5 ms·

I seriously considered buying an AM radio station a few years ago. You can get a fully operational station and the land it's on for under $200k in pretty popula

by quartz 4y ago

I seriously considered buying an AM radio station a few years ago. You can get a fully operational station and the land it's on for under $200k in pretty populated areas. Something about just broadcasting whatever you want into a protected frequency band for anyone with an antenna to hear seems really cool.

112233 4y ago
How much electricity does an AM station burn?
- forinti 4y ago
  That and content, unless you are going to broadcast only your own stuff.
  - JKCalhoun 4y ago
    I would be surprised if you could not find plenty of podcasts happy to be slotted into your schedule for no fee whatsoever.
    - Scoundreller 4y ago
      Basically an NPR clone
daveguy 4y ago
Does that include licensing of the frequency or just the infrastructure? Even if it includes some duration of the license, I expect there are still regulations and red tape to maintain that license. And regulations about what you can broadcast.
- quartz 4y ago
  Oh sure, the list of FCC rules is seemingly endless... but it's still a pretty wide margin of media and speech permitted especially on the "talk radio" side of things.
  - geerlingguy 4y ago
    The operational requirements are a bit stringent, though—there are certain staffing and compliance requirements for the studio and transmitter facilities. And even low-power AM transmission stations need an annoying amount of physical plant maintenance—cutting grass, trimming overgrowth, fixing all the random annoying issues that crop up when maintaining any kind of equipment at a remote site (theft, rodents, water ingress, cooling, power, comms, etc.).
    - yetanotherloser 4y ago
      That sounds like "being responsible for a building'. Buy a seagoing boat sometime to play this game on hardmode :-D
RajT88 4y ago
That's why AM radio these days is incredibly weird. Lots of fire and brimstone, and right wing talk radio. Which isn't that weird, it's what you'd expect given our media ecosystem. But also really niche stuff. A friend of mine told me there's an AM radio station in NYC which plays nothing but Black Metal. Many of these stations carry Coast to Coast late at night, which is about as weird as you get.
- JKCalhoun 4y ago
  Sounds like shortwave which is, apparently, primarily religious proselytizing these days.
  - RajT88 4y ago
    Free-To-Air Satellite TV as well. Anything a little less mainstream which is cheap to get into.
- jhallenworld 4y ago
  On shortwave you get the "Supreme Master"- who owns the Loving Hut chain of vegan restaurants. They are nice, but possibly a cult.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ching_Hai https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ching_Hai But late night AM, you get "Ministry in the Marketplace with Dr. Richard Hamlet" on WEZE 590. This is the craziest right wingnut radio I've ever heard, even including shortwave. Last week they were ranting on about the "death vaccine". "By the 1950s, America had forgotten the Biblical principles that it was founded on. In the mid-60s, government-controlled education was implemented. At that time, The Foundation for American Christian Education was formed to help limit that control by educating families and even schools on the . . ."
  - UncleOxidant 4y ago
    That last paragraph just sounds like your average right-wing Christian radio station of which there are thousands across the US. Heck, your last paragraph there could've been from Dr. Dobson on the Focus on the Family radio show which is quite mainstream among American Evangelicals (of which there are many). As for the Loving Hut restaurants... oh, that's what I went to downtown? It did seem culty. They were playing some video on a loop about world peace, etc. I've gotta say, though, their vegan shrimp were quite good - a very good approximation down to the texture.
kunai 4y ago
Seems like you could get the same thing with ham radio for far less cost (albeit far less cachet by virtue of not being ex officio)
- fr0sty 4y ago
  Amateur radio is for 2-way communication only. No "broadcasts" allowed (with some _very narrow_ exceptions).
JKCalhoun 4y ago
That would kick ass. Part of me wishes the FCC opened the AM band to "public access" (legit radio piracy — perhaps with a 50W or so ceiling?) but the way the internet has unfolded suggests to me what a shitshow that would become.
dylan604 4y ago
>just broadcasting whatever you want but that's not exactly true unless you wear an eye patch, roll your Rs when you speak, have a wooden leg, and have a parrot perched on your shoulder. that $200k buys you equipment and land. it does not include any licensing or royalty payments for the content you ultimately decide to broadcast. if you have a full 100k flamethrower of a transmitter, the utility bill for that bad boy is not something I'll envy from you.
- kfarr 4y ago
  Funny I never thought of that now obvious fact that a radio transmitter like this will suck so much power it'd cost a bunch in electricity
  - dylan604 4y ago
    while not being a radio engineer myself, i spent some time around them for several years. even got to go to the antenna farm with them on one excursion. these things are no joke with the electrical wiring. just seeing the size of knife switch disconnects is an indicator of don't mess with this. never mind all of the other high voltage signage. there's a few other fun facts of broadcast towers that really makes you wonder if this is something you really want to be doing as a "hobby" don't know the level of urban legend, but i have heard that BASE jumpers that climb to the top of a tower to jump will start to feel their fillings heat up by the time they get to the top.
- Scoundreller 4y ago
  I mean, how much would a feed of podcasters’ syndication cost? I guess that’s not really a thing, but it’s gotta be cheap if you’re sharing some portion of revenue that they weren’t otherwise getting.
  - dylan604 4y ago
    >I mean, how much would a feed of podcasters’ syndication cost? That's like asking how long is a piece of string? How much is part of negotiations. The more people following, the higher the number. The larger the ego of the podcast producer(s), the higher the number. The more desperate the radio op is, the higher the number. If the podcaster has a set price tag type of licensing, then they must be new or are very naive or just don't feel like negotiating. In content licensing, you always shoot high in negotiations. If they come back with a yes on the first offer, you learn to shoot even higher the next time as you're leaving money on the table. If they do the more natural response of a much lower counter, then you get to play the traditional game. If they are someone so big of a broadcaster that they come in with an offer, never accept on first offer either. Always make them provide at least a second offer.* *I'm not a professional anything in this regard, so don't take the word of rando inteweb person. Talk to your lawyers regarding licensing offers. I'm just someone who has been near/around these things for a long time.
sheepybloke 4y ago
Just wondering, how did you find them? Just googling it, or through craigslist, or through a friend?
- jollyllama 4y ago
  Probably BizBuySell
  - sheepybloke 4y ago
    Yeah, looks like there is a couple there. It looks like there is also a site dedicated just buying and selling radio stations.
jhallenworld 4y ago
There is a guy around Boston who did this: Bob Bittner Bought an old Cambridge AM station for cheap.. runs at low power to keep the costs low. Check out: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WJIB https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WJIB (740 AM) For years they had no commercials, but took donations (but they were never non-profit).
outworlder 4y ago
> Something about just broadcasting whatever you want into a protected frequency band for anyone with an antenna to hear seems really cool. If I ever get ridiculous amounts of money that could be burned on frivolous stuff like this without a worry, I'd make something similar to Fallout's radio stations.

by quartz 4y ago

112233 4y ago

How much electricity does an AM station burn?

forinti 4y ago
That and content, unless you are going to broadcast only your own stuff.
- JKCalhoun 4y ago
  I would be surprised if you could not find plenty of podcasts happy to be slotted into your schedule for no fee whatsoever.
  - Scoundreller 4y ago
    Basically an NPR clone

daveguy 4y ago

Does that include licensing of the frequency or just the infrastructure? Even if it includes some duration of the license, I expect there are still regulations and red tape to maintain that license. And regulations about what you can broadcast.

quartz 4y ago
Oh sure, the list of FCC rules is seemingly endless... but it's still a pretty wide margin of media and speech permitted especially on the "talk radio" side of things.
- geerlingguy 4y ago
  The operational requirements are a bit stringent, though—there are certain staffing and compliance requirements for the studio and transmitter facilities. And even low-power AM transmission stations need an annoying amount of physical plant maintenance—cutting grass, trimming overgrowth, fixing all the random annoying issues that crop up when maintaining any kind of equipment at a remote site (theft, rodents, water ingress, cooling, power, comms, etc.).
  - yetanotherloser 4y ago
    That sounds like "being responsible for a building'. Buy a seagoing boat sometime to play this game on hardmode :-D

RajT88 4y ago

That's why AM radio these days is incredibly weird. Lots of fire and brimstone, and right wing talk radio. Which isn't that weird, it's what you'd expect given our media ecosystem. But also really niche stuff. A friend of mine told me there's an AM radio station in NYC which plays nothing but Black Metal. Many of these stations carry Coast to Coast late at night, which is about as weird as you get.

JKCalhoun 4y ago
Sounds like shortwave which is, apparently, primarily religious proselytizing these days.
- RajT88 4y ago
  Free-To-Air Satellite TV as well. Anything a little less mainstream which is cheap to get into.
jhallenworld 4y ago
On shortwave you get the "Supreme Master"- who owns the Loving Hut chain of vegan restaurants. They are nice, but possibly a cult.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ching_Hai https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ching_Hai But late night AM, you get "Ministry in the Marketplace with Dr. Richard Hamlet" on WEZE 590. This is the craziest right wingnut radio I've ever heard, even including shortwave. Last week they were ranting on about the "death vaccine". "By the 1950s, America had forgotten the Biblical principles that it was founded on. In the mid-60s, government-controlled education was implemented. At that time, The Foundation for American Christian Education was formed to help limit that control by educating families and even schools on the . . ."
- UncleOxidant 4y ago
  That last paragraph just sounds like your average right-wing Christian radio station of which there are thousands across the US. Heck, your last paragraph there could've been from Dr. Dobson on the Focus on the Family radio show which is quite mainstream among American Evangelicals (of which there are many). As for the Loving Hut restaurants... oh, that's what I went to downtown? It did seem culty. They were playing some video on a loop about world peace, etc. I've gotta say, though, their vegan shrimp were quite good - a very good approximation down to the texture.

kunai 4y ago

Seems like you could get the same thing with ham radio for far less cost (albeit far less cachet by virtue of not being ex officio)

fr0sty 4y ago
Amateur radio is for 2-way communication only. No "broadcasts" allowed (with some _very narrow_ exceptions).

JKCalhoun 4y ago

That would kick ass. Part of me wishes the FCC opened the AM band to "public access" (legit radio piracy — perhaps with a 50W or so ceiling?) but the way the internet has unfolded suggests to me what a shitshow that would become.

dylan604 4y ago

>just broadcasting whatever you want but that's not exactly true unless you wear an eye patch, roll your Rs when you speak, have a wooden leg, and have a parrot perched on your shoulder. that $200k buys you equipment and land. it does not include any licensing or royalty payments for the content you ultimately decide to broadcast. if you have a full 100k flamethrower of a transmitter, the utility bill for that bad boy is not something I'll envy from you.

kfarr 4y ago
Funny I never thought of that now obvious fact that a radio transmitter like this will suck so much power it'd cost a bunch in electricity
- dylan604 4y ago
  while not being a radio engineer myself, i spent some time around them for several years. even got to go to the antenna farm with them on one excursion. these things are no joke with the electrical wiring. just seeing the size of knife switch disconnects is an indicator of don't mess with this. never mind all of the other high voltage signage. there's a few other fun facts of broadcast towers that really makes you wonder if this is something you really want to be doing as a "hobby" don't know the level of urban legend, but i have heard that BASE jumpers that climb to the top of a tower to jump will start to feel their fillings heat up by the time they get to the top.
Scoundreller 4y ago
I mean, how much would a feed of podcasters’ syndication cost? I guess that’s not really a thing, but it’s gotta be cheap if you’re sharing some portion of revenue that they weren’t otherwise getting.
- dylan604 4y ago
  >I mean, how much would a feed of podcasters’ syndication cost? That's like asking how long is a piece of string? How much is part of negotiations. The more people following, the higher the number. The larger the ego of the podcast producer(s), the higher the number. The more desperate the radio op is, the higher the number. If the podcaster has a set price tag type of licensing, then they must be new or are very naive or just don't feel like negotiating. In content licensing, you always shoot high in negotiations. If they come back with a yes on the first offer, you learn to shoot even higher the next time as you're leaving money on the table. If they do the more natural response of a much lower counter, then you get to play the traditional game. If they are someone so big of a broadcaster that they come in with an offer, never accept on first offer either. Always make them provide at least a second offer.* *I'm not a professional anything in this regard, so don't take the word of rando inteweb person. Talk to your lawyers regarding licensing offers. I'm just someone who has been near/around these things for a long time.

sheepybloke 4y ago

Just wondering, how did you find them? Just googling it, or through craigslist, or through a friend?

jollyllama 4y ago
Probably BizBuySell
- sheepybloke 4y ago
  Yeah, looks like there is a couple there. It looks like there is also a site dedicated just buying and selling radio stations.

jhallenworld 4y ago

There is a guy around Boston who did this: Bob Bittner Bought an old Cambridge AM station for cheap.. runs at low power to keep the costs low. Check out: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WJIB https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WJIB (740 AM) For years they had no commercials, but took donations (but they were never non-profit).

outworlder 4y ago

> Something about just broadcasting whatever you want into a protected frequency band for anyone with an antenna to hear seems really cool. If I ever get ridiculous amounts of money that could be burned on frivolous stuff like this without a worry, I'd make something similar to Fallout's radio stations.