I agree to disagree. Looking at LPFM transfers I see very few and not many going to churches.The vast majority of LPFMs went to churches. Simply put they're the ones that applied for them originally. Some of them are disenchanted with running a station.
In fact, I was talking to one guy that heads a church. He wondered why their LPFM was not bringing visitors to the pews. I asked him what he did to get people in the pews and he said mostly secular events sponsored by the church. I told him the radio station would continue to just preach to the choir unless he embraced the community with a format the town wanted. He was perplexed saying the congregation would never go for that. I suspect the lack of expected results and paying the billing will result in this station going away in the not too distant future once the congregation says enough is enough.
I fully agree LPFM operators need a dose of reality before jumping in. In fact, that's their biggest problem.
I agree the successful LPFMs are few. Mostly those successful LPFMs survive on under $1,500 a month and manage to have a reserve for emergencies. They actually have a decent number of volunteers and some listeners (at least to the point of many folks knowing about the station or have sampled it).
I base this on national, not regional. The latest I've seen is 1,068 failures, 2,100 on air and 133 with active CPs.
I am a proponent of radio in general. I have seemed to have a knack at picking the most ill equipped stations to work for, especially early on. It was like being tossed in the deep end and told to sink or swim. Much of what I had to do was above my pay grade so to speak. Literally it was to assure my paycheck would clear. I suppose I have such an attitude because I have been stuck in that position quite a bit and had to make lemonade.
