• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Why does it take so long...

Ai4i

Ai4i

...to install or move a station?
I don't mean a complicated directional AM, just a simple omni-directional FM, or even a wee little signal-challenged FM translator? I see these stations getting construction permits and then I wait for them to begin broadcasting from their new locations. I wait and wait for weeks and weeks which turn into months and months, checking their frequency every day when I get into my car. It seems that if all the equipment arrives during one week, and the station hires a small staff of qualified engineers, perhaps from the equipment suppliers, they should be able to do most of the necessary work during the following week and be on the air on the third Monday morning, not with all the studios and offices in place, but with the ability to plug the output of a microwave receiver or an internet audio feed into the transmitter and be on the air fully legally.
 
ai4i said:
...to install or move a station?
I don't mean a complicated directional AM, just a simple omni-directional FM, or even a wee little signal-challenged FM translator? I see these stations getting construction permits and then I wait for them to begin broadcasting from their new locations. I wait and wait for weeks and weeks which turn into months and months, checking their frequency every day when I get into my car. It seems that if all the equipment arrives during one week, and the station hires a small staff of qualified engineers, perhaps from the equipment suppliers, they should be able to do most of the necessary work during the following week and be on the air on the third Monday morning, not with all the studios and offices in place, but with the ability to plug the output of a microwave receiver or an internet audio feed into the transmitter and be on the air fully legally.
Click to expand...

Let me add to that: It's surprising how many stations wait for literally the last minute before filing for program test authority! Keep in mind they have three years to construct a facility. It used to only be one!
 
I'm over 2 years in and have seen best laid plans go south. I'm talking about stuff I can't control, I'm talking city, county, etc. Then there is lining up the people, having weather cooperate and such. I know a guy that has been waiting for his site to dry out enough to get his tower built...record rainfall two years straight for him. It is amazing all the things that can change after you file. For example, for me the tower I was going to use was not available at the height I have a CP for and the lower height won't get me the coverage I need. I've gone through trying to get the city, then the county at another nearby site to get approval to build. I'll have to file a change for the CP if I can get a yes in time. What should be pretty easy has never been so hard. I had wondered the same thing as you!
 
The situations to which I was referring were ones where the support structures already existed...a TV tower, a roof, a cell tower for a translator.
 
While ai4i's ultimate scenario does play out (now and then), one thing that usually stands in the way of immediate construction is the fact that few arrangements can be cast in stone before the CP is granted. Few companies would spend their resources, writing up construction agreements that were contingent on a successful application. In fact, I sometimes wonder how many of these small operators actually have the minimum "informal agreement", that the Commission requires. Over the past year, I've run into several projects, where tower owners are surprised to learn a CP has been granted for their tower, and now there's an urgency to come up with an actual lease. Also, I don't know many who would buy their studio and STL gear, prior to being granted the CP. As for tossing up the antenna and feeding it off the internet or an iPod... that could get you into some possible FCC studio issues that wouldn't be wise to encourage.

Other issues can get in the way, in addition to b-turner's list. Frequently though, it just comes down to money. Most of the small clients I've run across have jumped into the broadcast pool with little going for them, other than the desire to spread their voice over the facilities of their own transmitter. Many believe that, though they don't actually have the cash in hand when they apply, others will support them with their wallets when the time comes. In the case of LPs, I've read articles about how some organizations are shocked at the class's mortality rate. From what I gather, much of it results from the heart meeting the stark reality of what it takes to actually build and run a station over time.

In one extreme case, A client of mine wrote an app for a cell tower, got the leasing company's permission and eventually won the CP. THEN, they went looking for the tower and found that while it was on the leasing company's registry, it hadn't actually been built.

Start from scratch!
 
Last edited:
In the Miami area, three directional AMs are about to shuffle around with six new directional patterns (but probably no new towers) and transmitters being relocated or replaced, but all three facilities are co-owned.
I expect my grandchildren to see this project completed.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom