The following link might be interesting to some.
It is granted that the budget/income and other resources of a Part 15 AM or FM station could never support anything remotely close to the locally-generated programs and talent shown in this link below.
But still it illustrates the importance of local programming for the popular and/or commercial success of a broadcast station, whether licensed or unlicensed.
http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Station-Albums/WJR-50-Years.pdf
I read thru much of this. Early on in the book "But, just as there were thousands willing to endure the screeching, static -charged signals of early radio..." reflects Part 15 today, good programming, locally produced should be our goal.
Granted we don't have the broadcast power to cover a large area, but I have people surprise me several times a week telling me they enjoy my efforts to provide local programming. And I appreciate their efforts to try to listen, even if it is tuning in for my small coverage area when they near my transmitter or connecting to the internet stream.
One thing, I see that has amazed me, from this, and other historical radio articles/films is the number of people on the payroll. Profits, or at least gross receipts much have been tremendous compared to today.
I will strive on with my project.
It took A LOT to run a radio station before automation. That was a big reason why many stations signed off at night or midnight even if they had nighttime authorization.