DJ-Jim

Getting on the air

Am I correct that you are the Whistle Radio guy? I found a Google listing for a company that sells a 5o watt transmitter, with a CD and tape cassette, antenna, and coax for under $4000 US. Second hand equipment on EBAY or fromother Canadian low power broadcasters should be way cheaper. I see that your town is not all that large, so 50 watts should provide a good signal all over town and a ways out into the country. I have worked at a few radio stations many years ago, both commercial broadcasting and low power campus stations. Why aren't you broadcasting yet? You can publicize the effort in local papers and TV and get volunteers to commit to a weekly show for an hour or two, to fill the schedule. Lots of people want to be radio hosts or DJs. In my day, we had tape cartridges, turntables, and reel-to-reel tape machines. Today I would think you would use a PC to play all the pre-recorded announcements and such. What fun to get the schoolkids organized to do live radio plays (where "live" can be taperecorded live). It should be pretty easy to get local musicians, from church choirs to rock bands to folk musicians to provide live or prerecorded 1 hour programs. If you can get studio space in a tall building, you should be able to put the transmitter on the top floor and the antenna on the roof. Have a small room for the outer office and a relatively sound deadened studio and you are in business. I wonder if you can get a network news service cheap or free? That adds to the market interest. For sports broadcasts, how do you get the audio feed from the stadium to the studio? Back in the day it was by a special pair of special phone lines (one for the stadium to studio program, the other studio to stadium for cueing and background conversation. You might also plan on carrying the away games. A remote board can be pretty basic. I suppose you do not need to reinvent the wheel, because other low power broadcasters in Canada would have advice. I just got the impression you were taking a while to raise money to set up a pretty fancy operation, when the listener only knows what is coming out of his radio, not whether it is coming from a cracker box or the Taj Mahal. Good luck. Edison 05:12, 13 July 2007 (UTC)