Why I Disagree with FCC "Filing Windows"

Imagine for a moment that you'd like to open a business..say, a clothing store, for instance. You've
found a location, obtained the necessary local business licenses and such. You've saved up enough funding to open your store and operate for several months.

Yet, when you get ready to open your store, you're told you have to wait until the next filing window opens. You can't open your shop without the wait.

So, why is it any less ridiculous that perspective station owners have to wait for the next filing window in order to even apply for a radio station?

I applied for a 3,000 watt FM station back in 1988. I saved for, and paid, the non-refundable application fee; engineering studies; passed the FAA requirements; received permission to locate a tower on several acres of land; and filed while the window was open.

Unfortunately, so did 13 other parties. The FCC weeded them down one-by-one until there were only three left. Mine was one of the three. Then they tossed it on a minor technicality.

The Z-Rock applicant ultimately won, and built the station, which has since changed hands a number of times.

But, you don't get your money back if you lose, you go through all that process again.

I'm hoping against hope that the FCC will adopt some kind of low power AM system that does not require auctions and filing windows. LPAM is probably the last hope for many "small guys" such as myself.

Please, FCC folks, don't close this last door of hope for us little broadcasters.

'Swap Shop' Items..

I wanted to clarify and expand my ideas on the Swap Shop post of Feb. 21.

All of the items to be offered have been made available from others who want to help
support the broadcast endeavors of Delta Star Radio.

Here are all the items we have at the moment:

Computer Games Gold CD-ROM (has 500 computer games on 1 disc)
Regular price: $47.95 SWAP SHOP Price: $40.00 (12 available)

Handmade dish cloths with verse attached(my Gramma Geraldine made these shortly before she passed away last April. She made as many as she could, even in her illness.) SWAP SHOP Price: $5.00 (supply limited)

Furniture (one piece or all, includes
Child's single bed with mattress/frame
Two double mattresses
Double bed headboard/storage shelf (wooden)
A couple of 2 drawer chest of drawers
SWAP SHOP Price: MAKE OFFER

Domain name for www.wsjl.com (No longer needed, as the station owner changed his mind during the sale of the station to us) SWAP SHOP Price: MAKE OFFER

Homemade Swedish Weaving afghan (made by Marianne's mother, Nancy Barton of Tennessee)
(I will email a pic to anyone interested) SWAP SHOP Price: $75.00

Sell Cakes Like Crazy (internet course on starting a cake bakery business) This includes a printed book/manual, sample agreements, and a CD/ROM)
(only 1 of these available) SWAP SHOP Price: $25.00

We'll be adding more items soon!

Email me at alanmccal@hotmail.com if you need more information, or would like to purchase
any of these items. All proceeds go to the radio station's account.

Thank you for your support of WJJD, The Country Giant.

WJJD Launches 'Swap Shop'..on our website!

One of the programs that old country stations used to run were the old "Trading Post," or "Tradio," or "Swap Shop," whereby listeners could list their items for sale right on the air.

"Mrs. Smith has a 8 inch black and white TV with rabbit ears. Mostly works. Call 555-0000."

Yep, 15 to 30 minutes of that type of announcement on the air - and it worked!

Well, because WJJD is not a "Pro" (i.e., commercially supported) station on Live365, we can't legally air a Swap Shop program. We can list the items on our website.

Already, we have listed some additional computer games, homemade dishcloths, assorted furniture, to name some of the items - with all proceeds going directly to the support of our broadcasting enterprise.

I've got some additional items that will be added next week.

You can see the entire listing on WJJD's website.

Please remember, I am not selling airtime on WJJD. We are attempting to survive on listener donations and funds earned from items sold either by us, or our sponsors. Times are lean, and
we do need, and appreciate, any support you can give us. Thank you.

A Few Observations of The Past Week..

Just a few random thoughts from the past few days:

*18 degrees is cold, especially in a mobile home with no furnace.

*Wild Adventures is still a lot of fun. We enjoyed seeing country acts The Wreckers along with Billy Currington this past Saturday.

*Society places a lot of "importance" on careers. With so many radio veterans losing their jobs and having no place to go, one of us needs to create a company of some kind to help the others have something meaningful to do, that helps pay the bills.

*It would be nice if these folks looking for copywriters would be polite enough to at least let you know when and if they've hired someone. One gig I applied for in January never sent a response of any kind. So, at least I know who NOT to write for.

*I have a format hole/idea that I proposed to Sirius Satellite Radio some time back. They never responded, yet when this format ran in Tallahassee, it was the number 8 station in the market.
I'm wondering, if I were to build a new station (internet only, due to costs) if there would be the same amount of support, in order to run it as a PRO (i.e., advertiser-supported) station, targeted towards the local area? I assure you, this format does NOT exist in Tallahassee.
It would cost roughly $258 a month in expenses, including a DSL line, streaming fees and music licensing, and would require one additional computer.

*It might be simpler to put my ideas to rest, buy a rocker, and chill on the front porch.

MySpace..

I largely ignored the MySpace site until last June, thinking it was primarily for teenagers.

However, last June, I finally decided to create a profile and join in. And, I've met a lot of cool people
up there. My sister Carrie and my wife Marianne have MySpace pages, as do some of our other family members.

I've heard from listeners of the original WJJD radio station in Chicago. I've renewed acquaintances
with DJs and radio people in other parts of the U.S. Many of the artists we play now on WJJD Revisited are friends on MySpace.

I don't post bulletins too often; but when there is station news, artist music submission questions and the like, I'm glad to post helpful information.

I do "deny" friend requests if they a.) contain adult content; b.) are just looking to pick up a date; c.) seem to have no knowlege of who I am, or what businesses I'm involved in. This is
because I think it's best if we have something in common. The goal is not to have a page that says "1,000,000 friends," but to have a reasonable amount of real friends. The idea is to really
be able to connect with you.

So if you're family, friends, artists, radio folks, or would like to become acquainted with WJJD Revisited, its music, or my copywriting/marketing business, please check out the page and become friends if you'd like.

Alan's MySpace page

For Fans of Christian Country..

Christian country music is an interesting genre of music.

First, it's an example of a small niche market. At its peak, there were only a handful of stations across the U.S. that made Christian country their primary format.

Second, there's nothing else that sounds quite like Christian country.

My friend Mark Hunter began a once-local, now-syndicated radio program that he calls "Dynamite Christian Country." The program started back in 1995 on Tallahassee's WCVC Radio. Since then, Mark's program has grown and is now heard in at least 15 radio markets, plus on a few internet stations, including WJJD.

Ironically enough, it's no longer heard locally here in Tallahassee, which seems like a shame to me, since it originally started here.

Like the rest of us, Mark's career in radio has had its share of ups and downs. He is currently working part-time at a Radio Shack in Wisconsin. But he continues to put out a quality, reliable product. For family-friendly stations, DCC is one program you can trust.

I commend my friend Mark Hunter for staying the course with DCC. If you are a programmer
please visit his website for more information. Listeners may also visit the site to find local stations.

DCC is also heard on my station, WJJD, Sundays at 6 pm EST.

WJJD Gets New Website

Recently, the "expage" folks announced that they are shutting down permanently. The
main site for WJJD and sister site Radiomall have been on expage for a number of years.

Therefore, I've purchased a new domain, and will be moving the content from all of the expage sites to the new site. All of the radio information and the Radiomall information will be blended together into the new site.

It's still in progress - but here's the new WJJD site:

WJJD The Country Giant Home Page

WJJD Receives Donation of 1950s-70s Country Music!

I'd like to take a moment and acknowledge a good deed.

As most folks involved in Internet radio have discovered, running an online
radio station can be downright tough. There's not much revenue, and not much local recognition. I feel very fortunate that my station has been mentioned in the Tallahassee Democrat on a couple of occasions. They did a nice feature story
when I launched my first webcast back in 2001 under the name of "Delta Star Radio." That's still the name of my non-profit corporation that the station operates under. I'll share our growing pains in another post later on, but I renamed the streaming station "WJJD" in 2005.

Since turning the station to country, its growth has been tremendous. We've launched nearly 35,000 listener streams. Physically, even with two spare bedrooms now bursting at the seams, we've outgrown our space. There's not enough storage space in particular.

But here's what I call a good deed: A former country broadcaster in Illinois has donated a country music library to WJJD consisting of country music from the 1950s, 60s and 70s - on discs with clean mp3 copies of the songs.

It's a lot of music. I now have music from my friend Erwin O'Conner and his former station which was country once upon a time. I had a decent collection to start with.

I've discovered some songs on the mp3 discs that I'm sure haven't hit Tallahassee's airwaves in 20 years or more. I can't wait to get some more songs added to the playlist.

Speaking of WJJD's playlist - it's big, with more than 2100 active titles now on the air. I add in more stuff every week.

I think 2007 will be the year that WJJD moves to the next level - a broadband
stereo stream of the same music, rebuilding the Part-15 AM side of things,
and hopefully a move to larger quarters.

Stations only grow when there are caring listeners and friends. WJJD has
made many friends in a lot of places. To all of you who have donated music,
services, and made financial contributions - thank you! I'd be nowhere without you.

I told my friend Erwin several times how much I love the old country music. It's what I grew up with. I don't dislike all the new stuff - but I like the variety of hearing Tammy Wynette, Susan Raye, Billy Walker, Sonny James, (I could go on forever) along with the currents. My real vision is to keep the older country music alive, and introduce it to a generation that has no idea who any of these people are.

It's not terrestrial radio, but the content of WJJD is the radio station I always dreamed of owning. This might be as close as I can get to the real thing.

Thanks for listening and supporting WJJD The Country Giant.

WJJD Radio

Three Cheers for the Little Guy..

The radio conglomerate companies and the NAB will dispise and hate this.

A broadcaster in Nevada has received the FCC's permission to broadcast his low power FM
station without a license.

His station, which he started in early 2005, apparently was visited by an FCC agent in the summer of 2006. He was asked to shut down, to which he responded, "It'll be off by the time you get in your car."

Afterwards, however, he got residents of the community to sign a petition asking that the station be allowed to operate in the public interest. A government official (a senator, I believe) wrote a letter on his behalf to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin. City officials recommended he be allowed to broadcast, citing how the station carried traffic, weather and other information.

His station will return to the air within the next two weeks, operating at 100 watts at 106.3 FM
from a 90-foot tower..with the blessing of the FCC.

Legalizing pirates? Maybe it is. In any case, there's no other station in this town. It probably does not have a large enough business base to support a full commercial station.

If I had the blessing of the FCC and enough funding to do it right, I'd certainly jump at the opportunity to broadcast over-the-air again. I've been very tempted to write Chairman Martin myself from time to time, telling him how difficult it is to re-enter the radio business with
the major companies shutting out so many potential employees.

I've purposely left out the broadcaster's name and city from this blog..he'll be hounded enough by others who think the FCC has lost its mind.

I think it's the best thing the FCC has done in years.