"Brian O" wrote:


"DrJoe" wrote in message
oups.com...
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)
Hi DrJoe,
Well, you have a lot of questions. This indicates that you probably don't
have much experience in the sw broadcast business. If you want answers, I
would think the best thing to do would be to try to talk to some managers at
various sw broadcast stations around the country. Most are government run
or managed by a certain church denomination. There aren't many strictly
commercial sw stations in the USA that I know of.. Some you might talk to
are WWCR, WHRI, VOA, etc. Send them an email and try to get a feel for the
business. If you're just looking for a revenue generator, you can get a
tower company to set up a tower and lease out space to cellular, two-way,
teleco microwave, local broadcaster microwave, etc. They usually pay
anywhere from $500 to several thousand per month to lease space on the
tower. Check with some of your local cellular providers. They may even
erect the tower and pad at no charge to you, just to be able to lease land
space from you.
B


There's also the issue of your target audience. By law, shortwave
broadcasters in the U.S. cannot target the U.S. as an audience. Of
course the private ones do so, but that's because they follow the
letter, if not the spirit of the law.

I think some more fundamental questions need to be asked: What is
your goal? Hobby/fulfillment of a dream? Making money? Spreading a
certain message to a certain area/demographic?

After you answer that question, the next question is, what is the best
way to fulfill that goal? (Note that I didn't say, "How can a
shortwave transmitting site help me reach that goal.")

Unless the shortwave transmitter is an end unto itself, you may find
yourself in way over your head. I can't imagine trying it.

(If I were trying to reach an american audience via shortwave, I'd set
up in a foreign country that allowed private ownership of a shortwave
transmitter.)

Good luck, whatever you do -- and if you do pursue this, keep us
posted. It will be an interesting story, and I know I'd like to hear
about it!



--
Eric F. Richards

"Nature abhors a vacuum tube." -- Myron Glass,
often attributed to J. R. Pierce, Bell Labs, c. 1940