When an LPFM decides to call it quits...

[radioboy]

In reading some of bturner's LPFM stories, especially the failures, it occurred to me, that it's a shame
that most of us don't know about their troubles until we read that "the license was surrendered."

It would be nice if there was some way of communicating the needs of LPFM stations needing out of the business with parties who are working to enter the business. Perhaps stations still on the air could help locate "entering applicants" that the station could be transferred to. Maybe there are other ways the match could be mutually beneficial.

Just a thought.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

I wish I had the time and the resources to track down the LPFMs that have ceased operation and do a postmortem on the failures. It might turn out to be a great text book for surviving LPFMs and those who are planning to apply.

Since something like 40 to 50% of LPFMs have been set up by churches and religious oriented groups, I expect that at least 40 to 50% of the shut downs are church related. In those cases the answer is probably: It was a lot of trouble, more expensive than we expected, and we were not seeing "results"... whatever their definition of results.

Yes, it would be nice if rather than having LPFMs fall off into some kind of a virtual sinkhole, the word could go out in hopes of finding a new group of volunteers who would take over the operation (following FCC rules for such a change).

But... there is a companion issue: Commercial broadcasters are turning in licenses also, and the current procedures do not seem to make it easy or possible for anyone to know the crash is coming. In the early days of broadcasting there was a lot more emphasis on "service to a community" where today it is treated (at the FCC) as just one more business transaction. It's possible for a shoe store to become financially dead, it's possible for a radio station to become financially dead!.

In the larger markets, the "Darwin at work" policy of let them die so the rest of the herd can survive is probably a defend-able policy. But out in rural areas where a commercial station may be the only one in a county, why wouldn't there be a requirement that a pending shutdown will open up an application process.

I assume some operators of stations try hard to find someone to take it over.... but others are driven by our built in sense of pride and they don't want the embarrassment of announcing their failure... and putting out the word destroys their built-in ego defense that "no one could have made it work" under the circumstances. There is no use to put the word out. If I can't make it work, no new applicant could either. So, let's quietly bury this loser.

It's a shame in some cases. It's a good riddance in some cases.

 

[Carmine5]

One problem I've read about is the lack of volunteers to staff an LPFM. It seems that when the station is first lit, the enthusiasm is high and there is no shortage of support. But as the months wear on, the enthusiasm flags and volunteers allow more pressing needs to fill their schedule, interfering with their radio duties. And what is a station manager going to do about volunteers? You can't fire them or order them back to work. In some ways, the LPFM service is broken (or at least hamstrung) and the rules should be reexamined by the FCC.

I would imagine that since the wealthiest owners of LPFM stations are churches, it is these stations that stand the best chance of survival. After all, it is churches that would most likely have the money to hire someone to manage and operate the station.

 

[Chuck]

One problem I've read about is the lack of volunteers to staff an LPFM. It seems that when the station is first lit, the enthusiasm is high and there is no shortage of support. But as the months wear on, the enthusiasm flags and volunteers allow more pressing needs to fill their schedule, interfering with their radio duties. And what is a station manager going to do about volunteers? You can't fire them or order them back to work. In some ways, the LPFM service is broken (or at least hamstrung) and the rules should be reexamined by the FCC.

I would imagine that since the wealthiest owners of LPFM stations are churches, it is these stations that stand the best chance of survival. After all, it is churches that would most likely have the money to hire someone to manage and operate the station.

I believe you are quite right. Like a lot of other volunteer organizations, it is hard to keep the enthusiasm level up, especially when the formula for success reads a lot like the instructions on a shampoo bottle: "Lather, Rinse & Repeat." Radio, by it's nature, is repetitive. At first it seems like fun, but eventually, it can seem like work to a volunteer. Even the best intended participants find that life sometimes gets in the way of their volunteerism.

I had the opportunity to jump ship from running a successful LPFM to buying a full power commercial FM station. To do so, I had to dispose of the LPFM. I actually had a hard time finding a qualified entity in my community that would take it. Seriously, it was hard to give it away. I finally persuaded a local community church to take it over. At least, it still belongs to people in my area, and it is still on the air. I wish I could tell you that they have done great things with it, but the jury is out on that one.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

And what is a station manager going to do about volunteers? You can't fire them or order them back to work. In some ways, the LPFM service is broken (or at least hamstrung) and the rules should be reexamined by the FCC.

What a great bit of insight for this thread, and for the greater conversation in various forums about "how to do LPFM". Some of us have been so arrogant as to suggest that we have really great ideas for LPFM... and for small community radio commercial-style as well.

My guess is that a large number of LPFMs have one main prime-mover of a person with a dream that makes them work. And we can offer suggestions on WHO that person needs to be. A technically strong person who knows how to milk the most out of an automation machine... and keep the total set of equipment cleaned and maintained? A programmer who knows music forward and backward? A community oriented person who knows the weaknesses and strengths of the community and will create informational programming that suits the community and thus draws in the listeners?

No. Maybe the.... [Hey, help me with semantics. I want to insert the words "alpha male" here but I am very sensitive to female involvement in this old world.. Is there a term that is gender inclusive that fits here?] So, let the thought continue:

No. Maybe the Alpha-person at the center of any organization that is going to establish and maintain an LPFM has to be one of those gifted persons who can reach out and recruit.... and keep... volunteers. Find a volunteer good at programming concepts. Find a volunteer who can be THE gear-head or LEAD the gear-heads who install and maintain equipment and teach the rest of us how to run it.

I would imagine that since the wealthiest owners of LPFM stations are churches, it is these stations that stand the best chance of survival. After all, it is churches that would most likely have the money to hire someone to manage and operate the station.

The "wealthy" churches are probably not involved in the establishment and operation of LPFMs. Maybe they should be?

I don't know if you are into sorting churches into distinctive groups... and whether you have looked up church-owned LPFMs to see what distinctive group tends to get all excited about having their very own little LPFM.

The established major denominational churches would be idea candidates to operate LPFMs. I see that the national church organizations of this type file comments with the FCC suggesting what LPFMs should do and program, and they fit in with the Prometheus concepts of what LPFM should do. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your theological and political views, the local congregations of this branch of church do not have the same excitement about the concept.

The kinds of churches that DO get excited about establishing an LPFM are the Evangelical, Independent, Bible-Community-Church types who see the LPFM serving their needs the way a hearing-aid sales organization or a security alarm sales organization sees a "telephone boiler room" operation. "Will this radio station generate as many new converts and new donors as spending the same amount of money on some other technique?" These churches, when located in areas where an LPFM can be slotted into the frequency spectrum, tend to be up-to-about-here in expenses and building debt. And if you will profile the typical members of churches like this, you may not find very many people who have the right mind-set to wrap their brain around what an LPFM should be, and what it takes to make one work.

They know how to make a $75,000 sound system work and churn out CDs of the sermon which people buy on the way out the door to give to their favorite prospect-to-become-a-future-church-member. They have seminars, books and internet list-serves on how to do that. To do an LPFM... they are pretty much on their own... to invent the wheel with no blue prints available from magazines like Fine Homebuilding or Good Housekeeping.

Sorry about that. I got carried away! Take my ramblins and grumblings and amend them with some useful suggestions and observations.

 

[babysitting-automation]

I'm sorry. This is 2013. Not, 1973. Some guys don't get it. What worked in 1973 does not work anymore. Today's modern wireless device is called the Iphone 5. Radio is antique technology. That's just how it is. The salary of the DJ has been on the decline all my life and few are training for the position today.
I know their are some whack jobs out there who think a radio station should sign off if it does not have a human being at all times in the chair mixing each and every song by hand.
And, those of you who believe this, I hope you spend the rest of your life in the chair as a slave of your dream.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

I know their are some whack jobs out there who think a radio station should sign off if it does not have a human being at all times in the chair mixing each and every song by hand.

I realize it is not 1973 anymore, I also realize then, that it is not 1953 anymore. I don't know how to break this to you, but in spite of the fact it is 2013, there some of us "whack jobs" out here who still go to church on Sunday morning. When the local university sets up a lecture series on "foreign Affairs"... we show up. There are some of us whack jobs who still do charitable community service work.

If we all saw the world the way you see the world, there would not be a set of laws and regulation to even create a class of radio called LPFM. Unfortunately, the whole LPFM concept is somewhat corrupted because some people get into it thinking they can play live D.J. playing some genre of music that belongs in 1953 or 1973 or 1993.

If I had the financial resources and the volunteer resources, any LPFM that I was involved in would have zero, nada, zilch programs where someone being or imitating a D.J. would sit and play records. The entire broadcast day would be devoted to making time slots available to people who want to report, discuss, promote and agitate for things, topics, ideas that are peculiar to the community where the station operates. Unfortunately, a lot of communities don't have enough going on to fill up a day with reports, discussion, promotion and agitation, so it becomes necessary to fill some of the hours with inert materials, just like the prescriptions from the drugstore have a tiny amount of drugs all held together and made large enough to find it when you drop it on the floor so your pill is 53, 73 or 93% inert material. As far as I am concerned, LPFM uses music primarily as inter material to keep from signing off 40 minutes out of every hour.

Somebody needs to go interview the mayor. Somebody needs to moderate a round table discussion on the adequacy of the health care delivery system in your city or community or county. Somebody needs to get school system officials discuss how modern day schools work (differently than they did in 1953, 1973, 1993) and how parents can help their children understand today's educational process. How many of us are trying to force our kids to be 1973 kids without advice and then they get up every morning and try to make "heads and tails" of an education process that is 2013 all the way.

I'm with you. Any one, any group holding a license for an LPFM that is trying to be a 1973 disc jockey should ship their station license back to the FCC via FedEX Overnite.

But for those of us dreaming of ways to be community a'la 2013, we would appreciate you not throwing cold water out the window while we are having a discussion down below your window. And don't be urinating out the window either. ;D

 

[Carmine5]

I'm sorry. This is 2013. Not, 1973. Some guys don't get it. What worked in 1973 does not work anymore. Today's modern wireless device is called the Iphone 5. Radio is antique technology. That's just how it is. The salary of the DJ has been on the decline all my life and few are training for the position today.
I know their are some whack jobs out there who think a radio station should sign off if it does not have a human being at all times in the chair mixing each and every song by hand.
And, those of you who believe this, I hope you spend the rest of your life in the chair as a slave of your dream.

Here's what you don't get: FM radio is coming to mobile phones. It's already on select phones from Verizon, AT&T and Sprint and could easily be on the iPhone since Apple uses the Broadcom chip which has this capability (it just needs a software unlock). Congress likes the idea and may make it mandatory.

And it makes total sense to have FM on a cell phone. Mobile networks are built assuming that only a percentage of users will use the network at the same time. On occasions in which usage begins to exceed capacity, the networks begin to exhibit stress. This is especially true in emergencies. We know only too well that cell networks can and do quit during a disaster (or can be purposely shut down as happened during the Boston Marathon attack so that a cell phone could not be used to remotely trigger another bomb). And yet, radio kept broadcasting, keeping the public informed.

Then we have the ugly reality of data caps. Here again, broadcasting, with its one-to-many architecture, can provide music and news without consumers ever dipping into their monthly data allotments. So radio is coming to mobile phones and is, in fact, here. Get over it.

On the matter of a lack of reliable volunteers for LPFM stations, the question would be: how do you recruit and retain good volunteers--providing enough incentive for them to remain with the station on a consistent basis and stay enthused about it? When referencing churches, I was thinking about Calvary Chapel and the many LPFM stations they operate. In the case of large religious organizations like them, they have a healthy income stream that is apart from the stations which they use to disseminate religious thought in the community and possibly attract new adherents while teaching established members. They would be in the best position to keep the stations going since they don't rely on them for income or even that the stations sustain themselves.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

All of us participating in this thread are reaching across a big wide gulch to communicate with each other because our feet are planted in different view and philosophies.

There are not very many "churches" (Are they really one?) than run in the league with Calvary Chapel. Those of use who walk down the block to the nearest Methodist place of worship, or drive less than a mile to get to a Catholic Church, or drive five miles to find a Presbyterian Church and commute 12 miles to a Mega-Church with Baptist theology (with or without the name out front) don't have much of anything in common with Calvary Chapel.

Technically, Calvary Chapel does not operate ANY LPFMs. Since they operate some NCEs and translators and whatever, they are not able to apply for and receive a license for an LPFM. They find some gracious adherent out in Caulksville, AR or somewhere who will put a transmitter and computer in the garage or in a bedroom closet at home, and apply for the license in the name of some not-for-profit corporation put together by the legal staff at Calvary Chapel. There is probably not even a microphone on the premises. If the satellite goes down, there is NO ability to generate local programming. They can repeat and repeat and repeat whatever standby or leftover programming material is on the hard drive.

There is nowhere in the congressional record or the FCC rules and regulations where this kind of bast... oh, I'm sorry, where this kind of illegitimate concept was intended.

There are a number of Evangelical congregations across America that did put in stations with the equipment stashed somewhere in the building. They primary broadcast content that is comfort-food to their own flock, and they have hopes that "enquirers" will tune in and soon come and present themselves to become members of the flock. Local radio was able to accomplish some of that kind of transaction 50 to 70 years ago. But not today.

Regarding the concept that ALL broadcasting is going away. We assume people who have a staff and a concept to run a viable commercial radio station today will figure out some way to move that function over a period of time to the Internet, the phone, the podcast... and to some other configurations we don't even know about yet.

If I put a new LPFM on the air as part of the next window... I would be telling the board, the donors, the staff, the volunteers... we may be doing this as a temporary venture. For now it gives us a "leg up" on other people who are trying to start new blogs and newsletters and other ways to reaching into the community. For now, while LPFM and broadcasting in general are still alive, still viable, we will have "a leg up" on other people trying to do new media from scratch. We have the legitimacy and prominence that goes with "being sanctioned by the FCC." We are a licensed broadcaster. With a bit of energy we can quality for "press passes" to get into meetings where some guy doing a podcast from his bedroom down the street may not be able to get such creditials. With an FCC license on our wall, we can "bully" local governments into giving us the time of day if we want to cover local happenings. Wing-nuts doing blogs and podcasts that have no desire and government pressure to do any kind of community service will find it harder to "make friends" with community leaders.

But from Day One we had better be about the business of being the first or among the first to also be using the new methods that will eventually connect people into community... the kind of community that focuses on being in the same geography.

Can I prove all this? No. Today we are ALL sailing into uncharted waters. Commercial broadcasters. Local newspapers. Bloggers. Internet community newsletters. Non Commercial broadcasters. What we all have in common is that we all face a future with a lot of unknowns and very little confidence that the communications industry as we know it will survive, or which parts will survive.

I don't know any reason why LPFM should be singled out any more than any other genre for the clucking-of-tongues and as the Southerners would say: "Why bless your little heart. You don't really know that you don't know, do you." ;D

 

[Chuck]

My guess is that a large number of LPFMs have one main prime-mover of a person with a dream that makes them work. And we can offer suggestions on WHO that person needs to be. A technically strong person who knows how to milk the most out of an automation machine... and keep the total set of equipment cleaned and maintained? A programmer who knows music forward and backward? A community oriented person who knows the weaknesses and strengths of the community and will create informational programming that suits the community and thus draws in the listeners?

I think a good term for that person is called a "Spark Plug." The same thing that makes your car run. Who ever that is needs to be very versatile, being able to competently do many jobs, including engineering, programming, human resources and music programming. A good business background doesn't hurt either. These folks are out there and can run a LPFM station quite successfully.

 

[bturner]

It looks like the complainers are saying its my way or the highway. You need to understand that radio, like people, like states, counties and such are all different and have different requirements and expectations to fulfill their mission. In some parts of the country there is the support for 'live' and it works because people feel they need it and will support it. Admittedly it is in more weather volitile areas.

As for radio being antique, that is pure rubbish. Instead of having a transistor radio to your ear, you now use your phone. I'm assuming you are saying over the air radio is dead...antique. In today's modern age of exceptional options for listening, the most listened to options are broadcast stations (aka: over the air). How long that will last is anybody's guess but I have seen many times internet, cell and landline phones were down as you sat in a dark house glued to the radio.

 

[babysitting-automation]

Let's put it this way, I will be on the air till the day I die. I love radio and have been on the air 45 years. Not only as a jock, but a licensee. I'm not going broke because I know how to make money and I know how to use it as well.
But, this is not 1973. People use to tune the dial looking for songs. They don't do that anymore.
It will take a year for as many to discover a new FM or TV station as would have found you in one week in the old days. Proceed cautiously if you are going to build a new station in 2016. That's my advice. And, my station is loved in my town. Our bills are all paid.

 

[bturner]

Good point. I doubt it will take a year where I'll be looking to go. In a 3 station market, I think being #4 will get discovered a bit quicker than a year especially with the gameplan we have developed.

I'm glad to hear of your success. I've been in radio since 1978 and while not a licensee at the moment I'm a GM at a Top 10 market station...no, not a top rated station, but we pull a nice profit.

I'm not proposing local and live but I know a few broadcasters in areas where it is expected and needed. We both know there's enough to do already without adding a daily board shift to the workload.

And with care, automation can sound live and local.

 

[radioboy]

I would never have left radio, except that my former employer decided to lease his station out to a third party and everyone got tossed. I am the only one still in town since my family and support system is here.

In my radio career I have done everything except be a licensee. So at this point it is looking like..start an LPFM or be locked out of local radio. So I am opting for the LPFM.

When I worked for the local AM I was able to get its revenue up somewhat, around $10k, without any real ratings and not much help from management. Given that my family owns the proposed LPFM
site, that will alleviate landlord problems.

I am not anti-automation by any means. But we will be programmed in house, and will have live programming regularly every day. That is because, with the exception of a couple of live shows on Cumulus stations, most everything else is satellite or VT from out of the market. And we have
rough weather in Florida.

 

[bturner]

Sounds like very valid reasons for some live and local programming. Regardless of advancing technology, we still look to the medium of radio in times we need the most up to the minute information. I recall flash flooding here (when 18 wheelers were bobbing in the flooded freeway) while the voice tracked stations said 'flash flood warning in effect, a good night to stay indoors' but the TV stations that did news were doing wall to wall non-commercial coverage. During that time 911 went down, evacuation centers flooded, hospitals lost power, the police could not get to you nor could any emergency service and in one hour it rained 7 inches. Parts of town got 36 inches of rain. Syndicated programming and voicetracking continued on every station but one that decided they had better cut the live baseball game and do coverage. Was this a small town? No, the #6 market in the country. Live and local at time in a place where voicetracking iis thhe norm, especially when weather tends to get bad, is a great idea.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

I found it interesting while watching the news and current events lately to learn that former President George W. Bush has taken up "Painting" as an interest. And apparently there have been a number of images sitting over in the corner of his brain somewhere that have now been put on canvas.

Why do I tell that story? Because I haven't touched an automation machine in years. decades. But somewhere over in the corner of MY brain there are images and sounds of what I would do with an automation machine even in a pinched-budget LPFM. If you are GWB... you don't have to worry whether you are going to make a living by venturing into painting. If you are someone who is fascinated by the idea of creating sound that is broadcast out to the masses, if you are in LPFM... and probably some small-market commercial stations, you have that same freedom to "paint some sound in a way that no one else puts sound on canvas."

Though I haven't touched an automation machine lately, I am a "closet computer nerd". There are ways you can take a half-dozen trusted communit associates (along with yourself) and set up a "back door" to FTP announcements, warning, informations, hopeful/helpful hints into the automation machine and move them to the head of the list! If you as the primary person of the LPFM structure don't know how, chances are someone in your community who does NOT have this big desire to hear their own voice on the air is a computer nerd who will gladly set up the mechanics that will make it possible to change the flow of programming on a dime and meet the challenges of emergency conditions. I would think the satisfaction of one outstanding performance during a major emergency would be equal payback for five or seven years of sweeping floors, dusting the studio furniture, and begging for selling endorsements.

And if you do the sensible good-neighbor thing and reach out to a dozen or so other LPFMs around you in an effort to exchange helpful ideas you may find another station that already has such a mechanism, and their ego would be stroked by letting you steal share the metodology.

 

[WRPO]

Our little station has been on air for almost 11 years..and we STILL talk to some of the townspeople that don't know the station is here. Hard to beleive, I know..but a fact. We do a lot of local remotes, advertise in local newspapers and more..but they still just don't know. In the warm weather we get tens of thousands of 'week-ender' that come to the lake..and most of them listen to our station...most tell us they love it! I have been in broadcasting for over 50 years..working in big and small stations all over the US..but now enjoying this more than ever. Hope I live to be 100 so I can still enjoy my little station. Fail is not an option...keep the faith guys..and make your station grow, and have fun doing it!

 

[johndavis]

I think a good term for that person is called a "Spark Plug." The same thing that makes your car run. Who ever that is needs to be very versatile, being able to competently do many jobs, including engineering, programming, human resources and music programming. A good business background doesn't hurt either. These folks are out there and can run a LPFM station quite successfully.

Not different from the people who run college radio stations. If they are successful, they have a core of volunteers who keep things running fairly consistently while the bulk of 100+ volunteers fluctuates throughout the year. It's not for everybody, and without that core it's hard to keep it running. But the one thing that schools and churches provide is an infrastructure to bring in a flow of interested volunteers. The hard part is finding ones with the inclination and/or the funding.

 

[KFodor]

I'm sorry. This is 2013. Not, 1973. Some guys don't get it. What worked in 1973 does not work anymore. Today's modern wireless device is called the Iphone 5. Radio is antique technology. That's just how it is. The salary of the DJ has been on the decline all my life and few are training for the position today.
I know their are some whack jobs out there who think a radio station should sign off if it does not have a human being at all times in the chair mixing each and every song by hand.
And, those of you who believe this, I hope you spend the rest of your life in the chair as a slave of your dream.

Some of us who do LP-FM's run it live some days and some hours...and automate the rest, recording programming from home studios and uploading it to a computer.

We don't do it for salary...I get some expenses reimbursed. And graciously accept it. But that's because we've gone from almost no underwriters to about 100.

And in our community, the station is gaining listeners each day. The i-Phone is just one technology. It has not and will not replace radio.