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Saul plans to bring back Oldies stream

Exactly. He is doing a secular EMF. They need a very consistent and coordinated effort to get donors. You'll hear fundraising a couple of days a month on EMF and it's all about matching funds and we have to match it this hour or lose the match. I'm not convinced this would work for the format. When you're down to about 8 songs an hour during fundraising, I think your listeners might think twice about giving especially if you do this monthly. It seems to me the 'a few dollars a month' idea would be the best and perhaps a 30-60 second plea about every hour or two.

Something else I saw work for fast money was a coupon book with free or reduced cost items (not just restaurants). Then again, you have to round up the businesses and then the printer. The person I knew that did this said the businesses go in the book free for a real good discount or freebie. They priced it at $20 free for each $1 the book costs. They were happy at $20 per coupon book. They let schools sell them and gave $5 for each one sold.
 
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bturner1 said:
It seems to me the 'a few dollars a month' idea would be the best and perhaps a 30-60 second plea about every hour or two.
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The way the public stations do it is with a subscription plan. They automatically deduct a fee every month. That way they're not depending on the memory of the member to send in their check. It's autopay. Much more efficient.
 
No ads on LPFMs, understood, but is there any reason they can't do underwriting the way the full-license NFP stations (like NPR affiliates) do? "This quarter hour is brought to you courtesy of Huggy Bear's Diner. Huggy Bear will give you a free slice of pie with any lunch or dinner entree purchased on a weekday that ends with a "Y". Just show them your KHUG member card when you order." Not an overt commercial, no call to action. (Unless "show them your card" is considered a call to action, in which case a bunch of other underwriting also breaks the rule.)
 
Weiserguy said:
No ads on LPFMs, understood, but is there any reason they can't do underwriting the way the full-license NFP stations (like NPR affiliates) do? "This quarter hour is brought to you courtesy of Huggy Bear's Diner. Huggy Bear will give you a free slice of pie with any lunch or dinner entree purchased on a weekday that ends with a "Y". Just show them your KHUG member card when you order." Not an overt commercial, no call to action. (Unless "show them your card" is considered a call to action, in which case a bunch of other underwriting also breaks the rule.)
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When I was on air at an LPFM, we just did underwriting announcements for zoos, etc. and said what could be found there, not mentioning cost or telling listeners to do anything.
 
TheBigA said:
The website says: "Help keep KHUG commercial free."

The fact is that LP radio stations are required by law to be commercial free. If donations don't cover all the expenses, their only choice is to cut expenses. Not run commercials.

The stream is another story. If they want to have pre-roll ads on their stream, that's not regulated by the FCC. But if they are LP, they must be commercial free.

Which can be a good thing. Their primary interest is pleasing their donors and members, not achieving certain demos for advertisers. Which is why it sounds the way it does. I often wonder why more people haven't done what this owner has done. He is basically doing EMF for secular music.
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The reality is LP FMs CAN air "commercials", it's just how you define "commercial". Give a listen to Simi Valley's "99-1 the Ranch, and you'll hear a "commercial" sounding LP Country station that airs ads every couple of songs. In the lead into just about every spot-set a voice says: "support" comes from: "Joe's Auto Repair" who takes care of every make and model, featuring expert professional service and free car washes, open 6 days a week for your convenience, located at 121 Maple St in Simi Valley. This may be followed by one or two more "sponsers" recorded by different voices. The ads in general sound "commercial" but without the urgency and call to action.
 
KHUG can sell underwriting but they choose not to but survive solely on donations. I know they have to be non-commercial.

While they ask for donations on their website, I hope they do so on air.

I was taking to a former LPFM operator who was bad mouthing his former listeners. He got lots of calls and emails from folks that loved his 1950s through 1970s oldies format. He went dark about a year ago. He complained his listeners never donated, not one. There was just one glaring error made on his end: he failed to mention on air or online that the station was listener supported.
 
The wording described in the 'commercial' detailed above is a violation of FCC underwriting rules. The word 'professional' is subject to being 'competitive' and 'for your convenience' and 'free carwash' are outright violations. Both of these statements imply competitive advantage. The FCC could fine the station if caught.
 
bturner1 said:
While they ask for donations on their website, I hope they do so on air.
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What we know is that even when stations ask for donations on air, the response is about 7% of actual listeners.

The way to increase that number is to put your stream behind a paywall. People won't pay unless they have to.
 
I might even say 1 in 15 is what seems to be average for public radio and that figure includes those stations that have hired companies that script and coach pleas and work collections. I wonder if those stations without professional organizations running pledge drives only see about half that.
 
bturner1 said:
KHUG can sell underwriting but they choose not to but survive solely on donations. I know they have to be non-commercial.

While they ask for donations on their website, I hope they do so on air.

I was taking to a former LPFM operator who was bad mouthing his former listeners. He got lots of calls and emails from folks that loved his 1950s through 1970s oldies format. He went dark about a year ago. He complained his listeners never donated, not one. There was just one glaring error made on his end: he failed to mention on air or online that the station was listener supported.
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Your talking about kfxm right?
 
bturner1 said:
KHUG can sell underwriting but they choose not to but survive solely on donations. I know they have to be non-commercial.

While they ask for donations on their website, I hope they do so on air.

I was taking to a former LPFM operator who was bad mouthing his former listeners. He got lots of calls and emails from folks that loved his 1950s through 1970s oldies format. He went dark about a year ago. He complained his listeners never donated, not one. There was just one glaring error made on his end: he failed to mention on air or online that the station was listener supported.
Click to expand...
I am not sure how far KHUG can go on listener contributions alone. I sent them a few shekels because I want to support them, but they are catering to a niche taste like mine, and I know there are not too many of us like me around. I really hope it works, but am equally skeptical that it will in the long run.
 
Since this thread started by talking about Saul's radio stations... Well, me thinks something's afoot with KMZT (K-Mozart). Gone are the live or prerecorded intros and/or outros with Nick Tyler, (he seems to still be with K-Jazz though) KMZT just a Classical Muzak now...and virtually no info on the K-Mozart App-you can still stream from it, but it no longer tells you what you're listening to.

Wonder what's up?
 
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