tower/transmitter owners in the US
 

Hello all,

I am new to the group but have a specific reason for joining. The
primary reason I joined, like many of you I am sure, is to get
information about short wave radio. My situation: I have the
appropriate parcel of land (110) acres that is free from any legal
impediments to building a short wave radio tower. The land is located
in West Central Alabama, in rural Fayette County.I also have the
necessary funding to build a short wave radio tower and transmitter.
The site has been evaluated as a perfect location that is virtually
free from any potential liability and from the perspective of reaching
millions of people in Mexico and Central America.


Questions for the group:


1. What are the potential financial rewards for owning and operating a
short wave radio transmitter/tower?


2. How does an owner go about establishing a revenue stream from
potential purchasers of air time.


3. Who would the primary customer base be?


Comments or suggestions?


Thank you,


DrJoe (newbie)

tower/transmitter owners in the US
 

On 30 Mar 2006 09:43:54 -0800, "DrJoe" wrote:

Questions for the group:

1. What are the potential financial rewards for owning and operating a
short wave radio transmitter/tower?

Absolute dollars, pretty good. ROI, pretty bad. For starters, you're
looking at high 6 to 7 figure investment just in plant. Then there
are enough regulations to get you in trouble than you can handle
without a DC law firm - which is why there are so many large law firms
in DC that do nothing but broadcast work.

What do you know about running a broadcast station? Are you licensed
or do you have to pay someone who has one? Can you run a board, do
production, remotes? Or will you have to pay people who can?

That's on the technical side, and technical employees are cheap. You
want listeners, you need recognizable talent - and they don't work for
minimum wage.

Unions, anyone? Oh, if you play music, there's AFTRA.

And you'd better have a good maintenance budget, an unlimited supply
of funds to replace equipment that goes bad or terrific luck. When
something burns out, you can't go off the air for a few days until you
can get a new part - you'd better have the spares on hand, and have
someone who can swap them out in minutes - 24/7/365. Yes, that means
that you pay standby (around 50%) to an engineer, just to be available
if you call him.

Getting a bit discouraged yet? I haven't gotten through with even 25%
of the negatives. The positives are like what you tell the kid
shooting hoops on the corner - IF you make it to the pros, and IF you
don't shoot your knees, and IF you last a few years, and IF you're
really smart, you just might make some decent money.

Then SuperHurricane comes along and you're a million and a half in the
hole.

2. How does an owner go about establishing a revenue stream from
potential purchasers of air time.

Advertising. Since it's done mainly by contacts, if you don't have
any, you don't have any. And you can't buy 10 years of having been in
the business, building a network, without spending 10 years doing it.

3. Who would the primary customer base be?

Anyone who wants to advertise to your listener base.

Comments or suggestions?

Raise sheep - you'll make more money, sleep better and live longer. Or
build a campground. A few thousand bucks, most of it underground and
safe, and you're in business.

tower/transmitter owners in the US
 

He could do all three, build the shortwave station, raise sheep and
operate a campground, covering all bases. Buy two transmitters for hot
standby, don't have to pay an engineer for standby (although that sounds
like a good gig for me! Will you pay my travel?). Hire interns from a
local college to run the board and work as on-air talent. Maybe you can
get a journalism professor to provide you students who will work cheaply?





Al Klein wrote:

On 30 Mar 2006 09:43:54 -0800, "DrJoe" wrote:



Questions for the group:





1. What are the potential financial rewards for owning and operating a
short wave radio transmitter/tower?



Absolute dollars, pretty good. ROI, pretty bad. For starters, you're
looking at high 6 to 7 figure investment just in plant. Then there
are enough regulations to get you in trouble than you can handle
without a DC law firm - which is why there are so many large law firms
in DC that do nothing but broadcast work.

What do you know about running a broadcast station? Are you licensed
or do you have to pay someone who has one? Can you run a board, do
production, remotes? Or will you have to pay people who can?

That's on the technical side, and technical employees are cheap. You
want listeners, you need recognizable talent - and they don't work for
minimum wage.

Unions, anyone? Oh, if you play music, there's AFTRA.

And you'd better have a good maintenance budget, an unlimited supply
of funds to replace equipment that goes bad or terrific luck. When
something burns out, you can't go off the air for a few days until you
can get a new part - you'd better have the spares on hand, and have
someone who can swap them out in minutes - 24/7/365. Yes, that means
that you pay standby (around 50%) to an engineer, just to be available
if you call him.

Getting a bit discouraged yet? I haven't gotten through with even 25%
of the negatives. The positives are like what you tell the kid
shooting hoops on the corner - IF you make it to the pros, and IF you
don't shoot your knees, and IF you last a few years, and IF you're
really smart, you just might make some decent money.

Then SuperHurricane comes along and you're a million and a half in the
hole.



2. How does an owner go about establishing a revenue stream from
potential purchasers of air time.



Advertising. Since it's done mainly by contacts, if you don't have
any, you don't have any. And you can't buy 10 years of having been in
the business, building a network, without spending 10 years doing it.



3. Who would the primary customer base be?



Anyone who wants to advertise to your listener base.



Comments or suggestions?



Raise sheep - you'll make more money, sleep better and live longer. Or
build a campground. A few thousand bucks, most of it underground and
safe, and you're in business.



--
Joe Leikhim K4SAT
"The RFI-EMI-GUY"©

"Treason doth never prosper: what's the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason."

"Follow The Money" ;-P

tower/transmitter owners in the US
 

In article ,
Al Klein wrote:

Are you licensed
or do you have to pay someone who has one?

Al, son, there hasn't been a requirment, in the USofA, for an Operators
License, in the Broacast Industry, for MANY years. (More than a Decade)

Me One who has a 1st Phone and a 1st Graph
tacked up as wallpaper......

tower/transmitter owners in the US
 

On Fri, 31 Mar 2006 18:56:03 GMT, Me wrote:

In article ,
Al Klein wrote:

Are you licensed
or do you have to pay someone who has one?

Al, son, there hasn't been a requirment, in the USofA, for an Operators
License, in the Broacast Industry, for MANY years. (More than a Decade)

Me One who has a 1st Phone and a 1st Graph
tacked up as wallpaper......

Whoops. Tripped over my beard. :)