Not all part 15 radio stations have websites, but some of us do. KDXradio.com was launched in 2007 as a companion to KDX-AM&FM from our location in FEMA Region 7. Over these years the website has become very bloated as we've continued to add services and features, especially The Blare Blog which expanded to book length and would have required a full-time librarian to manage the fat archive, so I asked the question: how simple could a website be? I decided to find out by removing our massive mess and replace it with the smallest website in the world, being designed as we speak. Now is a good time to do this as The Blog is no longer required as an interim site for the part 15 hobby which kept things going while Part15.org was out-of-service. Of course KDX-AM&FM are on the air right now as a relay of important war news as the tense situations in Russia/Ukraine and Israel/Palestine are ablaze.
AM 1700 WEFR doesn't have a website. A simple Facebook page is all that's needed here.
I guess for me a website would be useless as there would be no place for anyone to listen as I am over the air in my area.
@mark I have had people ask do I plan on streaming my station. My answer is no. The station broadcasts 24/7 on AM 1700 to it's intended listening area.
You know, I went to Roy's Facebook site and that's not a bad idea. I could revamp my Facebook profile to a similar idea. Still no stream but still would look good. I may consider this. A shot of my set up would be a good profile picture. This also free.
Having a website is a good thing, regardless of whether you stream or not. It can identify your station as legal and unlicensed, in the event that the FCC/Industry Canada (ISED) comes calling.
But it can also be much more than that, if one desires. You can throw up your programming schedule if it is regular. As Mark says, you can also include photos of your station and other interesting things (such as your location). For a while, I also ran a blog. The resurgence of this site has left that rather pointless, at least for now, so I'm probably going to shelve it for the moment.
Facebook is a good medium for a simple, radio identifying website. But if you want to include more information, you'll have to either get your website hosted by another party (which is not free), or run one yourself. The latter isn't all that difficult technically, but you'll have to understand the security implications.
Streaming is also similar. If you go that route, you'll either have to use an aggregator (hosting that takes your stream, broadcasts it and pays copyright fees, usually in return for advertising and a monthly fee) or run your own. Again, running your own isn't all that difficult, but you have to ensure you have the bandwidth, and that you take care of security. And if you run your own, you're responsible for any and all copyright fees, which can be a nightmare in some countries (such as the U.S.).
@wefr. I don't have a website or interested in live stream at all . There's already a massive amount of Heavy Metal online stations . I'm only interested in radio broadcasting, don't know if I have any listeners or care . One thing though , to be careful not to in anyway compete with licensed stations , unless the signal only covers a very small area , quarter mile or less . The number one complainer to the fcc are local radio stations, and if they complain the fcc with shut a station down unless it only covers a tiny area . The safest way to go is to broadcast content that nobody else is doing . There's a pirate station in Virginia that I know of , been on the air for years at the bottom of the mw band , local stations abundant in that area , yet since he plays music that nobody else broadcast has been left alone by the licensed stations . There was a station in the Dakota s , part 15 range master but was shutdown . He played political content , something else to avoid ...politics over the airways ....
I agree with Heavy Metal about not competing with commercial stations but since there is no, or not many Heavy Metal commercial stations if any I don't think you are in competition with anyone. I do old time radio and oldies and other stuff that is never heard on radio or what others would play and oldies with commercial stations is now called classic hits(not the same) and no commercial station does what I do. If I were to start to play synthesized pop like most other stations or maybe mainstream classic rock then yeah a commercial station may not like it too much. I also include some blues in the mix too and where on a commercial station can you hear Elmore James and Howlin' Wolf among others.
My station is pretty much a freeform format. Music is pretty much anything played at random. Plus Various news/talk programs. No station around here is doing what mine is. It's against the grain, if you will for commercial stations. Not set format.
Reducing my website to one page is stuck right now on a technicality. I would like to keep The Blare Blog alive by using what I call an ephemeral approach... brief writings which soon disappear & do not accumulate to become a massive book-length collection. It would always be only the most recent additions to The Blog which would vanish soon after publication. But the way I want to do it requires a scrollable text file inside of a frame occupying about 2/3 of the screen but I don't know the HTML code to make that happen. So, for now, The Blog will be a brief place-holder made from news headlines.
Top notch!
Very excellent!
This website is the way to go!
Thank you Artisan!