Years ago I was inspired by KENC’s accomplishments with his part15 station, in that it had a substantial and consistent on-air listening audience.
Years ago I was inspired by KENC’s accomplishments with his part15 station, in that it had a substantial and consistent on-air listening audience.
Later, I was greatly disappointed to see the poor little flea get crushed and eliminated from existence.
Yet, like Elvis (..and why I would ever invoke Elvis into this topic, I have no idea, there is absolutely no connection, or is there any way to even remotely associate flea-powered broadcasting or KENC’s part15 demise to Elvis, but I’m relaying my thoughts in sync as I type, and the King somehow got in there.. so I’ll leave it there, because to stop my ramble and edit it would alter the flow of my ramble and.. oh, forget it.. it’s there, deal with it, and I’ll resume)
Yet, like Elvis, KENC will live on in infamy as king of a once upon a time large listening audience of a Part15 station..
ANYWAY — I keep searching around seeking “successful” part15 stations – and I what I mean by “successful” is those who actually have a consistent, and substantial number of community listeners on their local on-air radio dial.
Finding them however appears to be a rather elusive quest. Either they are very rare, or it could be that they intentionally shy away from making themselves known, to avoid putting their station in the limelight and drawing attention that might cause undesirable results.
About the only one I’ve noticed that currently appears to be “successful”, I suppose, would be Radio Brandy. He seems to have a very unique thing going on there that I find to be admirable and interesting.
But, what influenced me to make this post is a staion I have stumbled across, that is an all-kids part15 (supposedly hmmm..) station, which utilizes a Ramsey FM-100 transmitter for their broadcast. Apparently they have been on the air for a quite while, and appear to have a top-notch array of gear that any part15 broadcaster would drool over..
And an interesting side note, upon further research, I come to find out that they’ve evidently been previously visited by an FFC agent, who went ahead and gave them a green light to continue, even though their station is to say the least.. questionable.
But I, like that compassionate agent, am all for them, and wish them the very best of everything, and feel enthusiasm for their venture.
The station I am referring to is WKID 96.7 FM located in Clearwater Florida. “The only FM radio station in the world owned and operated by kids.”, and their website is http://www.wkid967fm.com Check em’ out! Very cool.
So, that makes 2 in operation with large audience Part15 stations.
WKID FM: http://www.wkid967fm.com/
and
RADIO BRANDY: http://www.radiobrandy.com
Can anyone add to this list?
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Incidentally, I feel inclined to mention that I’m suddenly beginning to wonder if my post sounds off-center.. and if it does, allow me to confess that tonight (oh.. it’s morning now) I have drank numerous scotch and tea’s.. (very odd, because I am not a scotch drinker at all, but a guest to the evening made it readily available!)
I hope this has not been inappropriate, and mostly hope what I wrote above all makes sense – which at the moment it seems to me, it has.
But– if the part15.us forces that be.. thinks this shouldn’t be here, than by all means remove it, just don’t ban me, cause I need ya-all!
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So, that makes 2 Part15 stations.
WKID FM: http://www.wkid967fm.com/
and
RADIO BRANDY: http://www.radiobrandy.com
Can anyone add to this list?
Carl Blare says
Pleasant Visit
Dear Rich Powers,
I enjoyed visiting with you during your scotch and tea period, and found the theme very much a part 15 quest: “finding stations with audiences.” What a good thing to wonder about.
It would be good if you kept looking for successful part 15 ventures of all kinds and reporting to us so we also will be inspired.
If you make a voice recording of your “Charles Kuralt On the Part 15 Road” episodes maybe they could be used on The Low Power Hour.
In fact, you didn’t say enough about Radio Brandy. Tell us more. I drank some brandy once and found it bitter.
scwis says
Here are a couple of references for stations that have listeners
Atlantic Records put a Part 15 transmitter in the Holland Tunnel to try out new artists:
Atlantic Records Holland Tunnel Low Power Radio Project
Sea Grant public information stations in Recreation areas
Sea Grant Low Power Radio Stations
And I enjoy your ‘ramblings,’ too, Rich!
Ken Norris says
RE: “LARGE AUDIENCE” PART 15 BROADCASTING STATIONS
“Later, I was greatly disappointed to see the poor little flea get crushed and eliminated from existence.”
Well, in the long run, it was something of a blessing. For one thing, he ended up partnering with a small local licensed station, and still retains his audience. For another. he got rid of his Part 15 gear and some people benefitted with bargain prices (compared to new).
He was getting out way too far with the Part 15 setup, unaware (I believe) that anything was wrong. Bound to have happened. Still a shame, though. Another thing is that it tightened some ambiguities, namely that we always thought the FCC would use .209 or .219, but not both. However, apparently they can and will if someone tries to argue with them about it.
Back in the early 90’s (or late 80’s), Renault built a mini-van around a Formula 1 tub with a mid-engine. The thing produced over 800hp. It was tested, but never raced nor marketed. It’s in a museum now, but still cool to know that once there was a mini-van that went over 200mph.
Cool to know there was once a Part 15 operation that reached tens of thousands of listeners.
I love stuff like that. “We the oppressed are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much with so little for so long that we are now qualified to do anything with nothing.” – Author unknown.
RichPowers says
Glad you enjoyed my ramble..
Glad you enjoyed my ramble.. Fortunately I didn’t come across as intoxicated as I was!
Carl,
I didn’t say much about Radio Brandy because I assumed their operations as already well known in the Part15 community.. Their website is kind of mashed-up and disorganized to me, making it a little flakey to navigate.. but from what I can gather, it appears they consist of two campus, one in California somewhere, and another in Arizona. And these campuses have numerous studios and living quarters spread throughout an acre or two…
They take in troubled teens, provide them food and private lodging in individual housing within the campus, as well as assigning them to an individual on-campus studios, and teaching them the ins and outs of radio broadcasting. They have a lot of nice equipment and they utilize part15 transmitters for their broadcasts.
The guys who created and runs all this, is a guy named Steve…, and he’s a regular poster at hobbybroadcaster.net going by the username RadioBrandy.
Scwis,
I found the Atlantic Records link real interesting, and there’s more on that page than just the broadcast in the Holland tunnel. It talks about stations in a 18-wheeler Miller Genuine Draft truck for a Led Zepplin concert, and Marie Callendar’s restaurant in LA that transmits its menu to the surrounding area.
A notable bit of info found buried in the midst of those articles is that it was the Talking House creator himself who had created these stations for Atlantic: (edited to hilight the point) Danny Buch, Atlantic Records vice president of promotion, said the firm started experimenting with low-power radio last July. [of 1995]… He noted the breakthrough in low-power radio came when “we finally found the equipment to make it work.” Andrew Milder, president of Business Broadcast Systems… created the stations for Atlantic and Marie Callendar’s [restaurant]….. Milder also came up with the “talking house.” Prospective buyers could park by the house and listen to a description of the home any time of the day without leaving the car.
Then, almost at the bottom of the page the FCC reared it’s head:
Atlantic Records had some explaining to do to the FCC when a listener complained that the label’s low-power station outside the New York/New Jersey Holland Tunnel could be heard for at least two miles.
The FCC says it contacted Atlantic and “obtained a promise to adjust the transmitter power down to a level that will comply with [FCC] rules.”
It sounds as though they did not actually get a on location visit or inspection, but it’s interesting to note that it apparently wasn’t a licensed station that lodged the complaint, but a common citizen.
The thing is Atlantic Records quit doing these broadcast around 1996 for unknown reasons.
As for the Sea Grant stations, they too are very interesting, and I have only begun to explore the information on them. But they are a National Organization of the NOAA, with stations all over the place. And I’m not so sure at this point if we can actually classify them as Part15 stations in the same league as us.. one thing is for sure, there’s not much chance of one of their stations being shut down, since they are in essence government station! —
“We the oppressed are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much with so little for so long that we are now qualified to do anything with nothing.” – Author unknown.
Ken, I have never heard that quote before, but it’s brilliant.
I am reminded of something someone once said to me..
“Rich, you do more with nothing then anybody I’ve ever known”
..I was never sure if it was intended as a compliment or an insult, but I never forgot it!
MICRO1700 says
Part 15 Stations With Listeners
I think if just a few people are listening
to your station (or even one) it is a
successful operation. I had a few
listeners when my AM was on.
My goals have never been for an audience,
although there have been listeners.
I have been mainly interested in keeping the
old equipment alive, and trying to get a
signal out as far as I can on 1690/1700
within Part 15.219. My station is almost like
a little radio museum, really.
However, I have stopped a few times and wondered,
if I was really going to broadcast to the neighborhood,
what would I really program?
The only thing I can really think of would be a sort of
morning drive, recorded very early (maybe 5:AM to 6:AM)
that would repeat every hour for a few hours.
So, if the station signed on at 6:AM, the recording would
loop for a few hours. It would give the time a lot, the
weather, a little news analysis, some local info about
what is going on within the town, and so forth. It would
have to be funny and engaging, or it wouldn’t work.
Then, say after a few hours, the station could automatically
switch over to NOAA radio.
There are a lot of details that would have to be figured out.
If you were in a neighborhood that had a lot of houses close
together or you were in an apartment complex, an audience
that could actually hear the station would exist.
It would be a lot of work and I can’t do it now, but maybe
someday.
Best Wishes,
Bruce, MICRO1690/1700
scwis says
I did it with DOS ๐
My setup in Vancouver WA had an audio chain that consisted of an old 386 PC with no hard drive and a NOAA receiver.
I used floppies to load up the DOS OS, a DOS MP3 player, a parallel port control application, a timer application, some MP3 files and a batch file to run it all in a ramdrive so there were no moving parts.
I used an old 128 MB ram module and if you’re using DOS that is enough for several hours of low fidelity (AM radio quality) MP3s and all the software.
The batch file would play the MP3s and then send a high signal to one of the pins on the parallel port.
The parallel port pin was connected to a buffered relay that switched the audio input to the transmitter from the audio out of the sound card to the audio out of the NOAA receiver.
After the NOAA audio played for 15 minutes, the batch file would then take the parallel port pin low and play an ID MP3, then switch back to NOAA.
I could create a show, load it into ram and the batch file would play the show at the appointed time and then switch back to NOAA at the exact end of the MP3. While playing NOAA, a station ID would go every 15 minutes.
The listener experience was pretty slick.
RichPowers says
Sounds very slick! Very Cool.
Sounds very slick! Very Cool.
scwis says
I did it with DOS ๐
My setup in Vancouver WA had an audio chain that consisted of an old 386 PC with no hard drive and a NOAA receiver.
I used floppies to load up the DOS OS, a DOS MP3 player, a parallel port control application some MP3 files and a batch file to run it all in a ramdrive so there were no moving parts.
The batch file would play the MP3s and then send a high signal to one of the pins on the parallel port.
The pin was connected to a buffered relay that switched the audio input to the transmitter from the audio out of the sound card to the audio out of the NOAA receiver.
MICRO1700 says
Hi Guys!
SCWIS, I remember your very cool website
showing diagrams of what you describe.
You have knowledge in that which I do not
have, but who knows what the future holds.
I also remember a picture of you standing next
to the sign that described the operation you
had then, which was SCWIS on 1500 kHz.
Great stuff, it really is!
Best Wishes,
Bruce, MICRO1690/1700