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You are right Andy, Big full power radio stations will not make money with the format, That’s why they’ve all abandoned it. However the 50+ demographic is still pretty large, just not lucrative. We are not in it for the money. We are all volunteers and are doing it because we like it.
The WORC will have Ham radio news blurbs and programming inserted to meet the license requirements. We also plan to open the doors to enthusiasts that want to learn about radio. So no violations here. Besides I don’t think the FCC gives a whit about LPFM. Look what they did to KQSO. Put a new translator on for Alpha that wiped out their frequency. We’re not trying to compete we just want to have some fun. To that end we have a kickstarter to raise enough to put in on if you’d like to help
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/goodguyradio-kisn/goodguy-radio-kisnThey apparently just want to have some fun, as T Hopkins stated. He is incorrect about the FCC not caring about LPFM. It is Congress and their industrialist handlers that don’t care. The FCC is part of the executive branch of government and are the ones that have to come up with the rules and enforce them. The industrialists conceded this small service to the public but did not hand out Carte Blanche to the licensees. In addition, getting knocked off the air by primary service stations and their translators is within the rules. Secondary service is unprotected. None of the new LPFM’s have any guarantee. LPFM’s have suffered displacement since the inception of the service.
A bunch of grey hairs having fun in itself isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Using an LPFM license for the purpose of reducing the royalty costs of a streaming service sounds a lot like a business use. Goodguysradio.com is NOT a non profit organization. This is a clear conflict with the rules. LPFM’s can only be licensed to non profit organizations and using the asset to reduce costs of a for profit streaming service sounds like a violation to me.
Meanwhile on its face, the intent to educate and inform the public in the area to be served appears to be taking a back seat to the needs of the few old guys to “have fun” and try and resurrect their concept of what the golden days of top 40 radio was, but even then it won’t be live or involve many if anyone in the area to be served.
A very sad state of affairs if you ask me. Those that like the music can stream it. Those that like the shtick of screaming DJ’s and corny bubble gum banter can stream it. Using public bandwidth to reduce the costs of operating this stream seems wrong to me. I would never support it.
FYI the licensee WORC is a non-profit. The stream will be non commercial, non profit too. Good Guy Radio is not incorporated. If the public supports it, we have a service. If not. Oh well.
LPFM stations are authorized for noncommercial educational broadcasting only, according to the FCC. I would consider the Boss radio, top 40 era as definitely being an important part of radio’s history. I think that showcasing that time period in radio broadcasting would definitely fall under the category of educational. A side benefit of LPFM is that it would be reducing the cost of streaming. I see no problem with that. From what I understand, this station is not selling advertising. Best of luck, and if you need some help, I’d be glad to dust off my headphones and play the hits a few hours a week.
“A side benefit of LPFM is that it would be reducing the cost of streaming.”
How does it reduce the cost of streaming?
It’s all explained at the link below. There is no way I can make sense of what T Hopkins is saying. Streaming the good guys on an LPFM makes the LPFM liable for BMI, ASCAP and SESAC royalties for on air and BMI, ASCAP, SESAC and Sound Exchange royalties for streaming their entire signal. Also, if the goodguyradio stream continues to be available on its own (without the other content available on the LPFM) then the owner of the stream, if a qualified non profit, also has to pay royalties to BMI, ASCAP, SESAC and Sound Exchange.
So I don’t see how anyone’s fees are reduced. Read this:
http://www.prometheusradio.org/musiclicensing
Note that goodguyradio is a dot com not a dot org.
Note that goodguyradio.com has an online store. If they are a non profit organization but not a corporation and registered as a non profit, they are required to pay taxes on it as they are not exempt and not really a qualified non profit. Western Oregon Radio Club is a registered non profit, and if they are leasing or paying in any way for the goodguyradio.com stream, then that is additional income for the owner of the stream and taxes must be paid on profit. If the stream is a “hobby” or “self employed” venture then it must file as such and is not eligible for non profit royalty rates.
Note that goodguyradio.com has a hidden registration on whois.internic look up.
What is being posted by Mr. Hopkins just doesn’t add up. If it does, please explain it.
It is especially unclear whether the stream that now exists will continue to exist without additional content provided by WORC or if WORC will be streaming their entire on air programming as a stream. If there are two streams (i.e. goodguyradio.com AND KISN-LP.xxx), then how is this reducing royalty fees for anyone?
I remember looking closely at BMI, ASCAP, and Sound Exchange rules several years back when contemplating starting an online stream. The way online only was treated then (and I think now) was way more difficult in terms of reporting and actual cost for a small non-profit entity than what the rules are for a non-commercial terrestrial radio station that happens to also have a stream.
So I think the basic gist of “reducing the cost of streaming” while not to zero, may still be true. However another thread here suggested that Congress is contemplating another wholesale change to how royalties are calculated and collected and I fear these changes while proposed with good intentions could hurt all non-profit radio deeply.
Andy’s other objections to if this new service meets LPFM rules about being “non-profit” are interesting. But in regards to content only and “items for sale”, if the religious stations qualify they way they program, pretty much anything else goes too. Not that I like this.
The Kickstarter link at the beginning of this thread gave me a 404 error. With some more research, I found that this one works:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/goodguyradio-kisn/goodguy-radio-kisn
I am eager to hear the return of KISN, and I am wondering which direction the station will take. Will it be primarily re-broadcasts of airchecks from the original KISN? Will it be music from the KISN charts with recognizable personalities for branding/nostalgia? Or, will it be new broadcasts using music from the KISN era, delivered in the classic KISN top-40 style?
During the weekend, I heard an interview on KEX with the manager of the radio program at Benson Polytechnic School. I thought of them when reading the comments above about full-powered signals and about wanting to involve young people in amateur radio. Amateur radio in itself is a hobby/volunteer activity. However, there are many radio amateurs who are engineers or technicians, and such people might serve as useful mentors to young people considering careers in science and technology. Does Benson even have an amateur radio club?
Benson has not had a amateur radio club for quite a few years because of lack of student interest. We even air the ARRL PSAs on KBPS.
Didn’t you tell the board that the old studio space for All Classical was going to be used for video production?
When I was in high school, I knew of only one amateur radio operator at my school (not me), and there was no club. It appears that “tinkering” (that is, self-teaching by doing) has generally not been the way that young people enter engineering and technical careers for quite some time.
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