More of Life's Twists and Turns..

I've made a slight change to the internet radio station.

Don't worry. The playlist is intact. The classic country is still there. I've just decided to dual-ID the station as WJJD-WLOR-Country Giant.

The only difference is that there will be slightly more station IDs/jingles from the 60s-70s era. I
just happened to come across some old tapes last week during the holidays. WLOR, which was in Thomasville, was a favorire station of mine, as I've mentioned before here on the blog. So some jingles say WJJD and others say WLOR..same basic packages and imaging for two different stations. Everything else will remain the same.

A possible interim solution to our housing crisis may be coming together, although it's not quite what we wanted. I'm thinking that building a dual (front and back) screen porch/outdoor living space to combine with what may be our new residence for the purpose of adding space, as it is not quite as big as our mobile home now. Please pray for this need, as we have only a couple of space heaters and no furnace. I've applied for a housing grant to help with the funding.

And, as far as earning a living..I'm going with the mostly offline model that I mentioned on Nov. 1. That kicks off bigtime in the next few days, as soon as their package arrives. I can't wait to really dive into this project and work to build a business that does not require any MLM, meetings, asking family and friends to buy stuff or anything like that. I did some work for this company once before and the results were decent. The only difference now is, I've got to really take it full-tilt and make it work. Then, next year, maybe things will be in place to take the radio station to the pro level. I won't do it until advertising contracts and orders are sufficient to make it pay its way and pay all the associated expenses.

And, as far as 1330 AM, which I mentioned a couple of weeks ago..it's been silent since Oct. 30.
The party holding the time brokerage agreement is probably discovering that they can't raise enough funds to keep operating. The owners won't spend the money necessary to get it compliant. I predict the demise of this station unless the Lord intervenes. There's no middle ground between these parties, as I discovered a bit harshly last week. I'll never mention, consult, or become involved with this station ever again under the current situation..unless, of course, the bailiff serves me with a lawsuit intended for the licensee..since I'm still the registered agent. I fully expect some suits to be filed at some point over this facility. All of this over a daytime station that has been mostly forgotten now by the community. I got the music out of there in 2002 so I guess that was the best asset from its CCM days anyway. So long 1330.

Happy Thanksgiving

This coming week will be full of activities..

Cooking and cleaning for Thanksgiving, pulling together Christmas music and broadcasts for the December music broadcasts on WJJD, visiting family and friends, eating..you know how it goes.

We were planning to travel at Thanksgiving but have made some changes, and will make that trip closer to Christmas/New Year's in order to see more folks when we make that trip.

I've shared some of our circumstances on this blog, many of which have not been good. 2006 has been a tough year foir our family in a number of ways. However, we still have a lot to be thankful for.

Our housing problem has not been solved. For now, we've boarded up the master bathroom floor with plywood, bought a couple of new safer-model space heaters to keep from freezing 9since the furnace has been declared "gone" by my friend from the local propane company)
and go next door to do laundry. It's not quite satisfactory, but hopefully we can get through the winter.

I've been saddened to note that some radio folks that I've become familiar with through their air shifts have recently lost their jobs. Clear Channel's Cutmobile did hit their Tallahassee cluster of stations. For these folks, losing their jobs right at Thanksgiving is most likely a tough
situation for them.

It's also another reason that I do not wish to work for another radio owner/company/
conglomerate ever again. There's absolutely zero loyalty or security with them. I know. I've
been through this. And through this..Until I basically got fed up with the whole mess of the way the radio business works.

But I'm NOT tired of radio. That's why I do hope to be able to take WJJD pro, so that ultimately it can become sulf-sufficient and maybe help provide me with a viable business. Right now, it's a good station that people like, but it doesn't earn money on the stream itself. That means a lot of effort on programming, promotion and such with no return. It's a venture that takes a good amount of time, since I work on it almost daily in order to keep it fresh.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving! I'll write more next week.

One Strange Radio Station...

WTCL-AM 1580 in Chattahoochee has become one strange radio station operation.

This station was once WSBP, a country station that I not only liked (when I could hear it as it had less power in those days), I've gotten the bulk of its country library from former station owner Erwin O'Conner. I love this older country..and many songs have already begun to appear on my playlist on WJJD.

About two years ago, WTCL appeared to be silent. We drove over and found the building to be relatively neat, but the old Gates transmitter was sitting out in the back yard. No one was there,
but there was a note on the door, posted by "Radio Metz." Ultimately, someone named Chris said a new transmitter was on order, and a couple of months later the station did come back on, with black gospel music in the early morning, preachers in middays and Spanish in the afternoons.

Now the programming is all in Spanish. I can't tell you what kind of format it is, because my Spanish is not good enough for me to translate the broadcasts. All of the gospel and preaching programs appear to be gone.

The programming appears to be satellite-delivered. It has been suggested to me that this station is a front for a drug operation, among other things. Maybe so, maybe not. I don't know.

For stations to be licensed as "public airwaves" by the FCC any more is a joke. Stations exist to make money for their owners and stockholders, and it really doesn't matter what you, the listener, want or like. Listener tastes factor very little into these decisions.

I am glad the old WSBP records ended up here rather than in a dumpster. They will be used
as a regular part of WJJD's country/classic country format.

Not All Change is For the Best..

..And don't even get me started on politics :)

Earlier this week, I read on a young man's blog about his desire to work for a radio station where
the station and its staff and locally involved in the community, where everyone listens to the Friday night ball games, where residents know the DJs by name..etc. You know, the things that radio was good at. Small-market or small-town radio, would be its moniker.

Researching just a bit in my radio market, I discovered that this type of radio station is just about extinct. But NOT QUITE.

In Thomasville, Georgia, about 35 miles up the road, WSTT-AM 730 is still all local, and manned with a live board operator all day. WSTT is a 5000 watt daytimer with a construction permit to go 25,000 watts. They program black gospel and a number of local preaching shows..with very little syndicated programming. Maybe an infomercial or national show here and there, but obviously, still local.

Kudos to Bill James and station owner Marion Williams for keeping the local touch on WSTT.
I sincerely applaud your effort.

Likewise, Len Robinson at WTUF and its sister station on AM 1240, of which the call sign eludes me at the moment, also is a classy operation with local DJs and community involvement. I'd still
like to go up and visit TUF Radio sometime.

Mostly, the stations I've enjoyed the most are extinct. One that I spent more than 13 years at is on the brink of going silent even as I write this post. I'd love to have the resources to bring this station back, even if under new calls and format, just to keep it from getting deleted out of the FCC database. I don't see it happening unless a BIG miracle takes place. I do see the real possibility of Tallahassee losing this station, which first began in 1953.

In the 70s and 80s I listened to AM 730 - the aforementioned WSTT - a LOT. Back then it was country WLOR, a station I just absolutely loved. After its sale from Mills-Bellamy Enterprises to a new owner in the mid-80s, however, things went downhill for WLOR. When they started playing country music from a satellite, I tuned out. I never really was a regular listener after that.

I considered buying AM 730 in the early 90s when it went silent, but I had applied for a grant
to help with the project, and the grant was not approved. The late John Pembroke eventually bought the station and moved it from its longtime location ("six-tenths of a mile from the city limits of Thomasville, Georgia on Highway 319 South" it proclaimed on an old WLOR sign-off by Carl Barnes) to its current location at Beachton, near JB's Barbecue.

John and I became friends and I met with him a few times while he owned the station, helping him with transmitter tube numbers and such. John's gone to be with the Lord now, but I treasured his friendship and still miss him and his rhyming commercial spots.

If I were to job hunt in radio today, I don't think there's a station here that fits the description of what the young man is looking for. Corporate radio has killed it.

I wish I could somehow bring 1330 back with a strong local presence. But I'm not sure that there are radio people left in Tallahassee with that kind of vision.

Local radio people..owners, DJ's, engineers..thanks for all you do.

MUSIC OF NEW LIFE Signs Off

Here's another casualty of our local business climate: my Christian station, MUSIC OF NEW LIFE,
will cease broadcasting as of today.

The station has had no income, no donations, and basically no letters since June. Although listener numbers were up slightly in October, this did not translate into any kind of actual support, resulting in a net loss of $240 during that time. There is no longer any funding to make up the loss, as was the case earlier. When my grandmother passed away, of course, her monthly support also ended. She had a large part in keeping our station(s) going in the tough times. No one has picked up that void.

Sister station WJJD, on the other hand, has a large listener base. It earns a portion of money back, receives letters and donatioins, and appears to reach people, even while in "basic broadcast" mode. WJJD will continue broadcasting and will be upgraded to a higher level station within the next few months, with the goal of ultimately taking it pro which would allow advertising sales revenue to be produced.

Two stations at this time is just too much for our tiny revenue stream. I hate to pull the plug, but my appeal of October 9 just did not get a response. When October also came and went without revenue, well...

I do hope to start the station up again..hopefully when we get a radio building. Or some funding.

Goodbye to "The Walk" in Greenville, SC

One of my favorite terrestrial radio stations was WGVC, called "The Walk," located in Greenville, S.C. A hybrid of contemporary Christian music and positive country, this station was one that I
always looked forward to listening to whenever we travelled through the area. Last week the station owner, Entercom, switched to a female-talk format.

I have unsubscribed from the mailing list and cancelled the stream. The new format is of zero interest to me.

I sure enjoyed the Walk while it lasted.

I Miss Doing Live Shows

I did a live southern gospel music show on the evening of Sunday, Oct. 29..and enjoyed it immensely.

It was the first SG program I'd done live in almost two years. I felt that I was a little rusty at first, but none of the 3 listeners wrote me anything bad, so I guess it sounded okay.

With the future of MUSIC OF NEW LIFE in jeopardy, I ended up spending several hours engineering an audio feed line over to WJJD's control room. I don't have the proper cables, but it would be interesting to somehow work out the ability to simulcast over the two stations. I've
already been working on a way to do live remotes. All of this is in prep for the aspirations of ultimately taking WJJD to the professional level. MUSIC OF NEW LIFE doesn't have the listener base that WJJD does, so in the long run, I may go back to just one station - WJJD. It would be less expensive to just do my gospel shows there on Sundays.

In any event, this coming Sunday I'm planning to try again..hopefully on MUSIC OF NEW LIFE.
If the technical glitches continue, however, I will close it down quietly and just direct listeners over to WJJD, where I could possibly be doing more live shows soon.

Going Offline More..

I have been studying businesses and business models in relation to my copywriting education and one thing is becoming clear to me.

My preference involves working for offline businesses. By that, I mean that even if the business has an online presence, most of its marketing and promotion is done offline - direct mail, for instance.

I believe I have found a company that promotes in this way, and this month I begin work for them as an independent contractor. My portion of involvement includes part of their direct mail letter and presentation. The sales letter includes an order form that can be mailed in, or there is also a link to an online order page. The initial testing has been promising.

My pay is based on results rather than time. That is also appealing, since there is no set number of hours to work. You can be sure I will be putting in the time necessary to earn good pay.

This is a step in the direction I want to go!