I just wanted to toss a couple pennies in this pond. It wont change any of the good advice and truth already given here, but I dont get to relate my experience with the system and how is works to many people who understand it end to end. I, as a lone individual, did file a petition to ammend the FM table of allotments during the 80/90 frenzy. I bought a complete channel study from a DC data firm for around 200 bucks and went through it channel by channel until I found one that would work. I mimicked the form of other petitions and filed one. To my surprise, another group had filed for the same frequency in a nearby town. Since my petition was filed before the other one appeared in the federal register, but after the papers were physically fiiled, the FCC reduced my petition to the status of a counterproposal and allowed it to stand alongside the professionally prepared petition. Mine was not too shabby, I knew the presentation had to be professional. The other guys had used a DC consulting firm, and a DC communications law firm. I used an IBM Selectric II, lettracet letters, and what I had learned in college and observed in the real world by doing some freelance contract work for an engineering consulting firm. Geeze, now all of a sudden, I had to not only learn how to do a petition, which was a big complicated thing to me at the time, I had to learn how to prepare and submit comments by a deadline, and follow all or the legal protocol. After that, reply comments that addressed these legal wolves from DC trying to rip my petition to shreds......my bum was puckered but I was determined....actually I was too naive to know I could not do it. I looked for legal angles, researched cases, tried to find how they did it in the past...as bad luck would have it, a tornado had recently ripped the city where I wanted to put the FM. The fat cats in the other group owned an AM in that other nearby town, and it went off the air because they lost power and did not provide any emergency service during the hours following the disaster. I summed up their shoddy record of station operation as politely as I could in legalspeak, and used the lack of emergency communication service as a compelling need to the city to which I wanted the FM allocated. It had an AM daytimer, but the tornado struck right before sunset. There were other arguements too, about first fulltime aural service yada yada college book stuff that does not really hold water in the real world unless you are in Alaska...The day of the hearing comes up and I WON.... I BEAT THEM!. I wish I could have seen the look on their faces. I could tell by the tone of their reply comments that they gave me little credibility and sort of made the assumption that they would get the allocation because they always did. All of my filings were solid, conformed to the format of other successful petitions, my arguements were based on fact and addressed the priorities of FCC allocation policy at the time. It was another 3 years before the license was granted, but I did get in on it with partners who owned the daytime AM in the town where I wanted it. It can take much longer than that. That same group came up against us for the license and lost again...and there were other groups that got in on the license application process. It was a protracted and complicated path, but we did finally get the FM. We owned and operated it for a few years and did very well until congress opened the floodgates for really wealthy corporations to own as much as they wanted. What can I say, Clear Channel owns it today.
I agree with everything everyone said....the cost today eliminates many passionate people who would do a great service to their communities. I would encourge emerging broadcasters to embrace the internet and other new delivery platforms. Owning an RF radiation license and a tall stack of steel are an investment of dimishing returns today. Its enough for people grounded in reality, but not enough return for money grubbing MBA pencil necks with huge corporate financial infrastructure to feed.
My point in all of this is to not give up that real dream of broadcasting. The manner in which it is accomplished is changing and will continue to change. The next wave of real media barons are getting started today with tons of inexpensive new technology. I dont know where it will all lead. I do know that you no longer need a license to reach people. (Facebook, Yahoo, and Google were all kitchen table projects at one time not too long ago) I also know that for most of us, there is a sort of magic that happens when we toss RF out with thoughts and entertainment piggybacked on it. Just like the gasoline car has been mandated to change by the world around it, there is another way of getting what we have to everyone who wants it. Take your hopes and run with them, dont quit, but dont be so narrowsighted, as to think FM is the only way to do what you want to do. I wish it was, but I am also still excited about doing whatever is next. No matter what it is, working with it will be way cooler than what those MBA guys do. They will still probably make more money, but we will never get tired of doing what we do.
