Not that I'm expecting to make thousands or even hundreds, but suppose I wanted to air commercials on my part 15 station. (The station isn't up yet, but it's in the works). What should I be aware of? I suppose it would vary from state to state?
What about donations? Have any of you run into that?
Again, not looking to make a load of money. If I could offset my "expenses" (getting the news service I want, licensing of music, etc.) that would be excellent!
As far as the FCC is concerned, there's no problem with airing commercials or otherwise accepting funding for your Part15 station.
If your going to run your station as a business, then it will most likely be considered as a business, which usually requires some form of a local business license. --Not a "radio license", but just a basic business license.
The most likely classification of which would probably fall under "entertainment", for example the same kind of license a kereoke or a bar dj (or even a jutebox) would be required to have.
Now if your just going to be accepting "donations"... I've not really researched that, but I think you'd be just fine with that... you wouldn't need to apply for any legal permissions at all... at least I doubt that you would have to...
The way I handled it was to set up a simple nonprofit corporation.
However it is not a 501(c)3, thus allowing for commercial sales. The downside is that donors don't get a tax break.
It also helps to keep station finances separate from household finances.