My new top 40 station.

I plan on launching a top 40 station but need some help here. I don't know if equipment is needed for a pirate station and if it is, would someone be willing help me run it? I have no space for any equipment should that be needed (which I think it will be) but I will manage the website which is located here. I also need any of you guys with knowledge of the top 40 format to send me every song that has charted on the top 40 chart from 1980-2017. I do know of some songs that hit the chart so I will add those in. Check the playlist section of my website before submitting anything in so I don't get duplicates.

I sure don't want this to sound mean, but you'll have much greater satisfaction if you will search out the information yourself. Do not expect anyone to 'go in with you' on the project as it is your baby. Nobody will do the work for you. I'd start with searching for equipment you need to start a Part 15 station. There are lists online. And yes, it's sometimes hard to figure the right words to pull up results with a search engine.

Get Joel's book listed above. Next do a search for Part 15 stations. There is a website. Connect with a few of those people to learn what works and what doesn't as well as equipment suggestions. If you'll be doing an online station, do a search for some streaming stations, send emails. Ask for advice.

After you have done all of this, you will know what to aim for and build your station. You will have gained the knowledge and there's a lot more dedication on your part because you invested in the learning experience.

I would not pirate! The FCC has the option to fine you or not. Since their budget is slim at best, they need fines. Unlicensed operators can face a $15,000 fine on the first offense. They have been fining lots of people lately. Don't be fooled by operating for a couple of years and thinking you're okay. You eventually will be caught. The FCC does not knock on your door until they have the evidence to nail you to the wall with no wiggle room. And if you pirate and get caught, you are dead to the FCC. If you love radio and decide to eventually own a licensed station at some point in your life, being nabbed as a pirate may very well eliminate any possibility of that. At best you'll be doing lots of explaining about how you have the candor to earn a license.

DavidEduardo said:

And broadcasting and streaming subjects a "station" to music licensing fees and the stream requires DRM payments.

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I'm afraid that's the biggest bugaboo of all. Let's say you use an outfit like StreamLicensing (which is having its own troubles currently with ASCAP, BTW). Figure you achieve an average of 5 listeners per hour. That's .0017 x 5 listeners x 15 songs an hour x 24 hrs x 30 days = $91.80 per month. You'll either subsidize it and run it for your own satisfaction or ask for donations.

I used to admin a streaming station, TheRenegadeRoadhouse.co If you use the Wayback Machine you might find the home page frozen in time. We shut it down at the end of 2015 because of the 6-fold increase in streaming royalties.

P.S. It was the spouses who put the kibosh on The Renegade Roadhouse. They were OK with $30/month royalties, but not $150 or more. Had it been up to us, we might have soldiered on, but we decided not to gamble to see if donations could defray our costs. We were too small for ad insertion.

And that is the issue. Of all my research on streaming stations, virtually none of them have the visitation count that can attract the advertising dollars. Sure there are the big corporate streamers that do but even finely programmed and targeted for specific groups (such as college stations) are getting fewer than 70 hours a week per thousand students and that's just under 300 visitor sessions and only about 45 unique visitors.

My data I gleaned: 20 minute TSL averaging 91.4 minutes a week per unique visitor. And I caution, this is online radio for and by the college with admirable promotion and involvement in the lifestyle of the student. Simply put, the station is involved with many functions and tons of swag that gets used. To be a student and not be aware of the station means you're hiding under a rock. It is a small sampling of about 10 colleges, maybe a dozen. They were selected for doing an excellent job in marketing the station, good programming choices and centering on colleges where more students are not local residents because the non-local student's life tends to center more on college lifestyle than those who live at home or off campus and simply attend part time or even full time. I sought colleges because the programming and market are very precise and because, by demographic, a very 'online' segment of the population. Simply put, if I wanted an most ideal model of success, the college was my best case scenario.

By the way, I found if an online station was offered over cable TV or radio via closed circuit mode, up to 80% of listening was offline by choice. Could data cost be the issue?

Oh yes, there's the programming restrictions and reporting responsibilities as well.

It is technically top 40 still since outside of the noon and 5 pm show I would only be playing top 40 hits from the 1980's to 2010's. And I'll take all of these replies into consideration.

Jakob9999 said:

It is technically top 40 still since outside of the noon and 5 pm show I would only be playing top 40 hits from the 1980's to 2010's. And I'll take all of these replies into consideration.

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You will be playing many songs that no one will remember, because they were never played on their local radio stations -- which generally had an active playlist of 20-25 current titles rather than the Billboard top 40. Do you have a half-dozen chart geeks lined up to listen? Is that your target audience? Maybe that's for the best, because if your station was going to play actual hits, the songs people loved when they were current, you might attract way too many listeners to be able to afford the royalties.

Top 40 Archive is what I'd call it. (can't say "Oldies" anymore...) Indeed, if you were to do this, having just a few really dedicated listeners is best. Do not strive to be mass appeal.