Starting a radio station (insurance, sales, license, corporations)

[Mattks]

Okay, I'm not really starting a radio station, but a local station went out of business a couple years ago and their building and tower are now for sale. It's actually pretty cheap imo.

It just got me thinking and wondering how does that business work. How does the licensing for radio stations frequencies and music work? I assume they make most of their revenue from advertising right? I also assume the station needs to be manned 24/7 to make sure everything continues to work, but late night I imagine they use mostly recorded sound bites and probably just keep a technician on hand to keep everything running smoothly.

I find it an interesting business. Have radio stations been hurt a lot by Internet and satellite radio? I assume so, but by now most radio stations have surely adapted some. I'm 29 and only listen to music from FM stations and occasionally YouTube if I'm on my computer.

The radio station was Oldies, which seems to be going out of popularity, and the frequency is now a country station.

[Labonte18]

Originally Posted by Mattks

Okay, I'm not really starting a radio station, but a local station went out of business a couple years ago and their building and tower are now for sale. It's actually pretty cheap imo.

It just got me thinking and wondering how does that business work. How does the licensing for radio stations frequencies and music work? I assume they make most of their revenue from advertising right? I also assume the station needs to be manned 24/7 to make sure everything continues to work, but late night I imagine they use mostly recorded sound bites and probably just keep a technician on hand to keep everything running smoothly.

I find it an interesting business. Have radio stations been hurt a lot by Internet and satellite radio? I assume so, but by now most radio stations have surely adapted some. I'm 29 and only listen to music from FM stations and occasionally YouTube if I'm on my computer.

The radio station was Oldies, which seems to be going out of popularity, and the frequency is now a country station.

I can answer some of this.

You say they went out of business. But you seem to indicate they're still broadcasting? If you're not buying the license, you don't have anything. And the FCC will weigh in on whether you can buy the license.

Most radio stations make their money from advertisers, yes. Some also do a pay-to-play thing where they'll sell time to some local nutjob...er.. Organization to run their program.

Many stations are totally automated now. Your larger corporations (Clear Channel or whatever they call themselves now) voicetrack shows.. There's probably one guy running 5 stations, and all he's really doing is making sure everything is working right. You can program a station 24 hours a day by computer.

It would depend on what type of station. Since it's a music station.. I presume it's a fairly low power FM stick? If it's AM, the reason they're going out of business is because they're playing effing music. AM stations are pretty much all talk now. Whether it's Rush and the like, or your Neal Boortz..

The business change has been, not necessarily from satellite, which has taken a bite.. But from conglomeration. If you look at the top 10 stations in your area.. They're probably all owned by 2 companies.

[harry chickpea]

To add to that - the FCC used to require a licensed engineer at the transmitter whenever the station was operating. That requirement was dropped, and even before computers a lot of the easy listening stations were automated or near-automated with large reels of 1/4" tape, tape carts for commercials, and some very basic electro-mechanical automation.

I remember bringing loads of shellac 78 RPM records to the dump. Sometime after that, someone had to bring loads of 45 and 33 and 16 RPM records to the dump, and about four years back a kid who was working a local station informed me he had the job of tossing out all of the CDs. There have been amazing changes in the industry.

[Blondebaerde]

Originally Posted by Labonte18

It would depend on what type of station. Since it's a music station.. I presume it's a fairly low power FM stick? If it's AM, the reason they're going out of business is because they're playing effing music. AM stations are pretty much all talk now. Whether it's Rush and the like, or your Neal Boortz.

If they're playing Rush and like, I'm listening to them. Jeez: someone will be calling that "oldies" soon, if they're not already. Guess those guys are all over 60 and have allegedly completed their last tour...as they said in Fight Club, "Even the Mona Lisa is falling apart!"

Also quoting same, "...polishing the deck chairs on the Titanic man: it's all going down!" When I was a teen in the 1980s, I listened to AM a lot for only one reason: Detroit Tigers baseball. Eventually, in the 1990s, I started listening to talk radio. That continues on my commutes, to this day.

I've listened to AM change here in Seattle, past fifteen years especially. Used to be interesting shows on the weekends, in addition to the weekday talk shows (that I still find interesting, albeit more entertainment than news). Now, on the weekends, these damn stations play infomercials by the same group of clowns:

- Quack chiropractors
- Quack fertility clinics (for men)
- Crank gold peddlers
- Chiselers promising riches via day trading and obsolete paradigms
- Dipstick annuity-peddlers

I obviously find it rather insulting.

Gone are the interesting weekend commentators on matters technology, general science, medical practices, etc. All of them: POOF.

Thus, AM seems to be a dead end. I've taken to podcasting when I'm near a WiFi source instead, for my drive-home amusement. I'm probably not alone there, and since I'm about at the point where I can get any show at any time, there is no point to listening to so-and-so at such-and-such a time, reminds me of TV from the old days. Seems like the AM dial is mostly the purview of old people these days, judging from the above and nature of the commercials.

[Big-Bucks]

Radio has become very fragmented. Seems like terrestrial radio stations are going through tough times. You can tell by the way they have resorted to airing infomercials all weekend long... index annuity sharks, index universal life insurance sharks, non-traded REIT sharks, stock trading school sharks, market timing asset manager sharks, etc

[JL]

I am also interested in knowing the requirements of how to get one started. My station would be a niche and there are no known ones that exist in the country for this music.

[Rabrrita]

Start by reading this:
https://www.fcc.gov/media/radio/how-to-apply

This is for broadcast stations. If you want to be an internet "radio" station, just do it.

[dragon_slayer]

the OP best have some $$$ as he will need it!!!

[oregonwoodsmoke]

I notice while traveling that there are fewer radio stations.

On the southern border, high powered stations across the border disregard band width laws and drown out local stations.

But mostly, broadcasts are replaying one or two major producers that cover the whole country, so radio is a taped show.

In my area there is a local station that does well. They play a lot of music and run mostly local ads for local businesses. The radio personalities are local, low key, amusing, and unobtrusive. They give local news. Many of the smaller local businesses have that station playing in the background instead of playing Mus-ac sorts of music. I suppose that is very niche market. It used to be standard but is not what anyone else appears to be playing now.

It's hard to see how a radio station could not make it if the thing was fully automated. You'd need sales people to obtain advertising and a couple pf technicians to replay the pre-recorded shows. No announcers, no receptionist. Even billing is now handled by specialty firms.

[509]

Local, small community radio stations are probably the only ones that will survive.

Does the frequency come with the tower and buildings??

You mention that the frequency is now a country radio station which indicates you might not be buying a radio station but a antenna and building.