Low Powered FM Radio For Youngstown

[Towntalk]

All this is well and good Jay, but listen a minute. The application for a LPFM station will be coming up this October and has only a small window, and once that window is closed no more applications will be considered for 10 years, and this comes straight from the FCC, so the group you are referring to had better get their act together and have all their ducks in a row to meet that small window, and be certain that their application is prepared by an attorney that knows his stuff because they will have only one shot this time around.
In the meantime, everyone here supports their efforts, but until they do get a license all our chatter is useless, but there is absolutely nothing we can do to move the process on.
If we knew who the folks are who want to start the station here, then there may be ways that we could help them with the financing, but you do not want to say just who they are, so this whole thread boils down to a hypothetical exercise.

[jay]

Low Power FM Webinar

Topic:
What is a Participatory Radio Station?
Creating Democratic Governance Structures

Thursday, September 5, 6:00 p.m.

www.prometheusradio.org/webinars

[AllanY2525]

An LPFM station could use live audio streaming over an internet connection between council chambers
and their studio, and also to a website, for those who are out of range of the radio station.


Video could also be streamed.   Very easy and very doable.

[Towntalk]

Mike positions

[Towntalk]

Covering City Council would be a good idea but the big question is the means to do a live remote broadcast on LPFM. Standard AM FM stations feed their remotes via sattalite to the studio, and that costs money, and remotes from places like Council chambers are not equipped space wise to accomidate a complete LPFM setup.
Even when the local stations were doing broadcasts of Council meetings back in the day, the meetings were taped and broadcast later.
A LPFM station could follow this format easily and with less cost to the station, and would be welcome.
By the way a typical setup for broadcasting City Council would require at least 5 microphones based on a photograph I have in my archives of a broadcast council meeting and a professional tape recorder or today's equivelent.
When the radio stations covered Council meetings they were aired each Monday night that Council was in session:

WFMJ - 9:00 pm to 9:45 pm
WKBN - 11:30 pm to 12:00 pm
By 1952 only WKBN aired Council meetings each Tuesday night from 10:30 to 11:00 PM
By 1955 no station aired Council meetings.

[jay]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jx5jSNf3l-c

[jay]

One of the things I would like to have a low powered FM radio station do is cover city council meetings live.

That would only take up about 5 minutes of air time.   

[Billy Mumphrey]

I was told there is only 1 frequency available in Youngstown, 107.5FM.

[Towntalk]

So are all the commercial FM towers and these are the ones that pose the greatest problem for LPFM stations. This is one of the problems with LPFM stations ... bleedover from high powered commercial FM stations. The bandwith for LPFM is small so there are few choices of where they will be located on the dial, and there is no guarintee that they will not be subject to interference from commercial FM stations in the area.

[kenneyjoe330]

All three commercial TV Towers are located on the South Side - would that be a good place ?

[Towntalk]

Good question Jay.
If the group is a school or church they could have in house funding, but if not, I suspect that they would have to be on the air for a limited time each day and have a web site that could fill in the rest of the time, but still with a limited coverage area of 3.5 square miles they would have a limited base to draw donations from.
The best area to locate in would be the West Side and the second best would be the North Side depending on their format ie. the type of programs they would air.

[Billy Mumphrey]

The money issue will need to be addressed but not right away. Once the license is granted they will have up to say 2-4 years to get the station on the air. They could use that window to fund raise, seek grants, etc. This window would also give them the time to write up a budget plan to see exactly what the cost would entail.

[jay]

I also wish them well.  It's going to be a learning process.  At this point, I wonder where the money will come from to set up the station and then run it on a day to day basis.

[Billy Mumphrey]

I was told the group has a person researching the ins and outs of this process. If the groups wants to look into this venture they should have no problem getting their application filed with the tiny window.

[Towntalk]

 The window for filing for a LPFM license is from October 15, 2013 to October 29, 2013 and MUST be done electronically only. Applications filed before October 15 or after October 29 will NOT be considered.

If the group fails to meet the window, it will have to wait 10 years before a new window is established by the FCC.