I hate being negative and this is not really the case here as much as a warning to potential LPFM applicants. I see this happen more often than not and it pretty much means your LPFM will go away sooner than later.
I'm talking programming. The first thing you have to realize is your 100 watt ERP at 30 meters HAAT station might get 3 to 5 miles on a crowded radio dial or on a vacant radio dial, perhaps 15 miles or so. This is a TINY coverage area. It is VERY RARE the station will cover a market. Your total 'universe' or 'total population in the listening area' is very small compared to full power stations.
Your Lower Power FM needs to attract the largest audience as possible in your coverage area. By doing this, you stand a chance at a listener base large enough to sustain the station.
More often than not, the LPFM operator chooses a format option even a major market full power station cannot make a go of. Just because it is not on the air already does not make it a good option for a Low Power FM.
Not long ago the FCC conducted a study of LPFM's impact on the markets where a LPFM was located. The results were no surprise to me. Of the stations they gained information about, one really opted to serve as many in their listening area as possible. They were bringing in up to $130,000 in revenue annually and much of that came from businesses that could not afford to advertise of full power stations in town. Even with this station tossed in the mix, the average LPFM only generated about $10,600 a year. The stations were a cross section ranging from a college station, some religious stations and community or local mass appeal LPFMs.
One of the stations they studied is now gone. They are gone because they chose not to serve as many as they could in their listening area and likely other reasons. The station is KPLJ, Marshall, Arkansas.
The operator is obviously of the Catholic faith and felt strongly the community should have a Catholic-positive station on the dial. The operator points out the entire county does not have a Catholic church and notes most of the county's population of just over 8,000 is not Catholic. I should note there is a non-commercial Christian FM and a commercial Christian AM plus a Sports Talk FM that is located in Marshall to cover a huge area with their 100,000 watt signal (ie: the only thing local is the city of license).
The operator, as dedicated as he was (and admired by me in this respect) opted to do about 40-50% Catholic programming via national feeds such as EWTN. The 50-60% of the broadcast day was filled with his music library being played (described at one spot as classical, Catholic-centered Christian artists, Gregorian Chant, etc. and in another spot seemed to include secular music such as 'old country'). The station was on the air 8 to 11 hours a day Monday through Friday and 6 hours Saturday. It seems Sundays the station was silent.
The station did no underwriting so I suppose the operator chose not to offer underwriting. The operator accepted donations. I have no idea of how much he actually got in donations but he said to the FCC (for this study) his station had an operating budget of $1,200 to $2,000 a year. Of that $700 went to ASCAP, BMI and SESAC. He did survive a lghtning strike or major equipment failure and managed to get past that.
Now, I'm just guessing, but I think it is likely the donations he received did not pay the operating costs. I suspect this was truly a labor of love. He admitted talking to people who had listened but hadn't a clue how many might listen. He seemed to indicate it was something he could not judge by the number of calls he received at the station, which I presume was at his home or an outbuiding on his property. I think he might have pulled the plug because he tired of opening his wallet. It should be noted, you ask to get the blessing of the Catholic heirarchy in your area before you start something like his station. Sure, they have nothing to do with the station, but it is a nice thing to do and for Christians that might be reading this, a prayer or two in your favor ain't a bad thing at all!
Now I'm going to go out on a limb here. I'm comparing apples and oranges. I'll take some random knowledge I have and apply it here.
We know the county has no Catholic Church. A check shows 126 Catholic Churches in Arkansas and according to statistics, 42.07 people per thousand in Arkansas are Catholic...124,070 members. If we went across the board that's 336.56 people in Searcy County. Since KPJL served 1,498 in their primary service area, there would be 63 Catholics in the service area (based on the State average).
Now, let's turn to radio. There are several non-commercial broadcasters that say 10% of listeners will donate to the station.
Thus, working with a base 63 Catholics and a Census figure showing 20.1% of the county under 18 years of age, I'm guessing 50.337 people over age 18 that are Catholic. Considering 3% of radio listeners tune to Christian radio, we will use this figure. Thus, of 50.337 Catholics, 1.511 would tune in.
With 1.511 listeners, I found an 'average donation figure' for non-commercial radio: $148.44. Multiply by 1.511 contributors. The total contributions would be $224.30 per annum...about $18.70 a month.
I wanted to include some other information. I knew a guy who had planted Churches all his adult life. I was curious and asked how he figured he could get a church going. He told me you need 25 active 'regular attendee' families of average income that will put about 10% in the offering plate to start. He said 25 families to pool enough cash to rent a place and pay a pastor, electricity, and so forth. So, I will assume Searcy County, Arkansas has fewer than 25 families that would be regular attendees and put 10% in the offering plate. If there was not enough in the county to fund a Catholic Church (8,000+) there surely would be fewer in the 1,500 population service area for KPJL.
The moral of the story: because you want to fill a void on the radio or your friends like the idea, you really need to look at the whole picture and do whatever is needed to reach as much of the listening audience in your tiny service area so you can be assured you can have your station sustained by its audience. If you pull dollars from your pocket, that will get old. One lightning strike and a fried transmitter means you had better hope you have the credit to put it on the card. Have a major financial emergency like a wreck or medical expense and you will likely not have the dollars to put in the station.
What I learned from my General Manager at my first job: Your job has nothing to do with what you want to do behind the microphone but everything to do with what the community wants. He said I might think it is not the best way of doing things but it really is radio the way the community wants it done and "that's the way we're going to do it because they are paying your paycheck and I'm hiring you to do what the community wants and expects"...very sobering words for a long haired starry-eyed kid who is slipping on the headphones and cracking the microphone for the first time in a small little town far from home. That discussion was long ago, but still valid today.
I'm talking programming. The first thing you have to realize is your 100 watt ERP at 30 meters HAAT station might get 3 to 5 miles on a crowded radio dial or on a vacant radio dial, perhaps 15 miles or so. This is a TINY coverage area. It is VERY RARE the station will cover a market. Your total 'universe' or 'total population in the listening area' is very small compared to full power stations.
Your Lower Power FM needs to attract the largest audience as possible in your coverage area. By doing this, you stand a chance at a listener base large enough to sustain the station.
More often than not, the LPFM operator chooses a format option even a major market full power station cannot make a go of. Just because it is not on the air already does not make it a good option for a Low Power FM.
Not long ago the FCC conducted a study of LPFM's impact on the markets where a LPFM was located. The results were no surprise to me. Of the stations they gained information about, one really opted to serve as many in their listening area as possible. They were bringing in up to $130,000 in revenue annually and much of that came from businesses that could not afford to advertise of full power stations in town. Even with this station tossed in the mix, the average LPFM only generated about $10,600 a year. The stations were a cross section ranging from a college station, some religious stations and community or local mass appeal LPFMs.
One of the stations they studied is now gone. They are gone because they chose not to serve as many as they could in their listening area and likely other reasons. The station is KPLJ, Marshall, Arkansas.
The operator is obviously of the Catholic faith and felt strongly the community should have a Catholic-positive station on the dial. The operator points out the entire county does not have a Catholic church and notes most of the county's population of just over 8,000 is not Catholic. I should note there is a non-commercial Christian FM and a commercial Christian AM plus a Sports Talk FM that is located in Marshall to cover a huge area with their 100,000 watt signal (ie: the only thing local is the city of license).
The operator, as dedicated as he was (and admired by me in this respect) opted to do about 40-50% Catholic programming via national feeds such as EWTN. The 50-60% of the broadcast day was filled with his music library being played (described at one spot as classical, Catholic-centered Christian artists, Gregorian Chant, etc. and in another spot seemed to include secular music such as 'old country'). The station was on the air 8 to 11 hours a day Monday through Friday and 6 hours Saturday. It seems Sundays the station was silent.
The station did no underwriting so I suppose the operator chose not to offer underwriting. The operator accepted donations. I have no idea of how much he actually got in donations but he said to the FCC (for this study) his station had an operating budget of $1,200 to $2,000 a year. Of that $700 went to ASCAP, BMI and SESAC. He did survive a lghtning strike or major equipment failure and managed to get past that.
Now, I'm just guessing, but I think it is likely the donations he received did not pay the operating costs. I suspect this was truly a labor of love. He admitted talking to people who had listened but hadn't a clue how many might listen. He seemed to indicate it was something he could not judge by the number of calls he received at the station, which I presume was at his home or an outbuiding on his property. I think he might have pulled the plug because he tired of opening his wallet. It should be noted, you ask to get the blessing of the Catholic heirarchy in your area before you start something like his station. Sure, they have nothing to do with the station, but it is a nice thing to do and for Christians that might be reading this, a prayer or two in your favor ain't a bad thing at all!
Now I'm going to go out on a limb here. I'm comparing apples and oranges. I'll take some random knowledge I have and apply it here.
We know the county has no Catholic Church. A check shows 126 Catholic Churches in Arkansas and according to statistics, 42.07 people per thousand in Arkansas are Catholic...124,070 members. If we went across the board that's 336.56 people in Searcy County. Since KPJL served 1,498 in their primary service area, there would be 63 Catholics in the service area (based on the State average).
Now, let's turn to radio. There are several non-commercial broadcasters that say 10% of listeners will donate to the station.
Thus, working with a base 63 Catholics and a Census figure showing 20.1% of the county under 18 years of age, I'm guessing 50.337 people over age 18 that are Catholic. Considering 3% of radio listeners tune to Christian radio, we will use this figure. Thus, of 50.337 Catholics, 1.511 would tune in.
With 1.511 listeners, I found an 'average donation figure' for non-commercial radio: $148.44. Multiply by 1.511 contributors. The total contributions would be $224.30 per annum...about $18.70 a month.
I wanted to include some other information. I knew a guy who had planted Churches all his adult life. I was curious and asked how he figured he could get a church going. He told me you need 25 active 'regular attendee' families of average income that will put about 10% in the offering plate to start. He said 25 families to pool enough cash to rent a place and pay a pastor, electricity, and so forth. So, I will assume Searcy County, Arkansas has fewer than 25 families that would be regular attendees and put 10% in the offering plate. If there was not enough in the county to fund a Catholic Church (8,000+) there surely would be fewer in the 1,500 population service area for KPJL.
The moral of the story: because you want to fill a void on the radio or your friends like the idea, you really need to look at the whole picture and do whatever is needed to reach as much of the listening audience in your tiny service area so you can be assured you can have your station sustained by its audience. If you pull dollars from your pocket, that will get old. One lightning strike and a fried transmitter means you had better hope you have the credit to put it on the card. Have a major financial emergency like a wreck or medical expense and you will likely not have the dollars to put in the station.
What I learned from my General Manager at my first job: Your job has nothing to do with what you want to do behind the microphone but everything to do with what the community wants. He said I might think it is not the best way of doing things but it really is radio the way the community wants it done and "that's the way we're going to do it because they are paying your paycheck and I'm hiring you to do what the community wants and expects"...very sobering words for a long haired starry-eyed kid who is slipping on the headphones and cracking the microphone for the first time in a small little town far from home. That discussion was long ago, but still valid today.
