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Serving community interest... (satellite christian stations)

R

Radio info Man

Do you think Satellite Christian Station really serve the communities interest? They are 100% automated with their piped in formats, nothing local. Not one thing other than once an hour you hear a legal id. You could argue some station using a syndicated satellite service for their programming like ABC isn't local. But, you have local content in the stopsets. Commercials, PSA, Promos - tieing it to the community.

But, these stations don't do anything other than ask for money from the local community.

I just don't see how an organization can aquire 150 stations across the country and pump out the same format, not serving the communities they serve and the FCC is okay with that. Deep pockets I guess?
 
Radio info Man said:
Do you think Satellite Christian Station really serve the communities interest? They are 100% automated with their piped in formats, nothing local. Not one thing other than once an hour you hear a legal id. You could argue some station using a syndicated satellite service for their programming like ABC isn't local. But, you have local content in the stopsets. Commercials, PSA, Promos - tieing it to the community.
Click to expand...

Either go after ALL satellite-based formats, regardless of format, or go after NONE of them.
 
:-X

It sometimes makes you wonder what things would be like if deregulation hadn't happened. Sure, there were satellite formats prior to dereg, but now with iPods, iTunes, XM, Sirius...a lot of stations (ie. big corporations) are taking the approach that costs them less and brings in more revenue, but leaves the listener wanting more than what they're getting from terrestrial radio. Many communities aren't being served like the used to be. If things go in cycles, like many believe...will we get back to a time when radio is personality oriented with local DJ's, radio stations and radio owners who are part of the community? We can only hope!
 
MightyFrenchman said:
Either go after ALL satellite-based formats, regardless of format, or go after NONE of them.
Click to expand...
Why?

K-Love provides like 15 seconds per hour for its affiliates to break away for local programming (legal ID).

ABC provides 15-ish minutes per hour. And many (most?) affiliates run at least local news, weather, and sports. Many also run at least one locally produced show every day. ABC affiliates can be and are local. K-Love affiliates get the "no studio here" exemption from the FCC. They don't have the option of creating local programming because there is no "they".

Salem Radio Networks is something different, and it is more in-line with the ABC method of programming. I know one Salem affiliate that produces most of its weekend locally with volunteers.

But I stand by the assertion that K-Love and other non-commercial satellite formats do not serve the community. If K-Love stations were commercial, no matter how good the sales staff was, businesses would be reluctant. The local content is what sells on ABC formats (in my experience with a somewhat lackluster sales staff).
 
PT,
I diagree. You said "The local content is what sells on ABC formats (in my experience with a somewhat lackluster sales staff)."

It's the MUSIC - the basis of the whole format. News/weather is a close second, but I wuold NEVER listen to WMHG, Muskegon, Michigan if it weren't for the great music.
 
I think there is a difference in from a piped in christian format and a satellite locally sold, and local psa's with satellite music and air talent content. I think there is a difference.
 
i believe there is a difference between the two. One dosn't try at all to be local and the other is attempting, just because they don't have huge budgets to hire lots of people...it's not fair to lump them into that category.
 
Radio info Man said:
Do you think Satellite Christian Station really serve the communities interest? They are 100% automated with their piped in formats, nothing local. Not one thing other than once an hour you hear a legal id. You could argue some station using a syndicated satellite service for their programming like ABC isn't local. But, you have local content in the stopsets. Commercials, PSA, Promos - tieing it to the community.

But, these stations don't do anything other than ask for money from the local community.
Click to expand...

I'm responding again to this original post because I may have misunderstood the poster's meaning. I thought he was primarily motivated by a bias against people of faith. In other words, if the satellite feed is secular music that's fine, but if it's religious in its content then take it off the air.

It appears that he may be thinking specifically of the K-Love Radio Network and how its stations do or do not serve the communities to which they're licensed. In this case I'm in agreement with the viewpoint that says a radio station's primary task is to serve its community of license and that's it's very difficult, if not impossible to do with merely a cutaway for the station ID and the first :60 of 2 of the hour's stopsets.

I've brought up this thought before when it comes to stations licensed to suburbia.
For example, the owner takes the station that's licensed to Hammond, Indiana, and trys to make it sound like a Chicago radio station. The station's first job is to serve Hammond. This scenario is replicated all over the country. How many small towns have lost their radio stations to owners like that?
 
Until the FCC gets serious about the "local service" clause of a radio station's license nothing is going to change. At this point, the FCC is only interested in collecting fine money from stations for tower or EAS violations. They don't really care about what's happening in the broadcast arena. Think about this..the FCC requires that you have an FCC General License (Old FCC First Class) to repair or install a 5-watt 2 way commercial band radio, but requires virtually no license to be the engineer of a 50Kw multi-tower AM directional broadcast station. Does this sound odd to you??
 
Yes, The FCC should care about what LP's and NON-COM's are doing, they are clutter up the commercial air space, commercial is the only reason radio exists, lets the bs fly. NON-COM's SUCK the life out of commerical radio.
 
I believe non-comms have a reason to exist. For example, the college stations that don't run NPR are nearly all live and local 24/7 during the school year.

Abusers of non-commercial spectrum space such as the Pensacola church with dozens of stations that run K-Love shouldn't have been allowed licenses at all, if there were any other applicants for the spectrum. But now that genie is out of the bottle, and revoking the licenses now would be bad.

(I really don't like K-Love stations, as you might be able to guess. I would say the same for an ABC-delivered station that didn't bother to have any local staff, but I haven't run into such a station.)
 
I've only heard a couple of well programmed LP's, all the rest are a waste of RF. NPR is a mouth piece for the wack job left, and then your left with a few good non-com college stations. Champaign has a great sound station with the planet.
 
I think the FCC should require LPs, and NON-COM stations to provide 6-10 hours a week to public service. They should let public groups come in and do a local show, this would truely be giving back to the local community.
 
I agree. No coms do hurt commercial fm's. Listeners hear the weak programming and think all radio sounds like that. What is wrong with the FCC.
 
From experience here in Texas. We have lots of Non-Com's in action here. Yeah, they don't seve the communities interest in my opinion. Its all about raising money to stay on the air. I guess NPR stations are okay...but are very boring.
 
EMF is the worst offender here since they can't even really claim to be providing a local service on their originating full-power stations. At least the other religious non-comm satellite broadcasters are local to somewhere.

The comparison to commercial satellite formats doesn't work, because those stations usually at least run some form of local news or weather. I'm sure that some may be so poorly run that they don't even do that, though, and if so they need to have their licenses challenged as well.
 
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