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Pirate or licensed station?

Frequency1 said:
I see something strange about KUTZ-LP on 103.1. Their web page shows having 95.7 in Sacramento as well as a new station in the Newcastle. I see Foothill Freqs having a CP there.
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FCC shows 103.1 as silent---silent STA filed in July, after losing antenna site, with no CP yet filed for a new one.

It appears 95.7 is in transition:

 
You know, I agree with the community radio concept of LPFM, but sometimes I wonder how they manage to keep an audience when there are long silent periods and occasionally frequency changes.

Everyone knows how much I applaud Hans Leitz for the way he operates the Malibu LPFM (KBUU-LP) as a community resource. (He even gives traffic reports for the PCH in drive time.) I keep thinking that if more of those stations did likewise, it would be a much stronger and vital service than it has turned out to be in too many cases.
 
The issue is LPFM has a few groups that are polar opposites. You have the stations that have volunteers come in a couple of hours a week for whatever they choose to do on the air. You have the churches that think radio outreach is preaching to the choir with several major players. You have older radio people who want to have a station and the rare ones are those with a general music format locals like backed up with local information.

The anything goes volunteer stations end to go off the air way too often, many times for lack of money. The churches get easily dismayed at the lack of response (because they are not reaching people where they are). They think they're not losing anything if they're off the air a while waitinng on a part. Lots of the older radio people were jocks without a clue about sales and very unsuccessful at it. Even the rare ones don't have it easy but they tend to have their ducks in a row.
 
b-turner said:
The issue is LPFM has a few groups that are polar opposites. You have the stations that have volunteers come in a couple of hours a week for whatever they choose to do on the air. You have the churches that think radio outreach is preaching to the choir with several major players. You have older radio people who want to have a station and the rare ones are those with a general music format locals like backed up with local information.

The anything goes volunteer stations end to go off the air way too often, many times for lack of money. The churches get easily dismayed at the lack of response (because they are not reaching people where they are). They think they're not losing anything if they're off the air a while waitinng on a part. Lots of the older radio people were jocks without a clue about sales and very unsuccessful at it. Even the rare ones don't have it easy but they tend to have their ducks in a row.
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There’s an LPFM in Iowa City that went off the air when their antenna iced over in the winter:
www.kcrg.com

After fast start, new Iowa City radio station temporarily slowed down after bad weather

A small, non-profit radio station in Iowa City says in their first seven months, things have gone great- until this most recent round of weather temporarily forced them to go off the air.
www.kcrg.com www.kcrg.com
 
K108 Sacramento said:
They should be very careful not to continue playing songs with the f bombs. American Gangsta is not an appropriate song to be aired.
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Not sure what the rules are LP FM but for full power FM as long their within FCC safe harbor hours they can. Usually the hours of 10pm-6am if I'm not mistaken. Still most commercial stations don't participate because they are beholden to advertisers, shareholder's, etc.

For example I've heard rap songs like Mac Dre's too hard for the f**ing radio or Nems Bing Bong played uncensored on KDVS 90.3 during those hours before. Commercial radio of course won't touch songs like those even in a censored form.
 
And they don't want complaints. Listeners won't care about what time it is and the FCC would need to resolve the complaint which means somebody has to respond. That response is best from your communications attorney. The result is time and money. Why go there.
 
b-turner said:
The issue is LPFM has a few groups that are polar opposites. You have the stations that have volunteers come in a couple of hours a week for whatever they choose to do on the air. You have the churches that think radio outreach is preaching to the choir with several major players. You have older radio people who want to have a station and the rare ones are those with a general music format locals like backed up with local information.

The anything goes volunteer stations end to go off the air way too often, many times for lack of money. The churches get easily dismayed at the lack of response (because they are not reaching people where they are). They think they're not losing anything if they're off the air a while waitinng on a part. Lots of the older radio people were jocks without a clue about sales and very unsuccessful at it. Even the rare ones don't have it easy but they tend to have their ducks in a row.
Click to expand...

I would divide your religious LPFMs into two groups: the small churches and Christian colleges who behave very much like community-volunteer outfits; and the Catholic (Relevant Radio--yes, that network does have some LPFMs in its network) and Protestant (3 Angels, Radio74, etc.) where the stations are built for the sole purpose of carrying those networks. While there have been a few exceptions, stations in the latter category tend to outlast those of the other groups you and I have mentioned.
 
crucialcolin said:
Not sure what the rules are LP FM but for full power FM as long their within FCC safe harbor hours they can. Usually the hours of 10pm-6am if I'm not mistaken. Still most commercial stations don't participate because they are beholden to advertisers, shareholder's, etc.

For example I've heard rap songs like Mac Dre's too hard for the f**ing radio or Nems Bing Bong played uncensored on KDVS 90.3 during those hours before. Commercial radio of course won't touch songs like those even in a censored form.
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A couple of things here:

1) Legally, the last time I checked, the hours from 10pm to 3am are for playing songs that have adult themes. As far as I know, profanity is still not allowed during those hours.

2) That said (and another poster has already made this point), the FCC doesn't go out of its way to monitor radio stations for profanity--listeners have to complain before it investigates. For this reason, I've heard songs like Prince's "Erotic City," (1984) and the album version of The Who's "Who Are You," (1978) including full profanity on both top-40 stations (KIIS-FM in Los Angeles for the former) and classic rock and album rock stations (KDKB in Phoenix). The people who listen to these stations usually do not complain about profanity in song lyrics and those who would complain about such profanity usually don't listen to those stations. The system works quite well unless one of the profane words is in the song's title (remember Prince's "Sexy M****rf****r," which did well on the Billboard charts but which radio stations absolutely refused to play because of the song's title.)
 
ted chittenden said:
1) Legally, the last time I checked, the hours from 10pm to 3am are for playing songs that have adult themes. As far as I know, profanity is still not allowed during those hours.
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I quote:
The Safe Harbor window is 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM local time. During this eight-hour period, FCC-licensed broadcasters may air programming containing indecent or profane material. Outside of these specified hours, broadcast material must strictly comply with FCC content standards regarding indecency and profanity. This time frame is selected to channel potentially offensive content to times when children are not expected to be viewers or listeners.

Further:
Obscene material is never protected by the First Amendment and is prohibited from being broadcast 24 hours a day. Obscenity is defined using the three-pronged Miller Test, established by the Supreme Court. This test requires that the material, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest, depicts sexual conduct in a patently offensive way, and lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
 
Shall add I also suspect the FCC has become a little more lax these days as they now toe that fine line between keeping terrestrial radio alive and driving broadcasters towards other mediums(Internet). General public attitudes towards profanity and what may be considered obscene has shifted quite a bit in recent decades too.
 
crucialcolin said:
Not sure what the rules are LP FM but for full power FM as long their within FCC safe harbor hours they can. Usually the hours of 10pm-6am if I'm not mistaken. Still most commercial stations don't participate because they are beholden to advertisers, shareholder's, etc.

For example I've heard rap songs like Mac Dre's too hard for the f**ing radio or Nems Bing Bong played uncensored on KDVS 90.3 during those hours before. Commercial radio of course won't touch songs like those even in a censored form.
Click to expand...
The song played between 7and 8 pm. No complaints from me just thought they should be more careful.
 
michael hagerty said:
The beauty of death metal is that I'm pretty sure I couldn't tell you what they were singing (??) if you offered me ten million dollars and a fresh start in a new country.
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Stuff like that just sounds like noise to me. Painful, nauseating noise.

I sincerely don't get why some people actually like listening to it.....

c
 
cc333 said:
Stuff like that just sounds like noise to me. Painful, nauseating noise.

I sincerely don't get why some people actually like listening to it.....

c
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My kids (now 32 and 34) went through a phase when they were in their early teens. I played along as long as I could, then one day looked at them in between tracks and said:


"Is it just me, or do they not sound happy?"


Thankfully, their tastes evolved fairly quickly.
 
michael hagerty said:
My kids (now 32 and 34) went through a phase when they were in their early teens. I played along as long as I could, then one day looked at them in between tracks and said:


"Is it just me, or do they not sound happy?"


Thankfully, their tastes evolved fairly quickly.
Click to expand...
Good thing they moved away from it.

It seems to be music for angry people. Along those lines, much modern Hip Hop kind of feels like angry men shouting profanities to a beat.

I actually do kind of like some of the really early, classic Hip Hop from the 70s and 80s, though. An interesting feature is that it tended to be relatively clean, especially compared to more modern forms.

c
 


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