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WXRJ BLOOMINGTON ON-AIR SEPTEMBER 22nd

D

dead-air

Guest
There has been talk over the past few days in B/N about WXRJ and when it is going on-air. According to their website (under events) they are going to begin testing on August 31st and begin regular broadcasting on September 22nd! Below is the link to their website.

http://www.wxrj.org
 
The first thing I find hilarious with the WXRJ web site is "A Brand New Radio Experience is coming to McLean County!" A tad deceptive in my opinion. That thing is not going to be serving Mclean County...in my opinion it isn't going to be serving the greater portions of Normal or Bloomington! Take a look at the proposed coverage map (below). With little antenna height (94 feet) and little power (100 watts) it will not be able to penetrate State Farm corporate or other buildings with sizeable workforce. From what I can see...their web site is not disclosing how much money they have been given in donations...nor who the contributors are!

What happened to Aaron C? I don't see him mentioned on the web site! I had heard at one time he was the Big Kahuna with this Mister Microphone endeavor..was he thrown under the bus with project?

http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=FL515693.html
 
By the look of the 60dbu signal, listed in the FCC database/on-line, they should have no major problem of reaching the transit/motor based audience.. Depending on adjacent channel distance and co-channel distance from their area, their 54dbu (50/10) and the 45 dbu (marketable standard in automobiles) should cover Bloomington, fine.. I ENG a couple of LPFM's and you can do alot with them, as long as you have web streaming and support... It's called niche... It can work... Ours does... :)
 
The shown signal only covers portions of veterans parkway (barely) ;D Until web capable radios become standard, the drive time audience is only going to be a short distance. I agree with supplementing by using webcasting...WXRJ is not showing they will be webcasting. Unless they webcast...they will not be heard in the majority of homes and businesses in greater B/N in my opinion. They are NOT a
Mc Lean County radio station as their website is trying to paint. Yes, niche programming works...by being realistic and finding an area to hyper-focus on and super serve. Not being realistic and having delusions of grandeur is the path for heartache and failure.

Why aren't all the parties involved with this project revealed on the website? Surely there has to be more than the Station Manager. What happened to Aaron C? We had heard he was the Grand PooBah of this project...now he's not even mentioned! What happened to him?

Revealing who is involved and offering total disclosure, I have a feeling they would find more people helping with the cause. Where are the studios located? Where is the public file? All that is being shown is a PO Box and the Station Manager's ego driven profile. No lists of programs, no list of hosts (assuming this won't be an automated glorified mp3 player), No list of Donors or Sponsorships. On their application, WXRJ pledged to originate locally 8 hours a day of programming (see below link), What is the local programming? No specific local programming is shown on the website (just vague mentions.) I hope they don't consider playing music like an mp3 player/jukebox eight hours a day as offering "local" programming. If they are going to rely on music...hopefully they have paid all the licensing fees required (another thing not mentioned on the website). When begging for money, it is nice to know what the operating costs are! How much is the Station Manager being paid (or is it strictly volunteer)? How much is anyone being paid? Exactly where is the donated money going?!!!

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=100515693&formid=318&fac_num=126570
 
Nosferatu said:
What happened to Aaron C? We had heard he was the Grand PooBah of this project...now he's not even mentioned! What happened to him?
Click to expand...

Maybe he's back to driving a city bus! ;)
 
Remember that the 60dbu is just that.. 90% radios of any make will receive a 54dbu and 80% of today's makes will receive a 45 to 50dbu... The 60 is city grade protected.. The key is what is the closest co-channel and nearby first adjacent channels.... That's the kicker....
 
No challenge to your technical knowledge was meant in the previous postings by me. I respect what you have done and know Skipper! :)

The above postings stem from a radio station that in my opinion is trying to give an impression via their website and word of mouth that they are a Mc Lean County radio station. Your knowledge of midwest radio/cities is deep Skipper, but with your being in Indiana I don't know if you are aware how large the county is or have looked it up. It is the largest county (landmass) in this state.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McLean_County,_Illinois

In my opinion WXRJ is not going to be serving the county. Being niche based they shouldn't even think they are. If members involved with this project are not in the mindset of being micro-niche then they might be in store for heartache. If they are actually aware of the limitations but are putting a spin of being larger than what they can be...then they are nothing more than hucksters when asking for donations in my opinion.

Once again, this brings me to the questions:

Who is completely involved with this project?

Are the members strictly volunteer or are some paid?

What are the expenses?

How much for the antenna, the transmitter etc?

How much for the engineering firm of Cavell Mertz?

These are fair questions when an outfit is operating under a tax-exempt status and is begging for money. Their website does not show what they need financially to operate. On August 15, 2006 WXRJ went to the city of Normal begging for money!

http://www.normal.org/Gov/Boards/HRC/HRCMinutes2006_08_15Joint.asp

Asking for money from tax payers means they should not have a problem standing in the light and revealing who is completely involved and what the expenses are (who is and isn't being paid too.)

Where's Cranston Sparks who was originally part of this? I don't see him mentioned on the WXRJ website.

http://www.fccinfo.com/CMDProEngine.php?sCurrentService=FM&tabSearchType=Appl&sAppIDNumber=515693&PHPSESSID=be6c962b67ad0b736f44b53d128e53f9

Where is Aaron C?
 
Nosferatu said:
Where is Aaron C?
Click to expand...

He's alive and well in B/N :)

I spoke with him on the phone last week and he seems to be part of WXRJ. I don't know if he is an unpaid volunteer or holds some other position/title. I know he goes way back to the year 2000 when this was first thought of and Mike Bove` was brought in for the technical side.

If you want to contact Aaron...feel free to email me...I will pass it along to him.
 
Here's the question I have...

If the original person the CP was issued to is no longer part of the project...and no transfer or notification of change was given to the FCC...is the CP for the LPFM even valid? If they fire the transmitter up on the 31st will it be legal? I noticed the contact name and address on the application link above (FCC) does not match contact name and address of the WXRJ website. Also, as mentioned above the original person the CP issued to might no longer be involved.

Looking at their website I notice a Sponsorship page. Hopefully that is only for the website and they aren't going to sell commercial time on LPFM!!!
 
Seems to have a lot of ?????? for a new LPFM... Interesting comments, and YES, I must agree that most of the corn and bean fields of the County will be outside the signal... I guess, I was looking at the meat of the population in B-N....... This will be interesting to watch as the date approaches... ;)
 
Seems to be some last minute changes with WXRJ! They have filed a "Minor Modification to a Construction Permit." Below is the link to the FCC application. If you read the application it shows Aaron C is part of this project. He is listed as the Operations Manager. So, does this mean they are prevented from firing up the transmitter till the modifications to the CP are done?

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101202641&formid=318&fac_num=126570http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101202641&formid=318&fac_num=126570
 
Edgar McGraw said:
Looks like WXRJ might have messed up with their application in August...they have filed an adjustment to the CP again!
Click to expand...

In my opinion it doesn't surprise me if they had made mistakes. Look at who they have as Operations Manager. Big question is...will they be able to turn this thing on by the time their CP expires.

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/app_det.pl?Application_id=515693

They missed their own target date (announced on their website and mention at a community event) of September.

I looked over the last two apps and notice the original president is not even listed. So, since he is no longer part of this...the very person the CP was originally issued to...how can it continue? I am wondering since transfer of ownership/control is not allowed with LPFMs. Shouldn't this CP be cancelled?
 
Looks like WXRJ better be paying attention to the latest FCC rules to Promote the Growth of the LPFM radio Service. http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-278449A1.doc One of the things the FCC states is, "that repetitious, automated programming does not meet the local origination requirement". I believe that would mean being nothing more than a jukebox/mp3 player is OUT and having to offer LOCAL community programming is IN as disccused on other parts of this board.
Bloomington-Normal does not need another jukebox!!!

http://www.radio-info.com/smf/index.php/topic,86588.0.html

http://www.radio-info.com/smf/index.php/topic,48107.0.html
 
Nosferatu said:
I believe that would mean being nothing more than a jukebox/mp3 player is OUT and having to offer LOCAL community programming is IN
Click to expand...

I agree with you that being nothing more than a mp3 player/jukebox playing national material is not what it is about. I commented some on this in another section. http://www.radio-info.com/smf/index.php/topic,86588.0.html

Being Local-Local-Local is what it is about. Hokey---Hometown radio! Taking the place of what AMs used to do in the marketplace of yesteryear...being a community voice...not a jukebox. Being an outlet for local/regional music...being a proud visible part of the community. With that said...it takes dollars and manpower to accomplish this. Instead of griping on this board, perhaps use the time and energy to assist the community and help WXRJ. I know you can contact them via their website and if you would like Aaron C's email address feel free to email me. I speak to Aaron often and I know he would be interested in constructive input and would welcome community volunteers/donations. He is an easy person to talk with and I have a feeling would be warm to local programming ideas/shows.
 
Most FCC legal eagles define local programming as 'origination of programming'... I would remind our audience that the current Head Commish is lacking of understanding rules (and I am in his party, how embarrasing!).. He thought the help to LPFM would make LPFM more "Commerically Profitable"... We're Non-Com/Underwritten/Listener Support based... My 30 + years of radio takes the angle to say; if you're locally originating your music format (live, semiautomated to computer automated music, program sourced automation), and not taking and broadcasting your programming as a glorified translator net, and you are using some live programming (news, sports, public affairs), you're pretty much in the clear... If you had to provide local, live, board op'd programming 24/7, 98% of these would be out of wack.. Affordability is a major consideration in these locally licensed services... I AM REALLY EXCITED ABOUT THE DROPPING OF THE THIRD CHANNEL PROTECTION and the additional protection to the LPFM service.. Only in America, do we have a secondary service of 'translators' with 250 watts at 100 feet above average terrain, providing outside service to a extended coverage area (not a bad thing), having more 'bully' than the 100 watts at 100 feet above average terrain for a 'local service' within the smaller community and neighborhood.... Go figure?????? ::)
 
The story leads a light reader the impression this is the first African-Amercian station, ever, anywhere.. I hope WDIA doesn't get wind of that...Or WVON on 1690 in Berwyn/Chicago.. It read a little odd.. ???
 
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