Re: college radio gone dark for summer?

[Aaron Read <aread@speakeasy.net>]

At 01:50 PM 6/4/2003, Peter Q. George wrote:
>I would not be surprised if these aforementioned
>stations are silent for the summer.  However, I am
>pleased that WDOM is finally not broadcasting a Stereo
>pilot (and nothing else) all summer long, like other
>times they have.  A good amount of other college
>stations will be on the air during the summer months.
>With automation so easy to afford, there is really no
>reason why ANY college FM station should not be
>operating during the summer months.  It's good to keep
>the frequency active and to provide local programming
>and EAS services.  IMHO.
>
>Peter Q. George (K1XRB)
>Whitman, Massachusetts

While I agree that there is no excuse for a station to not be on the air 
24/7 these days...which includes over the summer...I have found that it's 
not as easy as one might imagine.  If you want to have any semblance to 
your normal format, which is usually free form, you need a LOT of music in 
rotation to achieve that.  That means a LOT of CD ripping and that's damn 
hard to do unless you've got a serious infrastructure and training program 
set up, and that means approximately $6000 just for ripping.

The automation part is easy, though.  Less than $1000 for remote control 
and monitoring gear at your transmitter, plus another $500 - $1000 or so 
for the software and you're ready to rock and roll.

BTW - the FCC moved to eliminate the Class D license not only because of 
spectrum efficiency...it was no secret that a lot of Class D's were dinky 
little stations that were poorly run and had a lot of technical 
problems.  Flash-forward twenty years to today and now we're seeing a lot 
of those same Class D's-turned-small-Class A...and the problems are still 
there.   There are precious few stations that have a small broadcast range 
(like a grandfathered Class D or a 100 watt Class A) that aren't just 
rotting in the dirt...sandboxes for the kiddies to play in until the 
transmitter breaks.   The schools have zero interest in putting any money 
into them, and the DJ's frequently have no interest in doing anything by 
the rules or really doing anything with the station except turning it into 
a personal CD changer for themselves.   And, naturally, they wonder why 
they have no listeners.

Yeah...I'm feeling the bitterness...



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aaron "Bishop" Read             aread@speakeasy.net
FriedBagels Consulting          AOL-IM: readaaron
http://www.friedbagels.com      Boston, MA