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KXAL LP Chalk Hill Community, Texas

B

b-turner

I peruse the Pirate Jim LPFM Directory every month or so to look for new stations and new websites.

KXAL was the station Chuck began with before giving the station to the Church at Lake Cherokee. In short, they opted to take over the format that had been dropped with a public station sold leaving the market with no classical and jazz outlet (classical except jazz after 8 through the night).

If the data is correct on the LPFM directory website, the station has been off the air a long time. The station website says they are temporarily off the air. I'd love to find out what their thinking is.

I presume they had a tough time with their format option. I recall listening online and hear some underwriting but I do not know what they charged or if those underwriters stayed on. On the donation end, I'm sure they were few and far between, if any.
 
From their last silent request:

"KXAL-LP IS LOSING IT'S CURRENT TOWER SPACE. THE CHURCH IS SEARCHING FOR A NEW SITE, BUT HAS BEEN UNABLE TO LOCATE A SUITABLE SPACE WITHIN THE PARAMETERS THAT DICTATE LPFM INTERFERENCE SPACING. THE SOLUTION WILL NEED TO BE ERECTING A NEW TOWER SOMEWHERE IN THE VICINITY OF THE EXISTING SITE, BUT THOSE NEGOTIATIONS ARE NOT COMPLETE AT THIS TIME."

I hope they make it. This was granted in March of 2015, 9 months back.
 
After nearly nine months of silence, the church has noticed that they don't miss the station, even though they had just spend quite a bit of money remodeling an area in its Fellowship Hall for new studios. They are contemplating donating KXAL to another entity who might be interested in operating it. They will probably turn it back on for a while, just to preserve the license. The saga continues.

Meanwhile, I'm so busy with my own stations and my Texas Museum of Broadcasting & Communications (www.txmbc.org) project that I haven't been very much help to them.
 
Thank you for the update.

It sounds like they know the value of the station versus being a group that has a license and doesn't have a clue. I see the tower issue mentioned. That can be an issues. You either buy land, find a landowner that won't change their mind after the fact or lease and toss out more money each month. When the cash is not coming in, none of those options are easy to choose since they all take an initial substantial investment or ongoing monthly charges.

I hate to see a license turned back in so I'd be inclined to try to help.
 
Me too, though I'm not sure if I can do a whole lot since I'm not in the area. I thought maybe I could get the word out so people closer to the station can help with it too.
 
Yes, I certainly do know them. As I understand it, they will turn it back on on Feb 1 while negotiations go on to either move it or donate it to another local non profit. Both scenarios are in play at this time.
 
TXRadioJunkie said:
Wouldn't they be right back in the same position they were in with KTPB? Or has the Kilgore community realized the value of what once was and looking for a mulligan?
Click to expand...

That's a good question, but a LPFM doesn't drain the budget as much as a 60,000 watt NCE station.
 
Absolutely right Chuck. A LPFM is cheap to build, cheap to operate and if you need to replace equipment, it is not that costly. If I had to guess, I'd say the LPFM costs 5% or less of what it costs to run a 60,000 watt FM. Naturally the population covered is much less with the LPFM but if it can hit the right areas, you're fine.
 
As I recall, KTPB had five or six full time employees and several part-timers. They were all making reasonably good money and had full benefits provided by the college. As an added bonus, they had lots of vacation time. The station also paid for lots of syndicated programming, news wire service and even BBC News. Before it was sold, the college had recently moved it into a newly renovated building with a large on-air studio, a very nice production studio, a talk-interview studio, a large record library, an engineering shop, several offices and a break room area. For its day, they had lots of very nice equipment. It was by no means extravagant, but it was a nice facility that many commercial stations would be envious of, even now. It cost a lot of money to support that, which is why the college decided to sell it. I am told by someone who should know that since 2007, between the money garnered from the sale, and the curtailing of operations, the college has come out about $6,000,000 ahead since the sale. From a business point of view I can see why they did it, but it was quite a loss for the community.

By contrast, most LPFM's are volunteer run with minimalist studios (if they have any at all). It is quite possible to run a successful LPFM out of a closet with a clunker computer sitting next to the transmitter. A laptop computer, a USB mic and some free software can be your "studio" and yield acceptable results. It is nice to have lots of bells and whistles, but most LPFM stations can be operated on a shoestring.
 
You are correct. In fact, if you could pick up $250 a week in revenue, a LPFM could operate and tuck some cash aside for emergencies. You could operate on much less money. In fact, I know of LPFMs that survive off of under $2,500 a year thanks to a free tower site and studio (at a home). The reality is, the format could easily cover the expenses of a LPFM operation with some part time volunteers. I can't imagine more than 15 hours a week from volunteers could make for a fairly healthy LPFM. Needless to say, Classical and Jazz are likely two of the best formats for voice tracking.

I knew of a full power classical station in Wichita Falls (facing stiff competition from WRR FM) that managed to get about $2,000 a month from donors exclusively.
 
Some good discussion here. Didn't think about the cost difference of LPFM vs. 60kW. Thank y'all for not laughing me off the board for that one. :)

Honestly, I hope KC can pick up KXAL-LP and breathe new life into it.
 
Yours is a very valid consideration. With no idea how the format worked (as far as revenue went) on the 60 kw., it obviously wasn't successful financially as a LPFM either. If the college's location reaches more core audience at that location or at least by moving the station, then going back to classical days and jazz nights might be viable. At least the monthly costs can make that an easier hurdle to jump.

Many formats are just plain out of the question because of ramp up costs and monthly operating expenses. One fails to remember producing a format takes money and people who need a paycheck. It is not about simply breaking even but paying back the cost of getting it there. In some instances, such as the daytime only AM I manage, any success my competitors might perceive of a format choice might mean a full time AM or an FM might also opt for my choice of format. Since I am sunrise to sunset, I cannot compete with a full time AM or full time FM. In other words, they'd beat me any day.

With that said, an LPFM costs about what a new car might cost. It can run for very little money depending on circumstances (if you own the tower versus lease, for example). Like always, payroll is always a big cost. If the college takes the station, chances are quite good it can survive on volunteers, lowering monthly expenses substantially.
 
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Since the college owns a very suitable tower, the station could be put on the air very economically. It would just be the cost of moving antennas from one tower to another plus the engineering costs to do appropriate FCC filings. The equipment is pretty old though, some dating to 2002 when it first went on the air. The newest thing is a 2 year old CAP capable Sage EAS box. Although everything works properly, it might be wise to purchase new equipment and use the old stuff for a back-up. Still that isn't a lot of money in the great scheme of things. As long as the hard drive stays glued together, the music library is easy to transfer (actually there is a back up hard drive). The only ongoing costs would be electricity, music licensing, telephone and maintenance. Of course you could spend a lot more, but that would get things going.
 
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