Texas Radio Station Down Under

Recently, our very small East Texas Station has been getting lots of emails from listeners in Australia who tune in on line at www.kzqx.com . I'm not sure why or how we were found, but we are certainly happy to make new friends anywhere in the world.

Maybe our particular blend of Adult Standards is unusual in OZ? It certainly is in East Texas, but the locals seem to really like it anyway. One Internet listener told us we were mentioned in an article in an Adelaide newspaper called The Advertiser. Maybe that's it, although I'd be curious to know how they found us. Right now, it is a mystery.

In any case, the Internet has certainly made the world a smaller place.

Chuck

Re: How is your coverage

> Recently, our very small East Texas Station has been getting
> lots of emails from listeners in Australia who tune in on
> line at www.kzqx.com . I'm not sure why or how we were
> found, but we are certainly happy to make new friends
> anywhere in the world.
>
> Maybe our particular blend of Adult Standards is unusual in
> OZ? It certainly is in East Texas, but the locals seem to
> really like it anyway. One Internet listener told us we were
> mentioned in an article in an Adelaide newspaper called The
> Advertiser. Maybe that's it, although I'd be curious to
> know how they found us. Right now, it is a mystery.
>
> In any case, the Internet has certainly made the world a
> smaller place.
>
> Chuck
>
I noticed you have several FM frequencys that you broadcast on. What kind of coverage are you getting out of each one of your FM transmitters? I havent never been able to get good (LEGAL) coverage out of fm, thats why I am on A.M now. By the way, Congradulations on your success of your webstream, I wish I could succesfully set up a web stream, and actually keep it online, I must be doing something wrong.

Re: How is your coverage

> I noticed you have several FM frequencys that you broadcast
> on. What kind of coverage are you getting out of each one
> of your FM transmitters? I havent never been able to get
> good (LEGAL) coverage out of fm, thats why I am on A.M now.
> By the way, Congradulations on your success of your
> webstream, I wish I could succesfully set up a web stream,
> and actually keep it online, I must be doing something
> wrong.
>
I don't think it is possible to get "good" legal coverage from a Part 15 FM station. The FCC rules for field strength are designed to make sure that a legal unlicensed FM station will not go much farther than your front yard.

We are a licensed LPFM broadcaster. Our primary frequency is 104.7 at 74 watts ERP. We are also broadcast on two FCC licensed translators in the area. One is 45 watts ERP the other is 80 watts ERP. Each one is good for reliable car radio coverage of about 10 miles, sometimes as much as 15 miles on a good day. In some areas, all three stations overlap coverage. The two translators are located in city centers, so according to the US Census, we are covering well over 100,000 people with the three frequencies.

Re: How is your coverage

I wish I could succesfully set up a web stream,
> and actually keep it online, I must be doing something
> wrong.

Sorry, I forgot to answer the other part of your question. We orignate the web stream here in East Texas, but it is distributed by a third party company that specialized in web audio distribution (www.irn.fm). We pay for that service.

At our studio, the stream is originated be an old computer which we have dedicated to the job. From our console, the audio goes to a distribution amplifier that also feeds our transmitter. One of those outputs goes through a separate copmpressor limiter and some equalization before it goes to the sound card on the streaming computer. The streamer uses a program called "Simplecast" which sends the stream via our Internet conection to the servers at IRN, which are located in Florida. They handle it from there providing both Shoutcast and Windows Media streams. It seems to work quite well. It's even stereo.

The only problem is you get a monthly bill. But the IRN people are reasonable for what they provide.