Another FCC Visit

The creepy thing is not only that the FCC will now be watching this station in "Santa Maria?" but the complainant bs station will also be keeping a watch on the situation. There is probably no practical way to "outfox" anybody. Being fair and honest means forgetting about dreams and hopes. That's probably why dirty politics is the normal way of doing business on official levels.

There. That was an "editorial comment," another freedom that's on the way out. Now I'll be on the no fly list.

The regs have always stated ten feet or three meters - depending on before or after Jimmy Carter had us go metric - how's that goin'? 🙂 - for the antenna plus ground lead.

I'm wondering if the culprit here might not be fallout from the portable people meter? The new Arbitron technology has destroyed ratings in every market where the PPM was deployed and that destroys the rate card, causing stations to lose huge amount of ad revenue...

Man, it's really become open season for part 15 AM broadcasters! First Oregon then Nevada and California--what happened?

On the one hand, there is no limit to the number of type-accepted transmitters we can use but on the other it just isn't practical to set up and feed transmitters all over town--and all of them putting out a signal that goes about 90'.

For the serious broadcaster, the only strategy I can think of is a low ball cash offer for a sleepy or dying AM station. A station owner may think his/her station is worth several hundred thousand but in this economy a cash sale at considerably less money might be attractive to them.

For example, you live near Santa Maria, CA. I know that city well. Maybe the owners of KTAP 1600, a 500 watt daytimer, might be interested in selling out. I know they paid 600K for the station back in '03 but what if you offered them 150K cash? All they can say is no or come up with a counter offer (and if they counter offer, you know they want to sell). It's just a thought.
c5

Let's ask ourselves a simple question: If a station is losing money, why would you think that if you bought it you could do better? Consider this: many of these are marginal facilities on lousy frequencies in overcrowded markets. The owners paid way too much for them when the market was hot, and now they can't service the debt. Not to mention that AM is no longer the hot technology it was in, say, 1939.

I would guess that for about 95% of the people on this board, shelling out even a few hundred kilobucks is out of the question. And even if we could, we wouldn't want to be saddled with all of the bureaucracy and red tape the government requires. Most of us are interested in low power community broadcasting, serving a small community or a few neighborhoods.

OK, so what do you suggest for the person who really has broadcasting in his or her blood? Build a part 15 station with little range or build one that some over zealous FCC agent might deem illegal because of some ambiguous rules? Who would want to risk a NOUO and be shut down?

Perhaps you would think an internet station with burdensome royalty fees and paperwork and little to no chance of making any money with it (if only to cover expenses) is the answer or persuading the FCC to change the part 15 regulation on ground lead length? Good luck with that.

It's true that some AM stations are hopeless but I've seen several that simply suffer from bad management and with a little TLC could be made profitable as well as serve the community. A lot of it is a question of researching the market or area. I almost closed on an AM station that I offered 50K for. Yes, the facility needed work but it had very good potential (as well as a 10kW TX that had been recently refurbished). The owner had an AM station in another city and simply couldn't manage both. Had my wife decided that she didn't like the area, I would be running it now.

Look, I'm all for part 15 broadcasting. But it seems that we are entering dangerous times for part 15. Who wants a hobby or even a business that you have to do in the shadows or be constantly looking over your shoulder? It's a shame the FCC never considered the LPAM proposal but no one seems to be interested in keeping the fire lit for it. So buying a small station is one answer.

I am working on a petition to update the Part 15 rules to remove the grounding restrictions. Please join our effort if you are interested. Send me an e-mail using the member e-mail system at your left if you want to help.

I may be off here; but wasn't the final outcome of the RIAA thing and streaming radio providers something like 10.5% of revenue earned by the station goes to pay royalty fees? So.. if you make 1000/yr off your station, you kick back 100.00 or whatever to the riaa and you are in the clear...

If you make nothing.. well.. then you pay nothing...

Again; I am going on memory, I've been up since 4:30AM (which is not norml for me), and I only found 1 news source in my superfast google of the 10.5% thingie..

http://www.betanews.com/article/Copyright-Board-begrudgingly-adopts-revenuebased-streaming-royalties/1233268577

I'd rather do a terrestrial broadcast myself, but if we're getting squeezed out.. lets explore our options 🙂

I believe if you are non commercial or make a miniscule amount of money, the royalities are a flat fee, somewhere in the $300 range. I'm not positive though.

As for Part 15, I'd love to see the grounding thing worked out too. We're not aiming to build a station with a 25 mile radius or to interfere with everyone else- we just want a small, one or two mile community or hobby station.

I know of some small AM stations even in large areas, but it can be a hassle- I've looked into it.

There have been, historically, a wide variety of interests offered on this site. However I think it's time to clear the air on who we are and what we are.

First, Part 15 of the FCC rules and regs concerns itself with "intentional" radio frequency radiators. That includes everything from RF tags to garage door openers to wireless telephones. This section of CFR 47 was never intended to be the end all for "community broadcasters".

If Part 15 had been intended to cover micro-broadcasting, LPFM would not have had the legislative success it experienced. It finally has become the recognized outlet for community broadcasting. Not to mention the FCC's ruling on non-commercial-educational licenses (NCE) in both the reserved and non-reserved portions of the FM band.

Second, at this time in history commercial AM broadcasting is looking for someone with the grit and the creativity to develop a new business model for the industry. Obviously, the traditional model has been an abysmal failure. AM stations are "local" radio stations. They are and were mostly intended for local listeners. The FCC considers them as covering a limited area and market. I would encourage investment in the AM service for 2 reasons. One, these properties are cheap right now. Second, AM is the proving ground for broadcasting's new business model (experimentation). Those who "poo-poo" the financial viability of the AM band may be the reason its in the shape its in.

As an added note, I would like to suggest you investigate a "local marketing agreement" (LMA) with the existing licensee. You get to operate the station, make a little money and not be on the hook for the license. In a sense, you are renting the station license. You will find out quickly if you can really run your own station. Not guts, no glory.

And finally, the new music licensing/public performance laws (see Library of Congress) are minimal. They involve BMI, SESAC and ASCAP and are copyright licenses. The other licensing company, Sound Exchange, deals almost exclusively with internet broadcasting. Internet broadcasting performance licensing is based on the "DMCA" passed by Congress some years back. Fees for all of these companies are available on their web sites. The bottom line is, if you want to play someones music, you need to pay for it. And by the way, it amounts to less than 3 cents a listener per play.

Being involved in Part 15, internet and commercial broadcasting for decades, I suggest that knowledge is the light that displaces the shadow of rumor and hearsay. Years of being a copy writer, announcer, producer, newscaster, program director, chief engineer, sales manager, market manager and general manager and company president has supplied first hand experience in this field. Yes, I have made mistakes a-plenty. But, if we learn from our failures, we becomes stronger, smarter and eventually more successful. Hang in there. Take the risk, learn what you're involved with, without the complaining and whining. Find a mentor and learn the craft of broadcasting, I did. It is my passion and it has been since 1966.

you really want change? and not just with the fcc, but with government in general then look into booting the whole rotten bunch across the board.

check out this site....

http://goooh.com/

it's about getting a continental congress going and booting all these useless corrupt idiots out of office.

frankly we can wine about the fcc or change things in government.

unfortunately there can be no change without a complete cleanup of federal government.

I'm sorry it got that rough for you, but being new at this and scouring the Part 15 rules and reading 100's of messages here for three months, I've come to the conclusion there is no way out of the 3m rule. I've been told that even a shielded RF ground cable will radiate.

What I've been seeing reported over and over again is that ground radials work, so try a ground-mounted system and build yourself a well-bonded ground radial system.

Another thing would be to find a higher location for your TX/antenna system, like a hill or a building that is line-of-sight from your studio, and feed the signal remotely ... WiFi routers, Barix Extreamers, and minidishes:
http://www.ccrane.com/antennas/wifi-antennas/point-to-point-wifi-antenna.aspx

I plan to test a TX/antenna system on my boat ... soon as the weather is better. It will use an older laptop to get the signal from my internet stream. Plus if the main studio goes down with a power failure, hopefully I can run directly from the boat which of course has its own power. With enough range, I can supplement the hams with a AM signal everyone can tune in on their car radios and such.

problem is a rangemaster costs $1000.00 and ground mounting it subjects your $1k investment to vandalism, theft, or if you live in a flood plane then getting drowned by a flood.

then there is has been brought up apartment dwellers and city dwellers can't ground mount them for various reasons.

as stated these rules were written in 1939 and there were no HOA's, CC&R's and other obstacles to ground mounting and as for the part 15.209 rule there is no way to accurately measure the true radiated f/s in an uncontrolled environment out in the field using a standard FIM.

you need a shielded room and a calibrated SA and Receiving antenna to accurately measure f/s at such low levels.

Howdy,

I can say for a fact that KLOI LPFM on Lopez Is. pays $500/year for ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC fees. They are operating at 18 watts locally, but they are also on internet radio. Also, check out Soundexchange for blanket royalty coverage:
http://www.soundexchange.com/

What if you did like the one guy did and hide the whole thing in a PVC flagpole? I was thinking about that for awhile ... not for a Rangemaster, but 10' of copper plus the TX box is just as tempting, if not more so.