starting an FM radio station in Louisville area.

[Creighton Sanders]

Anybody with radio knowledge have an opinion about this? Why can't a small group of radio people start a cool, local rock radio station that is unique and irreverant to the market.

A thorn in the side of the big boys. A radio station that kicks up the dust.

I just wonder, how much to start it up? A small stick.

Thanks for any input!

 

[dfwrunner]

Anybody with radio knowledge have an opinion about this? Why can't a small group of radio people start a cool, local rock radio station that is unique and irreverant to the market.

A thorn in the side of the big boys. A radio station that kicks up the dust.

I just wonder, how much to start it up? A small stick.

Thanks for any input!

is there an open and suitable frequency? Doubtful or somebody would already have applied for it long ago.

 

[greg.hahn]

is there an open and suitable frequency? Doubtful or somebody would already have applied for it long ago./quote]

No, of course not. One would have to buy a stick that's already up.

 

[Bengalsfan]

To put a new station on the air from scratch, you are looking at about half a mil.

However, what people don't understand, it's not a case of finding a vacant channel and turning on a transmitter. You have to find a vacant channel that meets FCC second and third ajacent channel clearances, which BTW, there are none. If you found a channel that did meet that criteria, you would have to wait for the FCC to open a window to accept the application, then have to file with the FCC to allot that frequency to Louisville, or Jeffersonville, or St Matthews, or Lyndon, or LaGrange, or Crestwood or PRP or ....well you get the idea. The FCC would then take your application, once approved, and place it into an auction. At the auction, anyone with an interest in the new station would have a chance to bid on it with you. Which means you'd be bidding with the likes of Cumulus, Cox, Salem....people with deeper pockets than I'm sure you have.

Bottom line, if you had enough money to out bid these other guys, you could have your station in Louisville in about 10 years.

Still interested?

 

[Creighton Sanders]

I assume an existing stick. Helpful answers would be great!

I'll admit I don't know much about it.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Somewhere between $4 million and $20 million should fetch you an existing stick.

And if you don't have enough exposure to the business to already know that, keep a little extra cash in the bank to pay the bills while every other stick in town "cleans your plow" until you finally figure out how the business works.

 

[gr8oldies]

Yes there are real bills to pay with lots of zeroes. Pretty expensive proposition to play some cool music.

 

[dfwrunner]

Yes there are real bills to pay with lots of zeroes. Pretty expensive proposition to play some cool music.

You can do a part 15 if you just wanna play...or stream it. Unfortunately, the sound quality of most streaming stations is horrible, poorly equalized, too low bit sample/rate...almost unlistenable.

 

[88.9 Miracle]

Geez guys. Just give the guy a lethal injection. It's not all that bad and it can be done.

http://classxradio.com

6.3 million hits in Feb. A 5kw signal in Cincinnati and another one coming to NKY this year. I repeat, It Can Be Done!

 

[William_Yeager]

If only there were a way to move the following stations closer to Louisville:

97.9 WSLM/Salem
98.3 WQXE/Elizabethtown (both would be well spaced between WAMZ and WZKF)
99.3 WKMO/Lebanon Junction (fits nicely between WZKF and WDJX)
102.7 WYSB/Springfield (fits nicely between WXMA and WQNU)
104.7 WITZ/Jasper (fits between WAYI and WLRS)
106.5 WHHT/Horse Cave (fits between WRVI and WVEZ, and still clears WWWY by two channels)
107.3 WRZI/Hodgenville (fits between WVEZ and WSFR)

. . . and how come there's no 92.3 within 80 miles of Louisville? Couldn't there be an allotment that clears all of the stations on 91.7 (closest is in Jasper), all of the stations on 92.9 (closest is in Lexington), as well as clears the IF hurdles on 102.9 and 103.1 (WXCH and WQNU).

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

I realize small market radio is not "setting the woods on fire" in many areas these days... but I have a question. It appears there are at least 15 commercial FM stations serving Louisville today. (Some are licensed to some suburb but the transmitter is only 10 miles or so from the center of the city.

Then there are a bunch of translators, some LPFMs and a boatload of NCE stations.

And I didn't even count the AM stations.

Just what is so lacking in Louisville, so importantly needed, that we need to go our and rip stations out of Jasper and Elizabethtown and Horse Cave and Hodgenville and move them into Louisville? Are people in those towns some kind of heathen than need to lose their local radio station as part of their eternam damnation?

So. If you could get one of these sticks and move it into Louisville.... what would you do with it? What would be your program content?

 

[MikeStandardsFromIndiana]

Bloomington Indiana has a 92.3 FM its called WTTS

 

[greg.hahn]

If only there were a way to move the following stations closer to Louisville:

97.9 WSLM/Salem
98.3 WQXE/Elizabethtown (both would be well spaced between WAMZ and WZKF)
99.3 WKMO/Lebanon Junction (fits nicely between WZKF and WDJX)
102.7 WYSB/Springfield (fits nicely between WXMA and WQNU)
104.7 WITZ/Jasper (fits between WAYI and WLRS)
106.5 WHHT/Horse Cave (fits between WRVI and WVEZ, and still clears WWWY by two channels)
107.3 WRZI/Hodgenville (fits between WVEZ and WSFR)

Those don't fit nicely at all. Gee, Bill, are you not aware of 2nd and 3rd adjacent channel protection? Every one of those would interfere with existing Louisville FMs and run afoul of FCC spacing rules.

 

[w9wi]

If only there were a way to move the following stations closer to Louisville:

97.9 WSLM/Salem

Must be at least 43 miles from the WAMZ tower.

98.3 WQXE/Elizabethtown (both would be well spaced between WAMZ and WZKF)

No problem with WAMZ but must be 39 miles from the WZKF tower.

99.3 WKMO/Lebanon Junction (fits nicely between WZKF and WDJX)

Must be 39 miles from WZKF and WDJX.

102.7 WYSB/Springfield (fits nicely between WXMA and WQNU)

Must be 16 miles from WXMA and 30 miles from WQNU.

104.7 WITZ/Jasper (fits between WAYI and WLRS)

Must be at least 39 miles from WAYI & WLRS if it's to remain a Class B. Could move as close at 16 miles if they accepted a downgrade to Class A.

106.5 WHHT/Horse Cave (fits between WRVI and WVEZ, and still clears WWWY by two channels)

Must be at least 16 miles from WRVI and 39 from both WWWY and WVEZ.

107.3 WRZI/Hodgenville (fits between WVEZ and WSFR)

At least 39 miles from WVEZ and 26 miles from WSFR.


- The above figures assume the stations take advantage of contour-based short-spacing under 73.215. (that means, for example, WRZI would have to use a directional antenna limiting its radiation in the direction of WVEZ to be only 39 miles from the WVEZ tower. If it wished to operate non-directionally, the minimum spacing would be 43 miles.)

- They assume the stations you cited are the only ones that require protection. I didn't check whether there's another station, say, on 107.1, that any theoretical WRZI movein would have to protect. (I know you missed WFPK with regard to the "92.3 within 80 miles of Louisville", so it's VERY possible there are other stations that would preclude some of these moves)

- The 60dBu interference-protected service contour of a maximum-facility Class A station extends only 17.6 miles. If these restrictions force one of these moveins to be more than 18 miles from Louisville, the station will have no protected coverage in the city. For example, IIRC WZKF, WDJX, and WVEZ transmit from the Floyds Knob TV towers. WQXE, WKMO, WHHT, and WRZI would all have to be at least 39 miles from Floyds Knob -- no site that's 39 miles from Floyds Knob is going to be within 18 miles of most of the population of the market.

- You can do almost anything if you have enough $$$. I suppose you could buy WBKR Owensboro, WLXX Lexington, and WFPK; surrender the latter two licenses for cancellation; petition for the deletion of the 92.9C1 assignment in Lexington; move WBKR to Shivley & downgrade to Class C3. I'm sure it would be a lot cheaper to buy an existing station... Alternatively, you could pay off WAMZ to downgrade to Class A, and you could then move WSLM within 16 miles of WAMZ. Again, not cheap.

 

[gr8oldies]

I was expecting a few first round draft picks to go with all those trades. If those stations could have been moved in, wouldn't the big boys already have done it?

 

[Bengalsfan]

All these moves are predicated on someone else not objecting to the move. If someone files an objection or petition to deny, you can add between 5 and 8 years along with another million bucks to the process.

I would like to expand on Goat's question with this. Why try and carve up a piece of the small Louisville pie when you can go out and make your own pie? There are lots of smaller stations in underserved markets available. Nobody is doing anything in Shelbyville. Clear Channel has their FM there in the Aloha trust. There's the stations in Eminence that cover Henry, Oldham and parts of Trimble and Shelby counties.

You could not give me a station in Louisville. Too many dogs fighting over the same bone. I'd rather go off and find my own bone.

 

[gr8oldies]

Fine and good but if you buy a station in Shelbyville to play the cool music off your iPod, you'll be in for a rude awakening.

 

[Bengalsfan]

Fine and good but if you buy a station in Shelbyville to play the cool music off your iPod, you'll be in for a rude awakening.

Keep it relevant to Shelbyville and Shelby County, and you might be surprised at the results.

 

[William_Yeager]

Fine and good but if you buy a station in Shelbyville to play the cool music off your iPod, you'll be in for a rude awakening.

Keep it relevant to Shelbyville and Shelby County, and you might be surprised at the results.

Power 93.3 seems to be doing well for itself as an LPFM. A properly executed AC could do well in Shelby County, since most of the office listening defaults to 100.5 or 106.9.

 

[radiorob2.0]

WITZ isn't an option. They are to Southwest Indiana what WSGS is to Eastern Kentucky. The owners have no intention of giving up their radio station.