tsaldana3 said:
We're a local radio and tv ministry/group in Austin.
We were involved with KNLE 88.1 for a while back in 06, and are currently involved with KELG 1440am.
Does anybody have any info on what stations in the Austin or San Antonio area are currently leasing/brokering air time? Or any translators that might be available to lease, like BMP is currently doing with 97.1 and 106.5 Keilah?
Any GM's from a station on the board that would like to help me get some info?
Thanks.
Depends on your budget. Any station can basically be bought or even LMA'd if the price is right. Be expecting to dish out major cash in a market like San Antonio. Even the crappy translators in San Antonio owned by the Radio Ola people are bringing in $15K a month and that's before all the other expenses tower rent, utilities, engineering, etc. The translator on 102.3 in San Antonio is currently going for $20K a month ($30K with the AM in Boerne) That's all before the expenses of the actual originating station of the translator.
In a smaller market like Austin or Corpus Christi you can lease a translator for about $3-$5k a month but you have to also factor in the cost of originating it. You will have to find another station that has an extra HD channel they are not using to originate the programming for the translator. (Legally a translator can't originate it's own separate programming) If you can find a broadcaster willing to lease out one of their HD channels in Austin or Corpus Christi you are looking at another $5-$8K a month (depending on what city and who the owner is). I mention HD channels to feed translators because that's about the easiest and cheapest way to get it done. You could feed it with an AM if it fits inside the service contour properly but you are going to pay a lot more a month for an AM station on a lease then secondary HD channel. Not to mention all the maintenance cost that also go into an AM tower site and most leases require you to maintain or reimburse the owner for such fees and engineering.
All these numbers are just to get your hands on a translator and a HD channel to feed it. You also have to factor in studios, tower rent, bills, license fees, etc etc etc. Be prepared to dish out between $12-$15k a month in a market like Corpus Christi or $15-$20K a month in Austin. You can count San Antonio out if those numbers seem expensive to you.
There are a lot of Christian groups that try to get into the radio game thinking it will be financially beneficial in supporting their ministries but they quickly realize that almost all of the money that comes in goes right straight back out to the operations and expenses of the station. In fact, many Christian broadcasters have to rely on other aspects of their ministry such as their churches and congregations to help offset and support their broadcasting venture. If you are wanting to get into broadcasting to reach out to others with your ministry and use the airwaves as a tool for your ministry then it's all worth it in the end. If you are looking at getting into broadcasting to make money for your ministry then let me save you a lot of time and hassles by telling you it won't happen. This is why there is a huge turnover and you see ministries come and go in the radio game. They quickly realize how expensive this is and realize money is slow to come in and they can't pay their LMA's or bills and have to turn the stations back over or sell. There are only a handful of Christian broadcasters and even less Spanish Christian broadcasters that can say they have been doing this for 10 to 20 years or more.
