Relevant Community Radio Without Anybody's Tax Dollars

[redneckriviera]

GRC, you are correct on several counts, including your citation of my pessimism in the previous post.

Yes, most LPFMs now operating seem to be airing religion. When the initial FCC ruling was issued limiting applicants to non-profit organizations, churches and schools stood out as the most likely candidates. Up here in the woods we've already seen several church-run LPFMs come and go. For one thing, they've found they can't really compete with the EMFs and Family Stations (et cetera)of the world in that arena.

And, yeah, I actually can name a couple of perfectly legitimate communities where an LPFM might be appreciated--smaller towns that have effectively "lost" their commercial FMs to the next-closest bigger town... scooped up into a big ol' cluster of stations running computerized tunes 24/7/365. You know--iPods attached to an FM antenna.

The trick is finding a dozen or two dozen or 40 dudes who want toss in cash--as a donation, not an investment--to do something like this in a town of 5,000 people. Finding another one or two such people might be hard enough.But, hey, nothing is impossible. Gotta think positive!

 

[TheBigA]

The trick is finding a dozen or two dozen or 40 dudes who want toss in cash--as a donation, not an investment--to do something like this in a town of 5,000 people. Finding another one or two such people might be hard enough.But, hey, nothing is impossible.

I agree...ultimately it all comes down to money. That may seem negative, but that's the truth. People are cheap. They want what they want for free. That's why it sometimes takes tax dollars to get something for the public good. Most towns wouldn't have police or fire service if it wasn't for taxes.

 

[bturner]

LPFM is a toy or hobby for some. Many more are religious. Some are serving their communities. These are in the minority.

A couple of posts ago it was implied LPFM would be nothing more than merely a toy, hobby or club radio. I suspect you might live in a densely populated region. Some of the midwest and much of the west are pretty much wide open spaces. There are towns that can easily support an LPFM investment through underwriting that have little or no radio service at all. Sanderson, Texas receives no radio stations whatsoever. They could never support a 6kw Class A but could easily support a LPFM and would love to have a station.

There are many other places where virtually every station in a region moved off to the major market. One such market had about a dozen local stations (which was too many for the 40,000 in the area) but now has 3 stations serving about 125,000 people. Economically, the area supports 6 newspapers of which 2 are dailies.

I agree radio is quite over done in most of the country. For some reason, people prefer fight for crumbs near a major market when they could double billing as a second station in a town or area.

I know of a good number of LPFM stations serving their communities, mostly as the only station on the AM or FM dial. And, yes, it is partly a labor of love. Yes, people are cheap but in small towns people realize it takes all of them to make the townn happen, so many, if not most, support their newspaper and/or radio station simply because they know it takes everybody working together to make it. It seems that once there is competition, that thinking diminishes.

I don't see LPFM as viable everywhere but it sure has an important role to play in more rural settings.

As for me, my dream of owning a station is not financially feasible with auctions involving the 'big boys' and 'opportunity seekers'. LPFM offers a chance at running a station where I don't have to work myself to death to give it all to the bank in trade for serving a community through radio. Call me stupid for wanting to work too many hours a day and risking savings to do what I'm passionate about. Maybe I am but maybe I can make a go of it and succeed. Time will tell....as I study those filing papers for a non-profit.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

LPFM is a toy or hobby for some. Many more are religious. Some are serving their communities. These are in the minority.

I mentioned this in my previous post, but I want to come across loud and strong on the point.

It would appear that many of the religious implementations of LPFM are little more than a personal and private toy or hobby for some.

And if there were an abundant supply of frequencies, then the luxury of setting aside a channel for a religious channel which does not serve the community would be fine. But there are some of these communities where a productive and active LPFM could be very useful in keeping the community "being community" but it cannot happen because some well meaning soul took the frequency, put a satellite dish on the roof, a computer in the closet, and the distantly produced religion oozes out day and night. Seldom or never does something local ooze out of the antenna.

Don't mis-understand me: I will put my church attendance record, my participation in the practice of faith up for comparison with anyone who feels offended by my post. The Christian faith has long been known for feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the jailed and generally supporting the benefits of community. If a faith group wants to have an LPFM frequency for their community, I want to see them in there doing local broadcasts, giving news reports on opportunities to participate in community service activities, etc.

I'm going to use a term we have often used in business... a term I too find to be close to being profane, but it is so appropriate for this time when we may be coming up on what will be THE LAST application window for LPFMs. Those who lobby for and support the concept of LPFM need to recognize that this is the time to have a "Come to Jesus meeting" with some of the church groups who want to acquire a hobby station.

 

[bturner]

I sure do agree with your post. One LPFMer I spoke with was contacted by a program provider and through unknown methods, the tiny congregation got a license. It amazes me they can afford to operate the station and wonder if some dollars are fed from outside the congregation to keep the station afloat.

The station is a satellite dish with local programming being the Legal ID. The Legal ID is the ONLY local originated programming.

While this seems to be a big issue with LPFMs, it was rampant in the last non-comm window. A friend of mine was an applicant who was MXed out with a Church in the next town. My friend did a meet and greet with the head of the board found on the application. This fellow was furious. He had no knowledge of the application, never agreed or even discussed with the board about applying for a radio station. The head of the Church knew nothing either. Come to find out, the application had been filed by a third party without the applicant's knowledge. I presume this means signatures were forged, if they were required in an electronic filing.

I know the FCC's workload is enormous but perhaps they need to consider that some applicants consider the threat of perjury pretty meaningless since it is so difficult to nail down. For my friend, all it took was a visit (but a phone call would have produced the same result). In other words, if the FCC had phoned one of the members of the board, they would have gotten a "what application??? I never applied for a radio station. We have never even discussed it".

As a social commentary, we are becoming a less law abiding country and I believe the thing that keeps America great is the people volluntarily follow the law while demanding candor from our government. If we fail to follow the law we revert to the problems facing so many countries of the world where basic services and safe communities are much more rare. While I won't lie under oath, don't cheat on my taxes and such, I will drive 3 to 5 miles per hour over the speed limit because I can get away with it and because everyone else is, so I am not squeeky clean. I do beleve,however, the FCC has the power to tell me if I can work in my chosen field, so I have a boatload of respect for them.

A 'come to Jesus moment' is just what is needed and certainly worthy of the responsibility of being a licensee.