Part 15 radio stations inherit plenty from the long history of station staffing.
Part 15 radio stations inherit plenty from the long history of station staffing.
It’s a book length story, but originally there was the lone inventor proving that sound could be transported invisibly by air.
The formation of business models took on a life of its own as retailers, churches, schools, newspapers and orchestras looked into radio as a possible vehicle for distribution.
Many trial and error operations started in the 1920s which opened the door on staffing the radio station.
Commonly, there were management staff, sales departments, musicians who pre-existed before the employment of phonograph records, announcers, and of course…. the most necessary engineers.
Over the course of time efficiency consultants and cost trimming managers began a trend toward staff reduction, which today finds one engineer serving multiple stations, a lone secretary in charge of transmitter readings, commercial scheduling, public relations and mopping.
At the end of this long staffing evolution is the part 15 radio station where the owner is the funder, staff and, in many cases the audience.
This subject came to mind when I started listing all the jobs involved in running a radio station, all the titles we can legitimately claim, and the giant resume we could load with professional experience sub-titles.
The inventor R. Buckminster Fuller came up with one job title that covers “being able to do everything.” He called this by the title — Comprehensivist.
Other Side Of The Desk
And there are some instances where the station ownership has computers and satellite program delivery as the staff, other than the one lone individual told to not answer the phones, keep the front door locked and work in an environment without air conditioning during the summer, or heating during the winter.
Outsourcing happens in may different forms.
RFB
Station staffing is a
Station staffing is a particular interest of mine.
Here in Canada it’s not all that difficult to get a technical license from Industry Canada for a low power radio station. You need to get an engineer (paid or otherwise) to do a study to ensure that you won’t interfere with any other station on the frequency that you choose and with the power that you want to operate with. The difficulty lies in getting a CRTC broadcasting license – they control the content, i.e., what you’re going to broadcast.
And they don’t want to deal with a one horse station, so to speak. They want to see a business plan with staffing, revenue, etc. To get that CRTC license, you pretty much have to have revenue (or a funding source) for a minimum of $50,000, typically $100,000, per year. And they want you to have a full-time, paid, station manager and program manager, which is, of course, where most of the cost is.
They also want to see such things as Canadian content, community content, etc. but I won’t go into that here.
That staffing (and budget) requirement is why there are few private LPAM/FM stations here; most are started out of universities and colleges who have a built-in funding mechanism – students. Occasionally you get someone with deep pockets investing; recently, someone from the U.S. who vacations on Saltspring Island ponied up money to the tune of $100,000 per year for the first three years to start an FM station there. But those stories are few and far between. For the rest, they have to find alternative sources of money, including taxation, local fundraising, etc.
Part 15 equivalent stations are much easier to manage. And sometimes you don’t even have to be your own audience!
Corporate Magic
Well, my radio station is owned by a corporation, MINE. It’s the corporation by which my late wife and I ran our audio/video/publishing business for many years, and I have continued corporate existence so that I have the option of starting a new commercial venture at a moment’s notice.
Actually, designing websites and running commercial streams WAS going to be a commercial expansion, but I had the good luck that my first client was a client from hell. I’m not joking about it, she would phone me all the time wanting something on her website changed, then call back ten minutes later and use vulgar words and screaming to show her disapproval. Thank god she fired me because I couldn’t make Wayne Newton float onto her screen, become very large, and sing in full animation. KDX had been a demonstration model for her radio station, but she realized she could do it herself.
Today KDX is corporately owned and operated, and my corporate attorney is exploring ways of making it a “research project” or a “publicity arm” or whatever would continue its corporate legitimacy.
Meanwhile, as CEO, my salary is $250,000…… but I do not take a salary. That way, the fact that the company can’t afford me is solved because I am waiving the salary. But it’s officially the salary I am due, should I decide to sue myself.
How would the CRTC feel about phantom salaries that exist in the corporate nether regions?
Staffing..
My station is also owned by a corporation, Delta Star Radio of Florida, Inc.
Keeping someone at the studio is not a problem since I don’t drive.
The corporation will be 12 years old as of this coming April so it is in place for LPFM, if that opportunity comes along. I think I should take Carl’s holiday shopping idea and hint for Part 15 AM xmitter for Christmas. That would get me on the air again much sooner.
Watching Tumble Weeds And Rusting Cars
“it is in place for LPFM, if that opportunity comes along. I think I should take Carl’s holiday shopping idea and hint for Part 15 AM xmitter for Christmas. That would get me on the air again much sooner.”
That’s a good idea..beings that the so called upcoming window for LPFM isn’t going to focus on licensing new stations. It’s going to focus on booster and translator stations…like there isn’t enough of those already.
I would do the AM TX shopping and get on the air, better than waiting around to watch the tumble weeds roll by and get stuck on the fence or watching the cars rust.
RFB