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Non Commercial Station Remote Broadcasts

W

wernerradio

Guest
I am wondering what policy other non-comm/college stations have.

Someone on the staff of our college wants to do a live remote from a local business that serves alcohol. That business would love for us to come on a Friday night and do all of our programming for the night from there.

There are several problems that we have preventing us from doing this.

First the board of regents (who is the licensee of the station) would be against us doing a broadcast from a place not accessible to everyone, since they serve alcohol there you have to be 21 to enter (if we were to do the broadcast not even I, as the station manager could go to it).

Second, since we are non-comm we can not make any calls to action on the air, no matter how careful they would be doing the broadcast, someone will end up saying "come on down to ..." or if the owner were to come on with them "you guys have some great food...", etc. Since this business could always be a potential future underwriter that would make any calls to action that go out on the air advertising, which is illegal. Even if we have them sign something saying that they will not underwrite with us, and that the station is getting nothing from doing this remote, they are still providing a place for us to do the remote and they are providing the electricity for us to do the broadcast, therefore we are really getting something from them.

I met with our faculty advisor and we discussed this, basically we are saying no to doing a remote from any business.

What practice do other stations do for remotes from businesses, do you say no, or are there some workarounds to go ahead and do this?

<P ID="signature">______________
Joshua Werner
http://www.wisconsinbroadcasting.com
90.3 WRST-FM Oshkosh
Station Manager & Webmaster
http://www.uwosh.edu/wrst
[email protected]</P>
 
> I am wondering what policy other non-comm/college stations
> have.
>
> Someone on the staff of our college wants to do a live
> remote from a local business that serves alcohol. That
> business would love for us to come on a Friday night and do
> all of our programming for the night from there.
>
> There are several problems that we have preventing us from
> doing this.
>
> First the board of regents (who is the licensee of the
> station) would be against us doing a broadcast from a place
> not accessible to everyone, since they serve alcohol there
> you have to be 21 to enter (if we were to do the broadcast
> not even I, as the station manager could go to it).
>
> Second, since we are non-comm we can not make any calls to
> action on the air, no matter how careful they would be doing
> the broadcast, someone will end up saying "come on down to
> ..." or if the owner were to come on with them "you guys
> have some great food...", etc. Since this business could
> always be a potential future underwriter that would make any
> calls to action that go out on the air advertising, which is
> illegal. Even if we have them sign something saying that
> they will not underwrite with us, and that the station is
> getting nothing from doing this remote, they are still
> providing a place for us to do the remote and they are
> providing the electricity for us to do the broadcast,
> therefore we are really getting something from them.
>
> I met with our faculty advisor and we discussed this,
> basically we are saying no to doing a remote from any
> business.
>
> What practice do other stations do for remotes from
> businesses, do you say no, or are there some workarounds to
> go ahead and do this?
>


WICB and 106-VIC at Ithaca College usually just words things VERY carefully when doing live remotes. Most of the time, our remotes are from places open to everyone.. so it's not much of a worry.

If you're broadcasting from a bar... is there a cover to get in? If not... then it's perfectly legal to tell people to stop by, since they don't have to pay any money to enter... but you can't tell them to try the daily special or discounted well drinks.

Slip-ups will occur.. but I doubt that the FCC is sitting with their dial fixed on your station waiting for you guys to (BLEEP) up. We've slipped a couple of times.... just don't point it out on the air.

Hope that helps!
<P ID="signature">______________
"Growing old, and living for the moment."
~Rufio</P>
 
Thanks for sharing.
If anyone else has any other info about this or wants to share what your station does let me know, it will help me in making decisions on this subject.

> > I am wondering what policy other non-comm/college stations
>
> > have.
> >
> > Someone on the staff of our college wants to do a live
> > remote from a local business that serves alcohol. That
> > business would love for us to come on a Friday night and
> do
> > all of our programming for the night from there.
> >
> > There are several problems that we have preventing us from
>
> > doing this.
> >
> > First the board of regents (who is the licensee of the
> > station) would be against us doing a broadcast from a
> place
> > not accessible to everyone, since they serve alcohol there
>
> > you have to be 21 to enter (if we were to do the broadcast
>
> > not even I, as the station manager could go to it).
> >
> > Second, since we are non-comm we can not make any calls to
>
> > action on the air, no matter how careful they would be
> doing
> > the broadcast, someone will end up saying "come on down to
>
> > ..." or if the owner were to come on with them "you guys
> > have some great food...", etc. Since this business could
> > always be a potential future underwriter that would make
> any
> > calls to action that go out on the air advertising, which
> is
> > illegal. Even if we have them sign something saying that
> > they will not underwrite with us, and that the station is
> > getting nothing from doing this remote, they are still
> > providing a place for us to do the remote and they are
> > providing the electricity for us to do the broadcast,
> > therefore we are really getting something from them.
> >
> > I met with our faculty advisor and we discussed this,
> > basically we are saying no to doing a remote from any
> > business.
> >
> > What practice do other stations do for remotes from
> > businesses, do you say no, or are there some workarounds
> to
> > go ahead and do this?
> >
>
>
> WICB and 106-VIC at Ithaca College usually just words things
> VERY carefully when doing live remotes. Most of the time,
> our remotes are from places open to everyone.. so it's not
> much of a worry.
>
> If you're broadcasting from a bar... is there a cover to get
> in? If not... then it's perfectly legal to tell people to
> stop by, since they don't have to pay any money to enter...
> but you can't tell them to try the daily special or
> discounted well drinks.
>
> Slip-ups will occur.. but I doubt that the FCC is sitting
> with their dial fixed on your station waiting for you guys
> to (BLEEP) up. We've slipped a couple of times.... just
> don't point it out on the air.
>
> Hope that helps!
>
<P ID="signature">______________
Joshua Werner
http://www.wisconsinbroadcasting.com
90.3 WRST-FM Oshkosh
Station Manager & Webmaster
http://www.uwosh.edu/wrst
[email protected]</P>
 
We've never done them for one basic reason - it's promotion for the venue since you aren't running it like a fundraising event. Technically, if the station doesn't get anything back in exchange for the broadcast, it's legal, but why promote a business?
 
> If you're broadcasting from a bar... is there a cover to get
> in? If not... then it's perfectly legal to tell people to
> stop by, since they don't have to pay any money to enter...
> but you can't tell them to try the daily special or
> discounted well drinks.

Not quite...VIC106 is a CAFM station, and can do anything they want. WICB can not tell people to stop by, even if there is no cover. The fact the bar is giving you space to broadcast from, can be considered consideration. It is best not to do it.

> Slip-ups will occur.. but I doubt that the FCC is sitting
> with their dial fixed on your station waiting for you guys
> to (BLEEP) up. We've slipped a couple of times.... just
> don't point it out on the air.

Yes and no. This is not the attitude to have. You can have anyone file a complaint, and you could eb in hot water. A letter, phone call, or email is all it takes, and your college does not want the press of an FCC inquiry or fine. You place the station at risk.
 
You bring up a good point. You have many angles to take... but what does the faculty advisor have to say about it? If you don't want it to give anything to them, or you in return, other than a location to be live from... then don't mention their name.

Is it worth it to you? Write down a list of the positives and negatives you have come up with so far... if you have the feeling in your heart not to do it, then don't. It isn't worth risking anything.

You could just tell people (friends, students - in person) that you were going to be out there that night (and not mention the business name OR alcohol on the air). What kind of programming is this on a non-commecial station that would even want to be present at a bar?

It's good that you are taking the time to think about this... Sometimes I wish I would have thought through things before acting on them when I was a student station manager for a commercial station.


royale




> I am wondering what policy other non-comm/college stations
> have.
>
> Someone on the staff of our college wants to do a live
> remote from a local business that serves alcohol. That
> business would love for us to come on a Friday night and do
> all of our programming for the night from there.
>
> There are several problems that we have preventing us from
> doing this.
>
> First the board of regents (who is the licensee of the
> station) would be against us doing a broadcast from a place
> not accessible to everyone, since they serve alcohol there
> you have to be 21 to enter (if we were to do the broadcast
> not even I, as the station manager could go to it).
>
> Second, since we are non-comm we can not make any calls to
> action on the air, no matter how careful they would be doing
> the broadcast, someone will end up saying "come on down to
> ..." or if the owner were to come on with them "you guys
> have some great food...", etc. Since this business could
> always be a potential future underwriter that would make any
> calls to action that go out on the air advertising, which is
> illegal. Even if we have them sign something saying that
> they will not underwrite with us, and that the station is
> getting nothing from doing this remote, they are still
> providing a place for us to do the remote and they are
> providing the electricity for us to do the broadcast,
> therefore we are really getting something from them.
>
> I met with our faculty advisor and we discussed this,
> basically we are saying no to doing a remote from any
> business.
>
> What practice do other stations do for remotes from
> businesses, do you say no, or are there some workarounds to
> go ahead and do this?
>
 
'zactly

Businesses are always going to want anything you can give them. Somehow this is entering a gray area and while you hopefully won't have anything happen the probability is far to high.

For the benefit to the station (is there really any outside of just being in front of people?) is this really worth it?

You've always got to weigh the cost vs. gain




> We've never done them for one basic reason - it's promotion
> for the venue since you aren't running it like a fundraising
> event. Technically, if the station doesn't get anything
> back in exchange for the broadcast, it's legal, but why
> promote a business?
>
 
> You could just tell people (friends, students - in person)
> that you were going to be out there that night (and not
> mention the business name OR alcohol on the air). What kind
> of programming is this on a non-commecial station that would
> even want to be present at a bar?

This business is not so much a bar, they serve alcohol and have local bands play there and such. Since they support the local music scene and we support the local music scence the person on our staff thought it would be a good idea to do a remote there, and the owner encouraged the idea. Overall we decided no on doing remotes from business. <P ID="signature">______________
Joshua Werner
http://www.wisconsinbroadcasting.com
90.3 WRST-FM Oshkosh
Station Manager & Webmaster
http://www.uwosh.edu/wrst
[email protected]</P>
 
Better to be safe than sorry... And it was good that you explored many options.

royale
> > You could just tell people (friends, students - in person)
>
> > that you were going to be out there that night (and not
> > mention the business name OR alcohol on the air). What
> kind
> > of programming is this on a non-commecial station that
> would
> > even want to be present at a bar?
>
> This business is not so much a bar, they serve alcohol and
> have local bands play there and such. Since they support
> the local music scene and we support the local music scence
> the person on our staff thought it would be a good idea to
> do a remote there, and the owner encouraged the idea.
> Overall we decided no on doing remotes from business.
>
 
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