How to build a liberal radio empire...let's do it.

[Pab Sungenis]

From time to time, I peek in at www.buysellradio.com. I was actively trolling there back in 2001 when I had some money to invest and was thinking of buying a radio station of my own. Not having enough by myself at the time, and having a chance to buy the local movie theater instead, I went down that route.

Now, inspired by the suggestions in this thread I went back there. There are some intriguing possibilities there with rimshots to major cities, and in each case the station's asking price is under $1M.

Maybe one way we can help spread our word is by banding a lot of us together, incorporating, and buying a station somewhere in, say, Shreveport or Idaho near Spokane. We could then sign on as an AAR affiliate, automate the place for the most part, and if the place is profitable, turn the money over and buy another station after a year or two.

This is how a lot of the little tin-pot conservative broadcasting empires got started: using the Reagan and Clinton era deregulation to buy up creaky little failing AM stations, automate them, and pump out their propaganda 24/7. Maybe it's time to use their tactics against them.

Thoughts?

[edbermac]

1. Why not a liberal TV empire? If Fox can do it, so can we....

[sui generis]

2. it has to be both

and it has to be insidious at the beginning - read "moderate".

[Pab Sungenis]

5. Radio's cheaper.

And with AAR, and shows like Thom Hartmann and Ed Schultz, there's more programming out there for liberal radio than liberal TV right now.

The great thing about the current state of broadcasting technology is that except for two or three local salespeople and maybe one part-time local manager, no one needs to set foot anywhere near a station; one trick that Clear Channel likes to use is to set up these little "shell" operations, then run everything from central locations. Heck, I could probably do all the spot traffic, automation programming, and local weather reports for any station in the country from my laptop right here in my living room.

It has great potential.

[elepet]

53. Jon Stewart

Mentioned something in an interview on C-span about having a round the clock News network that was not particularly liberal or conservative, but was simply dedicated to excellant truthful uncensored reporting. Has anyone heard anything about that? It was probably just an idea, but worth looking into.

[Karenca]

3. TELEVISION

Thats what we really need.

[Pab Sungenis]

8. Television takes a lot of capital, and there's no liberal programming.

Whereas 150 of us here on DU, putting up $2,000.00 each, could buy a small-scale AM station targetting a major city in a red state and start having an impact.

[Born Free]

24. Move-on could raise 1 million overnight

As I posted before Move-On could do this very quickly, all they need to do is come up with some type of share system that each individual can buy into. I am not sure how private stocks are set up, it would have to be private because if it went public, the right wing corporations would buy it up and turn it over to the right wing propagandists. I think one of the unions tried a station a couple years ago but it didn't work out, but now with Move-on's power to raise money we could buy stations right and left.

[Pab Sungenis]

34. True.

So how do we utilize their fund-raising abilities to make this venture work?

[juliagoolia]

4. It needs to be in the large red states

We have to hit them where they live.

[Pab Sungenis]

6. There are some out there.

I noticed ones in Gulf Coast, Florida; Shreveport, LA; Idaho; all over the place when I checked earlier today. Look at the "new listings" link at www.buysellradio.com and see!

[rockydem]

7. interesting

How easy is it to just buy a radio station? Aren't there all kinds of legal issues involved?

[Pab Sungenis]

9. Thanks to Reagan, almost none.

It takes almost nothing to buy a station. Cash on the barrelhead and they hand you the keys. FCC approval is a formality.

And some owners will even finance the sales, but it's best to avoid that, so they don't pull the plug if they object to what you're saying. (See: AAR in Chicago.)

[rockydem]

10. Is AM radio going extinct though?

With the rise of satellite radio?

There's a station in Northern California for sale. I know there are a lot of liberals up there. They probably don't get AAR. I bet there are liberal businesses in the area that would be willing to advertise on such a station.

[Pab Sungenis]

12. Which station?

I missed that one when I skimmed.

Anyone else serious about this? I think this could work!

[rockydem]

14. here

http://www.z100fm.net/kzro4sale_web.htm

I'm serious. But I wouldn't want to do it with more than one or two other people. I personally don't have any spare cash. I do have some family members who have access to some investment money or at least could point me in a direction to possibly find some. The key would be making it profitable.

I'm young - 31- and have been thinking, off hand, about the media business and how to get into it. Your post definetaly caught my attention.

[Pab Sungenis]

19. Nice.

A little more than I was expecting to shell out, but a lot of potential there.

The way it would have to work would be with a lot of us forming a corporation, but three or four major shareholders or directors actually in charge of running the place.

I am slightly concerned about the area, to be honest. The coverage map doesn't list many major towns. Of course, I'm not that familiar with the geography. Anyone care to enlighten us?

[rockydem]

21. no major towns true

but it is a ski resort area...and growing, allegedly.

"Popular Northern California ski resort destination for the Western U.S. Quaint alpine community with small town atmosphere and geographically beautiful terrain."

It currently runs oldies rock, and is the only locally owned station. I imagine switching to AAR would probably piss some people off.

[OneTwentyoNine]

36. AM going extinct??..Not a chance

As far as I'm concerned I'd be more worried about satellite radio going tits up. AM has been around since the 20's,the stations are there,the infrastructure is there,its not going away for maybe another 100 years.

Democrats with money had the chance to buy up stations and/or syndicate radio show hosts a decade ago just like Republicans did. But as usual they decided not to because they didn't want to be like Rush Limbaugh. Well well..now look.

[Name removed]

45. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[MARALE]

11. Iowa

It would be a great state to grow in. The mid west is a good palce to start out in, people are laid back and this would be well recepted.

[flowomo]

13. Suggest you read this article if interested in this sort of thing:

http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20041108&s=zengerle110804

"The Left Still Lacks a Megaphone"

[atommom]

Sounds like a great idea!

[puttothesword]

15. Much cheaper alternative....

Is Free Radio. No FCC bs, no licensing. Start up cost can be super-cheap (under 500). As long as your signal isn't tromping all over the band, you're not blasting out 100 kW and you're on a freq with no nearby station and you have some idea of what you're doing, the FCC generally leaves you alone. See:

http://www.freakradio.org/

[rockydem]

17. anyone listen to that though?

any advertisers?

[puttothesword]

25. advertisers?

It's 100% volunteer run. And yeah, they have a LOT of listeners.

[quaoar]

27. Pirate radio?

[puttothesword]

29. pirate is such an ugly word....

accurate, but ugly....

I prefer "Free" radio, as the connotation is a pirate is taking something that is not his to begin with.

[newyawker99]

26. Hi puttothesword!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[mitchum]

48. Welcome to DU, puttothesword!

You beat me to the free radio suggestion...but I won't hold it against ya! :)
It is a great idea. Once again, glad to have you aboard.

[MattNC]

16. Cut us a check, Mr. Soros! n/t

[Jeanette in FL]

18. This is a great idea

This is exactly what we have to do. We have to become our own media, no one is going to do this for us. Look at how much money we have raised for the Democratic Party, BBV etc by banding together. Count me in, I need a liberal radio station up here in North Florida. At least when I lived in Palm Beach county, I could listen to Randi on the radio. Now I am forced to listen to AAR on the computer. We are desparate for Liberal radio here to get the message out. There is nothing but Republican BS all day, all the time. Great Idea.

[Pab Sungenis]

20. Is it worth putting together a website

...and getting people lined up?

Hmmm. You know, there's no law against a non-profit corporation owning a radio station in the commercial band; hell, lots of churches do that. We might even be able to operate the station as a 501(c)(3) if we're lucky.

I don't have the time to put a site together and help round up people, but I WILL buy into the operation with whatever I can. Anyone want to pick up the ball and run with it?

[gater]

40. Hey...

I gotta ask...lawyer, or broadcaster...or neither?

[Pab Sungenis]

49. Broadcaster. Been in the game nearly 18 years.

...well, WORKING as a broadcaster since spring of 1987, but grew up in and around the old WWBZ in my home town of Vineland, NJ. My Grandfather used to own it, but since he didn't think any of his family members would want to run it, he sold it.

He sold it about a year before I got into the business, and never forgave himself. :)

[quaoar]

50. Setting up a 501c3 is not easy

Can take six months to a year.

[Pab Sungenis]

55. This is a long haul operation.

One year is a short time in a long-term strategy. It took the Republicans nearly ten years to build their huge right wing noise machine. It's going to take us a while, too.

[prairierose]

22. Yes, I too think this is a great idea...

but I think that you want to also stream it live on the internet & archive any shows that are not network & archived already. I live in a red state. The only way I can listen to AAR is online (& I need to reformat my puter to get rid of an ugly worm that is among other things messing up my ability to listen to AAR :( )

We have to work to get our message out & we have to build a system to do that. I have been thinking about this a lot lately.

I also think that the idea of low power FM with a live stream online is another way to go with small investment. Maybe a combination of the 2?

But I think that we also need to look at providing programming for satellite/online services like freespeech TV.

With a decent video camera & a computer, production costs have been drastically reduced.

[Pab Sungenis]

28. Programming would be nice....

But remember how the conservative media empire started: automated, practically unattended, syndicated-program-carrying stations. That's what it's going to come down to.

[prairierose]

31. Yes, I agree it's a way to start ...

I guess what I'm saying is that we should also look to the future. I think too far ahead :eyes:

[quaoar]

23. Sounds like a great idea

I'd be interested in it.

I noticed a station for $115K in Fort Payne, Alabama. That's in the NE corner of the state and is very close to Rome, Ga., and Chattanooga, Tenn. Depending on the station's power you might be able to cover three red states at once.

[demwing]

30. What About Internet Radio?

Less investment, world wide audience, digital sound, what else?

Oh yeah, complete automation.

[Pab Sungenis]

33. Internet radio is already out there.

We're looking to reach people who either (a) aren't on-line, or (b) don't want to make the effort needed to configure the applications needed and connect to the sites.

Plus, internet radio sites fill up fast. Look at how we complain about the feed for AAR. It fills up way too fast.

Terrestrial radio is still the best way to get our message out relatively cheaply.

[hiphopnation]

32. Bookmarking.

totally into this idea but don't have the time to expound right now. will come back...

Great idea!!

[Name removed]

35. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Pab Sungenis]

37. Here's a possibility....

http://www.buysellradio.com/clients/WJML.html

KOFE, St. Maries, Idaho. Rimshot into Cour d'Alene. About an hour and a half outside of Spokane. Not the strongest signal in the world.

Owner's looking to sell for $150,000. Again, if just 150 of us put up $1,000.00 each, we've got it bought and can run it for next to nothing.

[laura888]

42. GREAT IDEA!

I'd be willing.

[gater]

38. I spent nearly 20 years in radio...

...and a single station "mom and pop" signal is tough to keep up and running from a financial standpoint. However, I have been P.D. and more or less acting G.M. of a then parallel 3 (small market) station that reached into a parallel 1 (large market) with a pretty strong signal and managed to pull a 3 share being 40 miles from the border of the large market! It is possible, but look at coverage area, not just price to garner the greatest impact in as large a population set as possible. And be ready to bleed a ton of cash for the first few years! Oh, and have your format and possible line up combinations set before you plunk down the dead presidents, as research, not gut reactions wins ratings, the goal of your project.

[ObaMania]

54. Streaming also gets you out there!

n/t

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

39. To start the empire, shouldn't at least a portion of the stations be in

"Blue" strongholds? To make sure the thing stays financially viable with a base of listeners while you try to plant the seeds in the stony red soil.

[gater]

41. Where ever you set up shop, be entertaining.

If you want to win the hearts and minds of Americans, you have to be entertaining. You must inform without being or seeming preachy. And finally, you must make the station(s)make a profit, as you can not rely on donations to pay for the staffing, production, and upkeep. And, if you get the right staff, and syndicate properly, you too can grow a media empire! I helped do just that in the early and mid 90's...that's why I walked away from the biz.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

43. Obviously. No matter how politically righteous a program, if it ain't

entertaining or engrossing, I'm not watching/listening.

That's why I'm wondering when the "hate and anger filled RW radio host" era will fade, as the huge majority of them are clones who don't have a lot of talent. Though I can't stand him, I will acknowledge that Rush Limbaugh at least USED TO have considerable talent, no way he could have built up hate radio to a huge industry without it.

[NorthernSpy]

44. yes, and watch your demographics

If your station is getting a lot advertising for galleries, hand-made pottery, macrobiotics, and Reiki consultations, then you're ghettoizing yourself pretty severely, and probably reaching only the already converted.

[NorthernSpy]

46. will the upcoming switch from analog to digital have any effect...

... on our plans?

I think I read somewhere that available digital channels are theoretically unlimited.

Dunno whether that's true or not, but if it is, it could mean that the current rationale for regulating the broadcast spectrum on a scarcity model could disappear. Anyone who wanted a broadcast channel could have one for a nominal fee -- unless the feds invent some reason to preserve the current corporate stranglehold on the broadcast spectrum.

[gater]

47. F.M. never killed off A.M. radio.

I believe that Sat. radio will alter broadcast radio, but not kill or even detract from it too much in the next decade or so.

[quaoar]

51. What would really be sweet....

...would be to buy a station that is currently carrying Rush and cancel his ass.

[kwyjibo]

52. Austin, TX needs AAR. We're a liberal oasis in a scary red state.

A lot of business would advertise on an AAR station in this city.