuck around. He never got it. When he went under, he blamed the town versus his misunderstanding of programming and sales. Those are two examples that stand out. I tried to reach these folks but as they say, you can't fix stupid.
Not to gang up on you, but a person who wants a radio station would be well advised to send less time with such postings and more time talking to and learning about the business. Based only on what you have posted so far, if you should get a station, I would not think you could make it a success. Trust me, if you can't make a station a success on all fronts, the hard work, long hours and dedication will certainly leave a mark if it doesn't pan out.
I have watched too many fail for a lack of knowledge. One station claimed to be everything local. The operator plays his preference of music, heavy rock from the past forward for a small farm town. There is not one word that is local on his station and he wonders why he has to kick in dollars each month to stay on the air. When I suggested a community announcement and maybe a weather forecast each hour or a promo to say how to get in touch, I was told that was too much work. In another instance a station played every track off classic rock LPs because people bought albums then. His station website offering underwriting never got an inquiry. Listeners never stuck around. He never got it. When he went under, he blamed the town versus his misunderstanding of programming and sales. Those are two examples that stand out. I tried to reach these folks but as they say, you can't fix stupid.
H
Harvey_Dogg
Guest
Let's see here. The flagship station for K-Kove's nationwide morning show is WKLU in Indianapolis. That was once my radio station. I found the frequency and wrote the petition for rulemaking. I got the CP, built the station, and operated it for many years. They're still using my call letters.
A group of guys were operating a part 15 AM station in Brownsburg Indiana after WKLU moved from the suburb into the city. I convinced them to apply for LPFM. I prepared their FCC applications over my lunch hour and didn't miss my lunch. They are licensed and have been operating WYRZ LP for many years.
A group of guys were operating a part 15 AM station in Brownsburg Indiana after WKLU moved from the suburb into the city. I convinced them to apply for LPFM. I prepared their FCC applications over my lunch hour and didn't miss my lunch. They are licensed and have been operating WYRZ LP for many years.
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H
Harvey_Dogg
Guest
The low power FM cause came out of the community radio movement. To better understand please see page 19 of this book.
In the 1980's I proposed a noncommercial low power FM radio service. It got past being assigned a RM and was given Dockett 88-140. And, it was just me against the NAB. No one came to help me in the fight. Where were you guys? We might have had LPFM 10 years sooner if just a few of you had filed comments.
In the 1990's Nicholas Leggett proposed a low power service using homemade transmitters and revived the idea of LPFM with the FCC . I'm also aware of the Richardson and Spry petitions for 1,000 Watts and commercial.
I proposed a noncommercial secondary service and that's what you got. And, not sorry about it. The purpose was to bring radio stations in inner cities to minorities who didn't have a voice and service to small towns that could not support a full power station. And, to bring diversity to the airwaves.
I'm reminded of page 19 in the above link as I read this thread and the way this guy is treated. So, I will offer to help him get a CP for Madison Mississippi from the FCC for free. I feel the love here.
In the 1980's I proposed a noncommercial low power FM radio service. It got past being assigned a RM and was given Dockett 88-140. And, it was just me against the NAB. No one came to help me in the fight. Where were you guys? We might have had LPFM 10 years sooner if just a few of you had filed comments.
In the 1990's Nicholas Leggett proposed a low power service using homemade transmitters and revived the idea of LPFM with the FCC . I'm also aware of the Richardson and Spry petitions for 1,000 Watts and commercial.
I proposed a noncommercial secondary service and that's what you got. And, not sorry about it. The purpose was to bring radio stations in inner cities to minorities who didn't have a voice and service to small towns that could not support a full power station. And, to bring diversity to the airwaves.
I'm reminded of page 19 in the above link as I read this thread and the way this guy is treated. So, I will offer to help him get a CP for Madison Mississippi from the FCC for free. I feel the love here.
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If you want to waste your time on a station that will never get built out or survive, knock yourself out. Or, maybe you're prepared to run it yourself. Either way, numerous people have tried to help this guy think this through and all he has done is give snarky comments or insist that we're trying to discourage him. No one's tried to do that, at least not until he made it clear that he has absolutely no idea what's involved and clearly just wants a hobby. But, sure, go ahead. Good luck.
If you want to help newcomers that are starting a radio station, then actually help them instead of saying discouraging stuff.
I don't have a non-profit yet, and I don't know what it will be called. It will have an educational purpose.
Thisi -
Making sure that you saw my comment... I run a full power commercial station and live in Madison. I would be glad to help you out and could meet with you in person to discuss getting your project off of the ground. Look me up at www.wyab.com.
--- Casual Observer
You are in no way prepared to operate this station and i dont think you have it in you to do it.. youd need the help of others and i dont think youre capable of getting that and keeping it around.
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