Great tales of Part 15 broadcasting

[lilburncommunityradio]

I have to admit I think its so funny to see so many tales of great things thru part 15 radio.
I have a station myself, and honestly its just hobby radio and nothing more, How could it be...
True part 15 fm only allows for a few feet of coverage, and am 1/2 mile? Why even waste the time..
My station is FM, and well its not exactly true part 15, but in any event.. I truly see no need in wasting much time with it. Its fun at times to play around with, but for the most part, just a hobby.. Thats all

[Alan McCall]

Several years ago I had my Part 15 station operating on 1160 AM. It went out about 4 miles and ran daytime only. At its peak (around 2004) it was making several hundred dollars per month. This is the station that Clear Channel bought time on to promote a Bill Gaither concert. I gave away 29 of the 30 tickets we had over the air.

The 1160 operation was severely damaged by lightning in 2005. Today I'm on 1610 AM with a Rangemaster. I also stream - which is where virtually the entire audience is these days.

Most of our spots are PIs and do bring in a few bucks.

The country/Christian hybrid format on the Internet about breaks even to cover the streaming costs.

I'm needing to earn about $1600 a month for living expenses but radio's not doing it.

But don't look for me to sign off anytime soon. A lot of folks would be disappointed - and I'd be bored!

[LibertyNT]

Hey It Might not go far but I love it!

Mighty 1650 has been running for a year now. And We just got an FM added to the mix.
sadly Lightening has claimed us as well... But im working on fixing it. I have no amazing stories to tell but i have enjoyed it so far

[Alan McCall]

Liberty1650,

Sorry to hear about your lightning problems. It's a constant ongoing deal for us in Florida.
So far the Rangemaster has played through it all except for power outages.

WJJD turned 6 years old yesterday (July 27.) The stream was started back in 2001 as Delta Star
Radio (our company's legal name.) WJJD-AM began operation and the stream name was also changed to WJJD on July 27, 2003.

[Bill DeFelice]

There's some pretty great stories here. If you'd like I'd love to interview and add your stations to the Featured Broadcaster Profiles over on my site. Feel free to check them out and drop me a line (either here or over at HobbyBroadcaster.net) and I can get you the profile questionnaire.

[whitakermk]

I am not a broadcaster, but many of the names on this board carry my short format cooking tip program and I have to say its a pleasure working with and getting to know new people. I think about ten stations on my affiliate list are part 15. I guess what I am trying to say is that my Great Tale is how nice the part15 group is.

I'm the same way in many ways. I still work my day job etc but love my cookbooks and cooking. Its a hobby that pays some bills, its growing, but for me its more than a hobby/small business - sometimes its therapy!

Kent Whitaker
www.thedeckchef.com
thedeckchef@hotmail.com

[gunterm]

It seems that FM part 15 is pretty useless though based on the range, all the success stories I've heard are AM ones with great antenna setups that managed to go miles...

[Bill DeFelice]

It seems that FM part 15 is pretty useless though based on the range, all the success stories I've heard are AM ones with great antenna setups that managed to go miles...

Part 15 FM is only good for engineered systems, such as controlled radiating coax installations on high school and college campuses. I did an install at a local high school and it works well for covering the campus buildings while maintaining compliance with any off-campus radiation.

Part 15 FM with an antenna is pretty much unusable unless you want to hear yourself on your own property.