Well gang, this weekend marks one year since I threw the switch (more like plugged in the wal-wart) and put AM 1620 Iron Range Country on the air here in good ol' Bovey, MN, population 681. And I really don't have any incidents to report. In the course of the year:
-Earned enough in sold ads to cover my investment and then some. Starting the station I invested in a new Procaster, a used iMac and Megaseg software. Also paid for music broadcasting rights, a domain name, and some business cards. The rest of the studio gear I had as I've been producing voiceovers and commercials for years in the same studio in my house. I also probably invested a couple hundred dollars bolstering the music library.
-Built a very basic website http://www.ironrangecountry.com
-I've got over 4,000 handpicked vintage country songs in the system and nearly that many Christmas songs for the holidays.
-My coverage is roughly 7100 feet from the transmitter on a nice midday. One advantage is I'm pretty rural and there's little man made noise on the band so I don't get lost in the noise even though my signal may be weak at the edges. And of course there are no large buildings in the way 🙂
-My audio is on the cable TV system.
-Was featured in a front page news story in the local paper.
-Time "off the air" due to technical or other troubles? ZERO. No computer or transmitter issues during the year. The few power outages we had (one as long as five hours) were easily covered by my UPS unit that keeps the computer and transmitter running right along with not even a blip. The outdoor mounted Procaster has stayed on frequency and sounding great from -30 below zero winter days to 98+ summer days, baking in the sun up on the south side of the house.
-Launched "Tim's Oompah Hour" a one hour show of old tyme polka records which has proven to be quite popular here and is carried on a few other outlets including Part 15's, web casters and even a couple commercial broadcast stations!
-Am able to be one of the sponsors of our town's "Farmers Day" celebration -- typical small town festival -- a three day event -- my sponsorship gets my station logo on hundreds of their posters plastered all over the region.
I guess those are the highlights thus far.
Tim in Bovey
Tim in Bovey you have the strongest out of the gate Part 15 station startup I've ever heard of!
I hope everybody pays attention to what you've done and thinks about it, because it answers all the questions... let's see,
Can AM Part 15 have a useful range? YES! See Tim.
Can a Part 15 AM succeed as a business? YES! See Tim.
Is Part 15 a toy? Not according to Tim.
Ironrange Country is now busy doing its second year of professional Part 15 broadcasting.
I like your website.
Content rich pages, filled with multimedia widgets look great - the first time - but grow tiring very quickly. And it's difficult to find the information that you want.
Web pages should be easy to read and to navigate (I can't count the number of times I've gone to a real 'sexy' web page, only to wonder, 'what do I do next?)
I did notice a few glitches, particularly in the first page (where at least one line break was inserted in a sentence as opposed to using word wrap). And a few dicey sentences (grammatically speaking).
But it certainly served its purpose. Now all you have to do is get your streaming up and running. Have you thought about how you will implement the link in your website (i.e., an embedded player, or using the listener's default music player)?
I only build VERY simple web pages, as I have NO knowledge of web authoring or design. I use the page making part of the Sea Monkey program to make pages. I myself never choose things like "line break" or "word wrap" the program does that for me, unless I do something wrong along the way! Gramatically, that's probably how we talk up here in Minnesota! LOL!!
Simple works for me because I know a lot of people here are older folks with old computers, old browsers, and even dial up internet! Keeping it all very basic keeps it fast loading and compatible with everything.
Honestly, I haven't actually decided to stream. My focus is covering my local area and I can do that with my air signal and audio on the cable TV. I actually ran into a couple "old ladies" at the post office who told me how fantastic it sounds on their 40 year old CONSOLE TV in their livingroom! Streaming will add greatly to operating cost in that I'd certainly need better internet here -- I have DSL now, which on a good day gives me a download speed of 2.6 bps, and upload of .70. I can get faster service through the cable company (a lot faster) but changing over is a pain. However I'm sure they'd work with me to get a good system going, as they have with gettig my audio on their network. But then I have the added cost of music license for streaming. I look at this from a "real radio manager" standpoint. If it doesn't increase service to my listeners, and doesn't increase my bottom line, is it worth it? At the moment, no. I sell ads to a few internet based businesses, and to businesses "out of town". Ads for the local businesses who can hear the station are free. But even the "out of town" businesses are basically small town businesses as well who do not have a national or worldwide customer base so the streaming won't help them.
But the web site gives a simple place for basic information. I have a Facebook page too, but haven't "published" it yet. But it's coming.
Tim in Bovey