Has anyone turned a Part 15 operation into a LPFM or a Licensed Radio Station?

[stormy01]

Tell us your success stories or those you know of. (web links would be very helpful and interesting for sure!)

[Carmine5]

Tell us your success stories or those you know of. (web links would be very helpful and interesting for sure!)

Probably the most famous (or infamous in the view of the NAB) is Radio Goldfield in Goldfield, NV.  Started out as a pirate, was shut down by the FCC, became in LPFM with the help of a senator and later a non-com. 

Now it's for sale. Asking price, 100K (minus the mobile home/studio).

Read about it here:

http://www.pahrumpvalleytimes.com/2007/Feb-02-Fri-2007/news/12344648.html

http://www.radiogoldfield.org/

C5

[Carmine5]

Incidentally, I realize the above example is not a Part 15 but close.

And it proves that when the FCC says a pirate operator can never own an LPFM, 'it ain't necessarily so' when the right kind of political pressure is applied.

C5

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Tell us your success stories or those you know of. (web links would be very helpful and interesting for sure!)

Probably the most famous (or infamous in the view of the NAB) is Radio Goldfield in Goldfield, NV.  Started out as a pirate, was shut down by the FCC, became in LPFM with the help of a senator and later a non-com. 

Now it's for sale. Asking price, 100K (minus the mobile home/studio).

Read about it here:
http://www.pahrumpvalleytimes.com/2007/Feb-02-Fri-2007/news/12344648.html
http://www.radiogoldfield.org/

This picture does not compute.  Neither link indicates that the "thing" is for sale or that the asking price is $100,000.

The second link brings up a website indicating the call letters are WGFN but it you search for WGFN you find yourself in Glen Arbor, Michigan.

If the guy is operating under an STA while waiting for an application window,  what does he have that he can sell?  And the rules are pretty clear for LPFM that in addition to not being commercial,  you cannot sell an LPFM for a price or a situation that puts profit in someones pocket.

Part of this story is missing... or is quite fuzzy.

[Nostalgia]

FCC Datebase query for Goldfield, NV shows a CP for this station on 89.1 as a non-comm full service FM, not a LPFM.  Dont know whats with that call sign on his website, and what about those cryllic (Russian) words too?

[Bongwater]

Tell us your success stories or those you know of. (web links would be very helpful and interesting for sure!)

Probably the most famous (or infamous in the view of the NAB) is Radio Goldfield in Goldfield, NV.  Started out as a pirate, was shut down by the FCC, became in LPFM with the help of a senator and later a non-com. 

Now it's for sale. Asking price, 100K (minus the mobile home/studio).

Read about it here:
http://www.pahrumpvalleytimes.com/2007/Feb-02-Fri-2007/news/12344648.html
http://www.radiogoldfield.org/

This picture does not compute.  Neither link indicates that the "thing" is for sale or that the asking price is $100,000.

The second link brings up a website indicating the call letters are WGFN but it you search for WGFN you find yourself in Glen Arbor, Michigan.

If the guy is operating under an STA while waiting for an application window,  what does he have that he can sell?  And the rules are pretty clear for LPFM that in addition to not being commercial,  you cannot sell an LPFM for a price or a situation that puts profit in someones pocket.

Part of this story is missing... or is quite fuzzy.

Irony of ironies...the "calls" now appear to be KGFN and the frequency 89.1.

There might be a tiny Russian (or even Mongolian) community in Goldfield, which might explain the Russian writing......

[LibertyNT]

KGFN brings up no stations in Radio Locator. I think they are an STA

[Carmine5]

FCC Datebase query for Goldfield, NV shows a CP for this station on 89.1 as a non-comm full service FM, not a LPFM. 

Right.  According to the broker's description this station, an LPFM, has a CP to move to the reserved band:

"...this non-commercial operation has a construction permit to move from the commercial band to the reserved band and the owner is just waiting for an STL to arrive."

When the move is completed then the station will be available:

"The asking price is $100,000 and there is also the opportunity to purchase the mobile home that currently serves as the studio and there is also an historic gold miner's shack that could be turned into a studio."

C5

[kthelen]

KKRM-LP started out as a Part 15 FM. Kind of a neat (and well-publicized, at the time) story: two kids with big ambitions and some surplus gear, trying to do the "Live & Local" thing in their hometown.

More details are on their website (kram967fm.com); IIRC there is also a copy of the story KSTP-TV did back in their Part 15 days somewhere on YouTube.

A school I work with owns and operates a Part 15 AM right now - they have a Rangemaster that gets out about 1-2 miles during daylight hours, plus they stream online and feed into the local cable system. Their studios are rather nice considering their limited signal and budget, which the student DJs seem to appreciate. And they've already filled out the paperwork to apply for an LPFM (waiting now for the application window to open).

I suspect there are others as well...