About Radio stations in Houston (Dallas, Howe: sale, how much, purchase)

[behtypa]

OK, I understand that the majority of the stations are owned by Clear Channel or other major media corps and are all basically a copycat of one another across the country.

I also understand that they purchase licenses for broadcasting a handful of songs (some as little as 50) and then loop them through the day. So-o annoying... Is that how they minimize their expenses?

BUT..

Why don't someone else open other radio channels?
- Is FCC license for a city that expensive? I doubt that. I guess it should be somewhere around $1000-5000 or less (?)
- Is broadcasting equipment is so unaffordable? Don't think so. You can set up a simple 5kW unit (appr. 10-15 mile coverage) for as low as 5K.

Or is someone killing any attempts to set up one?

I am not even talking about Pirate Radios, like those in London. Where are they?

So far the list of local broadcasters looks like a joke. There is nothing other than country, rock, hip-hop and Spanish. Oh, and 1 jazz, 1 classical. No electronic, no relaxing music, ethnic, oldies, etc etc.
Radio Stations in Houston, Texas.

UPDATE: I came across the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and here what it says about it on wikipedia:
"..The Act was claimed to foster competition. Instead, it continued the historic industry consolidation reducing the number of major media companies from around 50 in 1983 to 10 in 1996 and 6 in 2005. An FCC study found that the Act had led to a drastic decline in the number of radio station owners, even as the actual number of commercial stations in the United States had increased.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecom...ns_Act_of_1996

Looks like this is what killed the variety.

Your comments after the break...

YouTube - Wall Of Voodoo - Mexican Radio

[glorplaxy]

It's true: our radio stations are absolutely terrible and inexcusably bland for an urban area of such size. Houston seems to appreciate nothing but the same mass-produced trash music that is shot out to the rest of the nation, generally speaking.

KTRU, the radio station that Rice University owns, is a great station with a very eclectic schedule. Some times there is an electronic show, sometimes there is an ambient show, sometimes an Africana show, sometimes a show with music from the Indian subcontinent, sometimes Americana, sometimes local music only, sometimes underground hip hop, etc...

But you know what really sucks? They are being sold right now and turned into a 24/7 classical radio station. Yes, Houston's radio stations are really terrible and yes, I do think it is a reflection of the greater culture of our metro area. Houston really does not seem to appreciate a diverse music scene the way many other large urban areas (many of them much smaller than Houston) do. The recent sale of KTRU is just another nail in the coffin.

However, we do still at least have KPFT, and while I personally think it sucks compared to KTRU because of the amount of talk on there, it's at least something. Honestly, I don't understand why people like talk radio shows. I turn on the radio to listen to MUSIC, not people talking about the same crap they talk about on the news and anywhere else.

[glorplaxy]

Also, we do have lots of ethnic radio since those "Spanish" stations you speak of are, in fact, mainly playing ethnic Hispanic music.

Our radio stations are something like this
-Mostly pop trash that MTV has mass produced in a cheap sweatshop
-Rap, R&B (same things as before though for the most part)
-mass produced rock trash that come from another MTV sweatshop (but marketed differently than first)
-Stations that appeal mainly towards Mexicans (Northern Mexican music, Pop/Rock en Espanol, ballads,bachata, etc)
-TALK, TALK, TALK, TALK, TALK, TALK...some stupid guys talking all the time when I want to hear music!
-a tiny tiny bit of something interesting (I have heard awesome jazz on AM, and of course KTRU is cool and KPFT has its moments...even KUHF, the classical station, plays some really cool stuff like ambient space music or very experimental things).
-and that one country station, 97.1 country legends, but they play the same things all the time

[HoustonRonnie]

My solution was Sirius/XM. I totally agree that the stations here are crapola except for 740AM KTRH. Good news and Randy Lemmon on the weekends.

Lived in Dallas for 8 years and it was the same crapola. Clear Channel can't program worth a damn.

Ronnie

[tstone]

Radio here has been mostly garbage for awhile now, enough to drive a music lover insane. Right now I can only see 2 things it is good for. FM radio has bland, non-offensive music for dentist & optometrist offices. AM radio has decent news/weather/traffic reports, although this (election) year the news has been sprinkled with spin, omission of certain details, and fake/dubbed interviews. And talk radio has literally gone off the deep end.

Just spend the $36 per year on Pandora One. Problem solved. From the oddest avant-garde to the trendiest mainstream sellouts, in all genres in the book-- it's definitely a worthwhile investment.

BTW interesting that act of 1996 was brought up. IMO the year after that was when radio (and music in general) started going down the tubes.

[crone]

When the FCC permitted the consolidation of stations, what to do in a local emergency situation was a big concern. They have since allowed very small fm stations to operate. I'm told it is not so hard to get one. The range is minute, but better than tin cans and a string. A few miles. Let's all get one and consolidate.
I want music that KPFT plays on the weekends.

[Mr. Krinkle]

103.7 is the only decent station around. Other than that, I'm with HoustonRonnie with Sirius/XM.

[behtypa]

Originally Posted by crone

When the FCC permitted the consolidation of stations, what to do in a local emergency situation was a big concern. They have since allowed very small fm stations to operate. I'm told it is not so hard to get one. The range is minute, but better than tin cans and a string. A few miles. Let's all get one and consolidate.
I want music that KPFT plays on the weekends.

I am wondering how much the FCC license is? And do stations pay royalties/licenses for song broadcasting? Or one can just broadcast his own ipod collection out?

[tstone]

Broadcast your iPod collection? I can see the RIAA and ASCAP having a field day with that.

[behtypa]

Originally Posted by tstone

Broadcast your iPod collection? I can see the RIAA and ASCAP having a field day with that.

LOL. I forgot that RIAA sharks are all around. )
OK. Let me rephrase: If one buys a licensed CD, can he/she broadcast it over the air? Or an additional fee (aka license/royalty) is required?

If it is required, then I understand why stations don't have many songs to choose from. Each song license is probably worth hundreds...