I was checking the Commissions list of silent AM and FM stations and was surprised to see how many LPFM's were listed as silent. By my count, at least 45. Seems to me the good news is: LPFM's biting the dust mean less band congestion through what amounts to natural selection.
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High Number Of LPFM's Going Silent
- Thread starter Kelly A
- Start date
I have studied LPFM quite a bit and even have a website pretty much devoted to it.
There are 2,369 LPFMs. 1,912 are on the air with the remainder either still under a Construction Permit or Silent for some reason.
Looking at the FCC silent list is really deceptive. Here's why: If I had an AM and was moving to a new location with a Construction Permit I might file a STA to go silent in order to move to that new spot. It does not mean I am dead, just in the process of a move.
Consider this, as a filer for a station in the past. It is easy to get a letter/email consent to go on an existing tower in the immediate area where you are applying for a station. For example, one applicant was intending to go on the water tower across the street from the tower they stipulated in the application. This is not fraud but rather one of the choices that station would have should other options not pan out. The city that owned the water tower was uncomfortable in offering a letter in time to file during one of the filing windows. The intent all along was to apply for a minor change.
For lots of LPFMs, things simply changed. The tower location was not available when building the station happened. Or the site was not permitted to be long term. Another issue is coverage. Until you go on the air, you have a theoretical coverage (ie: predicted) versus actual. For many LPFMs, because of the low power, find serious and potentially fatal coverage flaws. For example, a few pine trees in your line of sight between the tower and your 'must have' coverage area might mean you don't reach that 'must have' spot.
All of that above is 'easy' compared to LPFM's secondary status. A translator or full power move can literally drown you out requiring a move to stay on the air. Full power station moves, while rare, have left LPFMs with no available frequencies so the station simply went silent because of this. Even in some spots what seemed like a good channel was not with the LPFM barely reaching a mile from the tower before being overtaken by a full power station that seemingly should not be heard at that spot but at legal power with real life coverage was able to do so.
A big issue is lack of experience. LPFMs must be owned by non-profits that have no other licensed media (FCC licensed facility). Many lack any radio knowledge. Some even think the problem with radio is radio itself so they, in the minds of the board, are going to turn radio on it's proverbial ear with the way they do things. I always caution to change radio you have to change the listeners first.
Board in-fighting is a problem. Even radio people that formed boards to run a station find boards thinking they know radio better than the person that has been in all positions in radio all their working life. As a result of either inexperience or egos or both, many LPFMs flounder by simply not looking at successful models, instead ignoring them.
Many LPFMs lack any funding experience. They haven't a clue. They trudge on funding out of pocket until they tire of it and turn in the license. Others stop when they get just enough, say $2,000 to $3,000 a month, before that cheap type approved transmitter blows a power supply or lightning strikes and there's no money to fix it. Very few LPFMs generate more than $5,000 a year and much fewer even hit $10,000. For many, they sell so cheaply they can't ever find the time to generate enough revenue to survive. A real issue is asking people to sell on commission only without a salary and thinking a person can devote 40 hours a week to this.
LPFMs suffer from donated versus leased. For example, one group secured a donated spot at the back of a business. The tenant and the landlord both tired of a steady group of volunteers coming and going, so the station was left with no place to go and no money to pay for a spot.
There is a lack of understanding that the small coverage area means your universe of potential listeners is much smaller than a full power station. The typical LPFM does not understand programming by consensus to reach as many people in their coverage with programming designed for the masses. All too often, the LPFM is the tree falling in the forest with nobody around to hear it because the programming is targeting the 1 in 200 that want that programming out of a 60 dbu coverage of 15,000.
Because of these many issues, on average, about 1/3rd of LPFM stations fail, turning in their license.
On the other hand, some or should I say a few, are stellar examples of finely run stations. Although rare, some actually reach over $100,000 a year in revenue and some of those have paid staff. Even some in smaller places achieve a mid-range billing of a commercial station in 'radio dollars spent versus total retail sales'. I have seen stations in places with $10 million in retail sales as the only station in town billing $24,000 a year, almost entirely from Underwriting.
It is important to note LPFM must survive mostly off Underwriting from the business community. The 60 dbu coverage typically does not allow ample funding from listeners alone nor a reliance on grants but rather restricted to more local grant offerings than the larger groups that want to reach more than the small geography covered by a LPFM for creating impact with the dollars they dole out.
Of those that never make it, most find the construction costs way too excessive for what they get. Tower companies charge their usual rates. Land prices are what they are and tower companies don't have a non-profit rate versus for profit rate. For some, that estimated $15,000 to $20,000 balloons to $50,000 because of local conditions (building restrictions, land prices, tower rentals and such). Or the board imploded resulting in a 'transfer of control' the FCC would not allow at that point. The gradual board member changes are fine but a 75% change can mean you no longer qualify under certain FCC Rules that qualify the applicant for the Construction Permit in the first place.
There are 2,369 LPFMs. 1,912 are on the air with the remainder either still under a Construction Permit or Silent for some reason.
Looking at the FCC silent list is really deceptive. Here's why: If I had an AM and was moving to a new location with a Construction Permit I might file a STA to go silent in order to move to that new spot. It does not mean I am dead, just in the process of a move.
Consider this, as a filer for a station in the past. It is easy to get a letter/email consent to go on an existing tower in the immediate area where you are applying for a station. For example, one applicant was intending to go on the water tower across the street from the tower they stipulated in the application. This is not fraud but rather one of the choices that station would have should other options not pan out. The city that owned the water tower was uncomfortable in offering a letter in time to file during one of the filing windows. The intent all along was to apply for a minor change.
For lots of LPFMs, things simply changed. The tower location was not available when building the station happened. Or the site was not permitted to be long term. Another issue is coverage. Until you go on the air, you have a theoretical coverage (ie: predicted) versus actual. For many LPFMs, because of the low power, find serious and potentially fatal coverage flaws. For example, a few pine trees in your line of sight between the tower and your 'must have' coverage area might mean you don't reach that 'must have' spot.
All of that above is 'easy' compared to LPFM's secondary status. A translator or full power move can literally drown you out requiring a move to stay on the air. Full power station moves, while rare, have left LPFMs with no available frequencies so the station simply went silent because of this. Even in some spots what seemed like a good channel was not with the LPFM barely reaching a mile from the tower before being overtaken by a full power station that seemingly should not be heard at that spot but at legal power with real life coverage was able to do so.
A big issue is lack of experience. LPFMs must be owned by non-profits that have no other licensed media (FCC licensed facility). Many lack any radio knowledge. Some even think the problem with radio is radio itself so they, in the minds of the board, are going to turn radio on it's proverbial ear with the way they do things. I always caution to change radio you have to change the listeners first.
Board in-fighting is a problem. Even radio people that formed boards to run a station find boards thinking they know radio better than the person that has been in all positions in radio all their working life. As a result of either inexperience or egos or both, many LPFMs flounder by simply not looking at successful models, instead ignoring them.
Many LPFMs lack any funding experience. They haven't a clue. They trudge on funding out of pocket until they tire of it and turn in the license. Others stop when they get just enough, say $2,000 to $3,000 a month, before that cheap type approved transmitter blows a power supply or lightning strikes and there's no money to fix it. Very few LPFMs generate more than $5,000 a year and much fewer even hit $10,000. For many, they sell so cheaply they can't ever find the time to generate enough revenue to survive. A real issue is asking people to sell on commission only without a salary and thinking a person can devote 40 hours a week to this.
LPFMs suffer from donated versus leased. For example, one group secured a donated spot at the back of a business. The tenant and the landlord both tired of a steady group of volunteers coming and going, so the station was left with no place to go and no money to pay for a spot.
There is a lack of understanding that the small coverage area means your universe of potential listeners is much smaller than a full power station. The typical LPFM does not understand programming by consensus to reach as many people in their coverage with programming designed for the masses. All too often, the LPFM is the tree falling in the forest with nobody around to hear it because the programming is targeting the 1 in 200 that want that programming out of a 60 dbu coverage of 15,000.
Because of these many issues, on average, about 1/3rd of LPFM stations fail, turning in their license.
On the other hand, some or should I say a few, are stellar examples of finely run stations. Although rare, some actually reach over $100,000 a year in revenue and some of those have paid staff. Even some in smaller places achieve a mid-range billing of a commercial station in 'radio dollars spent versus total retail sales'. I have seen stations in places with $10 million in retail sales as the only station in town billing $24,000 a year, almost entirely from Underwriting.
It is important to note LPFM must survive mostly off Underwriting from the business community. The 60 dbu coverage typically does not allow ample funding from listeners alone nor a reliance on grants but rather restricted to more local grant offerings than the larger groups that want to reach more than the small geography covered by a LPFM for creating impact with the dollars they dole out.
Of those that never make it, most find the construction costs way too excessive for what they get. Tower companies charge their usual rates. Land prices are what they are and tower companies don't have a non-profit rate versus for profit rate. For some, that estimated $15,000 to $20,000 balloons to $50,000 because of local conditions (building restrictions, land prices, tower rentals and such). Or the board imploded resulting in a 'transfer of control' the FCC would not allow at that point. The gradual board member changes are fine but a 75% change can mean you no longer qualify under certain FCC Rules that qualify the applicant for the Construction Permit in the first place.
Fast forward to today; many more silent LPFM STA's being granted. In reviewing the applications, you'll see an increasing number are due to financial difficulties.
I agree with what you're saying, but lack of good business practice and planning is not a valid excuse. What amounts to a 'handshake' agreement to put an antenna on a structure is just asking for problems later down the road. If you can't afford a lawyer to prepare, or at least review a contractual agreement to hold both parties accountable to the contract, then you've set yourself up for something that could kill your operation.
Again another example where research is required, eyes wide open. The application is filed for a particular channel (frequency). If this was real estate, one would have a title search and recorded knowledge of property boundaries. This includes the stations or translators co-and adjacent to where your stations would be, plus an understanding that a full power FM station down the road has the right of way.
Completely agree. A wise man once told me: "Volunteers are death". Human nature dictates; everyone wants compensation. A volunteer' skin in the game is their valuable time. For that time, they want some form of autonomy, whether its playing what they want to play (because they know better), or the ability to be the boss of other's. Add in power grabs and politics, anarchy follows. Bad for business.
Even some small market station owner suffer from much of what you said. The difference is; the typical small market owner has a full power station of some sort. The amateur radio VHF/UHF transceiver in my pickup truck has better coverage than 90% of the LPFM's.
Aka; Lambs to the slaughter. These people don't see radio, including non-commercial radio, as a business. That's big mistake #1. Mistake #2? Not understanding the technical aspects of how radio works, and what their audience should be inside those limitations. 'All my friends say they'll listen and volunteer, so my dream of being admired as a local media mogul bettering my community is just a few thousand dollars and an application away!' Do these folks even bother to visit an actual radio station and talk to the Chief Engineer, GSM, GM, or PD? No, they're arrogant. Just like many radio hobbyists on this discussion board, if only they owned a radio station, they could show the "Corporate" organizations how it's done.
For all that you've rightfully pointed out, plus what I've added, these LPFM owners are getting what they bought.
The folks at Prometheus should be required to take responsibility for the disaster they created.
Ralph Martin
Frequent Participant
Failed LPFM attempts are not failures at all. They're tuition. It's a chance to learn about non-profit business relations, learning from mistakes; it's about the resolve to move forward. This can be an expensive lesson to be sure! But, it's a valuable opportunity if viewed positively.
LPFM is all about new players in the field. I could never begin to generalize a set personality of a prospective LPFM station operator. I can only go by my own experience, which may or may not be unique.
I'm a grade-school music teacher by trade. I built the LPFM to provide a performance venue for my students - 3rd through 12th grade. One might look at that as a goal headed for failure. When I first started work on building our LPFM, I didn't have a "business plan" motivation. I wasn't a broadcaster, so I had no prior experience.
I started the research process in 1999. After all of the work preparing for the first window, it looked like nothing could go wrong. Then, with little fanfare, Congress changed the technical rules -- overriding the FCC. This change blocked many would-be LPFM stations from applying -- effectively taking us out of the game. It wasn't until the second window, 14 years later, that we received our license to cover. That's a long wait. It was disappointing and frustrating at times, but I'd not trade the experience for anything!
There are hundreds and hundreds of very successful LPFM stations on the air. They inspire me! There are also stories of those who didn't quite make it.
For those of them with honorable intentions, I'm looking forward to the completion of their story. I wish them well.
Ralph
KVCB-LP
LPFM is all about new players in the field. I could never begin to generalize a set personality of a prospective LPFM station operator. I can only go by my own experience, which may or may not be unique.
I'm a grade-school music teacher by trade. I built the LPFM to provide a performance venue for my students - 3rd through 12th grade. One might look at that as a goal headed for failure. When I first started work on building our LPFM, I didn't have a "business plan" motivation. I wasn't a broadcaster, so I had no prior experience.
I started the research process in 1999. After all of the work preparing for the first window, it looked like nothing could go wrong. Then, with little fanfare, Congress changed the technical rules -- overriding the FCC. This change blocked many would-be LPFM stations from applying -- effectively taking us out of the game. It wasn't until the second window, 14 years later, that we received our license to cover. That's a long wait. It was disappointing and frustrating at times, but I'd not trade the experience for anything!
There are hundreds and hundreds of very successful LPFM stations on the air. They inspire me! There are also stories of those who didn't quite make it.
For those of them with honorable intentions, I'm looking forward to the completion of their story. I wish them well.
Ralph
KVCB-LP
Ralph you're a good example of a successful LPFM story. But how much of the start-up and funding for your station is provided by your school district, verses having to raise startup and operating capital through either leveraging life savings, mortgaging of a home, or drumming-up funding directly from a small footprint within a community? I would argue that LPFM's are fine for upstart religious broadcasters or schools, but not for individuals who want to 'play radio'.
The real problem as we move forward is that schools are precisely the area where funding is being cut. I used to run an LPFM for a school district, and one day the board decided the money was better spent somewhere else. Especially since only a dozen or so students were involved. We actually had a frequency sharing deal with another nearby district, and they faced the same situation. Right now, we have a lot of colleges and universities that are selling their FM stations for the same reason. Plus state governments that are seeking to cut funding for non-commercial stations or networks. The money is drying up. It's not getting better.
Ralph Martin
Frequent Participant
Agreed. LPFM wasn't designed for "playing radio." Those who chose that path either had to adjust their intentions quickly or stop. But, we can't discount the fact that there are so many efforts that we're well suited for LPFM. Most of them are successfully operating as designed.
Here are some successful LPFM stations in my vicinity that are not religious nor school-related:
KUBU-LP -- Sacramento, CA
Community radio
KDRT-LP -- Davis, CA
Community radio
KYWS-LP West Sacramento, CA
Community Radio
KOWS-LP -- Occidental, CA
Community radio
KFOK-LP -- Georgetown, CA
Community Radio
I've listened to them all. Each one of them reflects their community and is an active participant in a much needed local connection. My hats off to them!
Ralph Martin
Frequent Participant
Cheer up! The high school radio scene is alive and well. I work with almost 80 radio broadcast teachers across the country. Some of them are LPFM; some are class A, and some are even grandfathered class D. We have our informal email group where we reach out with helpful advice and moral support. We also have a coordinated NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL RADIO WEEK that we celebrate together every year! Great bunch of folks!!
Here is the latest list of silent STA LPFM's also in California:
KRUR-LP Atascadero, CA
KCFS-LP El Dorado, CA
KCFZ-LP Fresno, CA
KGZF-LP Fresno, CA
KGGV-LP Fresno, CA
KGXY-LP Muir Beach, CA
KLSN-LP Oakley, CA
KBQS-LP Sacramento, CA
KQPT-LP Sacramento, CA
KUGA-LP Sacramento, CA
KZAC-LP Sacramento, CA
KPEA-LP San Francisco, CA
KCLA-LP San Pedro, CA
KQRU-LP Santa Clarita, CA
KIMU-LP Stockton, CA
KVLP-LP Visalia, CA
Ralph Martin
Frequent Participant
Kelly, oh my!! 
Point taken.
But, in my list I was only quoting non-school or religious LPFM stations in my local area. California is a huge state.
Also, keep in mind that the silent stations on your list are technically still on STA, so you never know.
It's all part of the LPFM vetting process. It was or perhaps, should have been expected.
Let's hope the deserving operations on your list make it through their trials.
Then I can add them to MY list
Point taken.
But, in my list I was only quoting non-school or religious LPFM stations in my local area. California is a huge state.
Also, keep in mind that the silent stations on your list are technically still on STA, so you never know.
It's all part of the LPFM vetting process. It was or perhaps, should have been expected.
Let's hope the deserving operations on your list make it through their trials.
Then I can add them to MY list
Interesting reading here. I'm a glass half full sort of guy so I look for potential no matter the circumstances. For example, some might call a radio station hitting 25,000 in a county a pure waste and money pit. I would look at what's there and learn what the potential really is among that 25,000. I look at LPFM and look at the 60 dbu and how to cover the expense. I don't compare. I just look at what's there. With that said, there are places where LPFM is and can be successful.
Some are quick to say LPFM is a money pit. Depending on the market, it can be pretty decent. For example, I know of one LPFM in a town of 1,400 with about 2,100 in the 60 dbu. The station generates about $28,000 a year out of the community. Business Sales is about $11 million with 70 businesses. The biggest 3 businesses will never spend a dime and account for $4 million. This station understands programming by consensus, is heavily local information and very marketing oriented in order to keep the station top of mind and convince business owners to underwrite. They're a great small market station serving a small market too small to be served by a full power station.
There are a few issues many LPFMs have. They can be stereotyped as 1) a group that dislikes current radio with such disgust they refuse to be anything like every other station. They'd rather go broke than to adopt any type of fundraising that resembles those stations they dislike. They believe they are recreating radio. 2) Churches that bought in to the idea that their 'brand' of teaching and preaching will create new converts and increase church membership. They fail to think they utilize secular activities to gain new converts and members. They realize they're preaching to the choir, or rather some of the choir. 3) The 'I always wanted a station' group. This is John Doe that believes his idea of radio programming will turn radio on it's ear. It's the long-time jock that wants to run a station. Neither have much of a clue about how to sell underwriting or marketing the station. Don't fool yourself, you gotta sell the business owner on why they should put that money in you station's pocket instead of their own.
I actually know a station that plays rock/metal in a small town, does nothing local, has never ever promoted the station with even as much as a press release and only lets the underwriter get their business name (Yes one is D&L and Sons without any description of what that business is or which of the 3 towns the station serves the business is located). They're not making it. There's no talking to them because they think they're on the right track. In reality, they might have 10-20 regular listeners.
Those groups that have surrounded themselves with knowledge, want to learn and understand a radio station is more than just what you hear on the radio, tend to do well. It matters less the 'culture' of the board. It's the stubborn stations that refuse to gain knowledge that eventually fail. There are those that tire of running the station that never quite did what they felt it would do. There are those that maxed out their credit card thanks to the station when the power supply burns up on the transmitter, the money tree is bare. By the numbers, that is about 1/3 of all LPFMs will turn in their license. Quite a few more will hope to not be noticed, remaining silent in hopes something magical might happen before license renewal.
It's not always the applicant that is at fault. Because LPFM is secondary, a beautiful frequency can be horrible once that full power FM decides to apply for your frequency and pretty much wipes out your signal within a mile of the tower. That stuff cannot be known. I know a LPFM where a translator came on after 3 years and destroyed their signal. It's still pending with the FCC. I think the company that has the translator installed their antennas with the wrong bearings.
I know personally of an applicant with a letter from the tower company offering space at a certain height. By the time they got their Construction Permit, the tower space at that height was no longer available and other sites were fully leased. So what was going to be $500 a month jumped to expenses beyond the available funds (they had $45,000 allocated with a free studio space). I wouldn't call them ill-equipped or rank amateurs. Their situation was an area with expensive land, few towers and given coverage, needed to be in the immediate area of the tower that gave them they letter to put a signal over 3 population centers needed to fund the station.
So, each station is it's own story. Not all of what happens can be known prior to it happening. How would a LPFM know a translator would apply 3 years after they hit the air. In one town, a 5 year old LPFM was encroached by a full power station. They shut down...no available frequencies. Then there's the failed classic rocker that decided people bought albums when the songs were current hits, so they played every track off every album...something they blamed on their community versus their poor programming decisions.
Some are quick to say LPFM is a money pit. Depending on the market, it can be pretty decent. For example, I know of one LPFM in a town of 1,400 with about 2,100 in the 60 dbu. The station generates about $28,000 a year out of the community. Business Sales is about $11 million with 70 businesses. The biggest 3 businesses will never spend a dime and account for $4 million. This station understands programming by consensus, is heavily local information and very marketing oriented in order to keep the station top of mind and convince business owners to underwrite. They're a great small market station serving a small market too small to be served by a full power station.
There are a few issues many LPFMs have. They can be stereotyped as 1) a group that dislikes current radio with such disgust they refuse to be anything like every other station. They'd rather go broke than to adopt any type of fundraising that resembles those stations they dislike. They believe they are recreating radio. 2) Churches that bought in to the idea that their 'brand' of teaching and preaching will create new converts and increase church membership. They fail to think they utilize secular activities to gain new converts and members. They realize they're preaching to the choir, or rather some of the choir. 3) The 'I always wanted a station' group. This is John Doe that believes his idea of radio programming will turn radio on it's ear. It's the long-time jock that wants to run a station. Neither have much of a clue about how to sell underwriting or marketing the station. Don't fool yourself, you gotta sell the business owner on why they should put that money in you station's pocket instead of their own.
I actually know a station that plays rock/metal in a small town, does nothing local, has never ever promoted the station with even as much as a press release and only lets the underwriter get their business name (Yes one is D&L and Sons without any description of what that business is or which of the 3 towns the station serves the business is located). They're not making it. There's no talking to them because they think they're on the right track. In reality, they might have 10-20 regular listeners.
Those groups that have surrounded themselves with knowledge, want to learn and understand a radio station is more than just what you hear on the radio, tend to do well. It matters less the 'culture' of the board. It's the stubborn stations that refuse to gain knowledge that eventually fail. There are those that tire of running the station that never quite did what they felt it would do. There are those that maxed out their credit card thanks to the station when the power supply burns up on the transmitter, the money tree is bare. By the numbers, that is about 1/3 of all LPFMs will turn in their license. Quite a few more will hope to not be noticed, remaining silent in hopes something magical might happen before license renewal.
It's not always the applicant that is at fault. Because LPFM is secondary, a beautiful frequency can be horrible once that full power FM decides to apply for your frequency and pretty much wipes out your signal within a mile of the tower. That stuff cannot be known. I know a LPFM where a translator came on after 3 years and destroyed their signal. It's still pending with the FCC. I think the company that has the translator installed their antennas with the wrong bearings.
I know personally of an applicant with a letter from the tower company offering space at a certain height. By the time they got their Construction Permit, the tower space at that height was no longer available and other sites were fully leased. So what was going to be $500 a month jumped to expenses beyond the available funds (they had $45,000 allocated with a free studio space). I wouldn't call them ill-equipped or rank amateurs. Their situation was an area with expensive land, few towers and given coverage, needed to be in the immediate area of the tower that gave them they letter to put a signal over 3 population centers needed to fund the station.
So, each station is it's own story. Not all of what happens can be known prior to it happening. How would a LPFM know a translator would apply 3 years after they hit the air. In one town, a 5 year old LPFM was encroached by a full power station. They shut down...no available frequencies. Then there's the failed classic rocker that decided people bought albums when the songs were current hits, so they played every track off every album...something they blamed on their community versus their poor programming decisions.
Ralph Martin
Frequent Participant
It would be difficult to disagree you or Kelly. You both make solid points.
It's impossible to know all of the circumstances hindering or helping each effort. LPFM stations really only have one sure thing in common -- they're low power. Outside of that, they're independent voices with a variety of messages and challenges. The only way to truly experience LPFM is to tune in and listen if you're fortunate enough to have a few in your area.
Radio is a fascinating and growing technology -- even after a century of wireless discovery!
I wonder what 2020 holds?!?!
It's impossible to know all of the circumstances hindering or helping each effort. LPFM stations really only have one sure thing in common -- they're low power. Outside of that, they're independent voices with a variety of messages and challenges. The only way to truly experience LPFM is to tune in and listen if you're fortunate enough to have a few in your area.
Radio is a fascinating and growing technology -- even after a century of wireless discovery!
I wonder what 2020 holds?!?!
I actually think any LPFM that takes the time to identify their audience (so long as that is a substantial given radio listening choices and 60 dbu population), dedicates itself to airing local information in it's programming and spends effort on being a part of the community should do well as long as there is a consistent effort to build relationships with business owners to sell underwriting. There's nothing magical to it. The hardest thing for so many is to deny themselves and program for their community (especially if that programming is not their cup of tea). I feel LPFM is a worthwhile service and much like any other class of radio station. Like full power that has some less than stellar broadcasters, LPFM has the same. Like full power, there are some excellent stations just as there are in the LPFM class.
Ralph Martin
Frequent Participant
Agreed. in our case, the station is completely programed by kids 96 hours a day across 4 HD channels, and our main channel programming changes every five minutes!!
Haha, that's why I'm here in the studios on New Year's eve. Fixing an audio problem on HD3. I think if I were to give a message to prospective LPFMers out there, I'd say, "Enjoy the process of building your station. that's the easy part. Then comes the real work of producing content for the listeners! If you enjoy that even more, you're a broadcaster!!
" Happy new year!!
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