Back To The Drawing Board...Input Needed (Pittsburgh, Plum: sales, real estate)

[WILWRadio]

I've scrapped my plans to move to Vandergrift. The primary reason being I won't be able to obtain enough high school sporting events to air on my flea powered radio station which in turn will attract sponsors. In essence, I won't be able to find enough support to make it succeed there.

A secondary issue I am facing at the moment is the proposed health care plan being pitched by the current administration. If this gets passed it is a virtual certainty that my current job will become expendable and I'll have to find something else. This directly impacts the timetable that I have for carrying out my plans to relocate, find employment and start the radio station.

In a nutshell, I'd like to get some ideas about where else I might be able to develop the radio station near Pittsburgh. I've got a couple of places already in mind that seem to fit most of the criteria that I need for the radio station to have a chance to succeed. I need most or all of the following in a community if the radio station is going to have a shot at making it:

1) Decent population density within a 1 to 2 mile radius. The range of the station will be limited to that kind of range with each transmitter.

2) Solid Mom and Pop business district within that area. Corporate entities are not likely to advertise but small businesses will.

3) Population trending towards 30 years and older. They are the target market for the programming on the radio station.

4) Strong sense of community and involvement by local people in the community.

5) Reasonable housing prices. I don't want to spend more than 20k for a fixer upper.

6) I will need to find a few volunteers to help create and air programs. The station would have one paid position and that is a sales position paying straight commission. This would be a part time job for someone looking to make a little extra money. Radio stations of this nature don't make much money due to the limited broadcast range. However, they are good training grounds for people that want to break into the industry but can't get the time of day at a licensed station without previous experience.

The station format would be Adult Contemporary Oldies and would offer local news, weather, high school sports (if I can get the cooperation from the local school), information programming such as a Community Calendar etc. Years ago when I launched the station in a small town in western NY I had the Chamber of Commerce Director doing a weekly program on Chamber events and community happenings. I also did a weekly interview with someone that worked at the local animal shelter with the hope of finding homes for pets. And the President of the area Health Care Association hosted a weekly show about health care topics and interviews with local health care people.

This gives you some idea of what I'd like to do. Now, I just need to figure out where I can do it. So far I am looking at Ellwood City and Carnegie. Any additional ideas or suggestions about where to put the station will be welcome.

[hempfield mania]

Greensburg or Irwin but good luck finding a fixer upper other than the bad neighborhoods of PGH proper for that price.

[xtant64]

Maybe around Monroeville? I live in Plum, and some of the bullet points you ask for work, but I don't know about the 20K house part, or if there is enough of a population density to work for you there.

[Hopes]

Is it a rock station? Man, we need a good rock station! Almost anywhere would work for that in SW PA. There are lots of Pittsburghers into rock but the radio stations suck.

I accidently caught the Laurel Mountain's rock station one day. The music line up was great. Sadly, I only get it when I'm far north on Route 28.

Safe, inexpensive areas where you might find a cheap fixer upper that have population and businesses would be Millvale, Brighton Heights, Carnegie, Tarentum, Verona.

Not sure about safety but Turtle Creek and Pitcairn have houses in that price range.

Howard Hanna Real Estate Services - Real Estate - Pittsburgh - Property - Proplist

[gameguy56]

Turtle Creek or Forest Hills? Hell, you could get a sub-20k fixer upper in many parts of the east end of the city as well.

[Copanut]

Wilmerding, Turtle Creek, East Pittsburgh, East McKeesport, Pitcairn, Trafford, parts of Penn Twp. But even then, 20K is pretty low.

[WILWRadio]

Originally Posted by Hopes

Is it a rock station? Man, we need a good rock station! Almost anywhere would work for that in SW PA. There are lots of Pittsburghers into rock but the radio stations suck.

I accidently caught the Laurel Mountain's rock station one day. The music line up was great. Sadly, I only get it when I'm far north on Route 28.

Safe, inexpensive areas where you might find a cheap fixer upper that have population and businesses would be Millvale, Brighton Heights, Carnegie, Tarentum, Verona.

Not sure about safety but Turtle Creek and Pitcairn have houses in that price range.

Howard Hanna Real Estate Services - Real Estate - Pittsburgh - Property - Proplist

Hopes. Adult Contemporary which is the lite side of rock from the 60's to about 1990. My playlist currently numbers at 2,600 songs and includes many songs that did not chart. A good way to keep things fresh. BTW. If we don't lose the internet I do plan to stream and you'll be able to listen if you are not near the station.

I looked at Millvale but I am concerned about the AM tower that is already located there for AM 830. I have a friend that is a broadcast engineer and I'll have to ask him if my station would get wiped out by their signal. I'd be at the upper end of the AM dial but with my station at a mere one tenth of one watt living in the shadow of a one thousand watt station, something may have to give and that will be me.

Carnegie interests me. The few times I visited I like what I saw. Good demographic and a nice downtown area (when it's not under water ) with most of the neighborhoods being in fairly decent shape.

My friend in Freedom recommends Ellwood City and I like that place too. My visits there were fine and now that they have a new Director at the Chamber I suspect the place is more business friendly.

I'll look into your other recommendations.

[WILWRadio]

Originally Posted by hempfield mania

Greensburg or Irwin but good luck finding a fixer upper other than the bad neighborhoods of PGH proper for that price.

Greensburg's high schools have a lot of coverage from local radio and MSA. That won't work. I'll look into Irwin. Thanks for the tip.

[WILWRadio]

Originally Posted by xtant64

Maybe around Monroeville? I live in Plum, and some of the bullet points you ask for work, but I don't know about the 20K house part, or if there is enough of a population density to work for you there.

I checked it out on a map and it is too spread out. My station won't have enough power to adequately cover more than a one to two mile radius. I need a smaller community or a couple of them to effectively market such a small station.

Thanks for the suggestion. Looks like a nice area otherwise.

[WILWRadio]

Originally Posted by gameguy56

Turtle Creek or Forest Hills? Hell, you could get a sub-20k fixer upper in many parts of the east end of the city as well.

Turtle Creek. Home to one of my favorite Vocal Groups called The Vogues.

Thanks, I'll look into these places. Never thought of them before.