how much does it cost to start a fm radio station?

[theGlove]

just want to get a ballpark estimate. thanks

 

[Kalvin00]

More than you can afford.

Just kidding. I really have no clue.

What will you be airing?

 

[sao123]

Probably $3-5 million
figure....

property building/location
business zoning fees
studio equipment
transmission equipment & towers
fcc frequency registration & yearly license fees
employees
advertising

EDIT:
Licence Fees and subscriptions to...
Associated press (who you pay for retransmission of news & sports articles)
Accuweather or other weather center (to pay for retransmission of weather forecasts)
Local traffic center (to pay for traffic reports by chopper)
Fees to RIAA for rights to music to play on your station (you cant just play your home CD collection, thats illegal.) unless you play amateur uncopywrited music.

 

[Colt45]

depends.

transmitter itself can be home made even, say 100w, and get decent range.. run it off your computer, no DJ required.

the expensive part is a fcc permit.. probably 10 gazzillion dollars, which is why radio sucks - only corporations can afford to run it.. no real independent stuff except college like low-power stations..

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

If you want to do this, you need to seek venture capitalists.

At that point it becomes impossible because you have no idea how to start up a new radio station. YOu'd need someone with experience up front as a partener.

 

[Colt45]

So you have two options:

a. Legally, with a fvckload of money and/or backing by people with money

b. pirate. arr matey!

 

[iamwiz82]

It took my school years to get theirs. Lots of money, I assume.

 

[JoeKing]

FCC permit is simply impossible to get. You must have 20+ years as a station manager or prehire someone with 20+, and have loads (think tens of millions) of capital to even be breathed on by the FCC. Even with all of this it's no gaurantee.

Now AM...

 

[aphex]

iTrip is on sale at CompUSA this week for $19.99

 

[myusername]

Hunh. I was just thinking about Pump Up The Volume the other day.

 

[Landroval]

The problem now (and since '96) is that big companies have bought up the radio market, there are very few single stations you could buy and it's also a very competitive and "dirty" market.

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

more than you have guaranteed...

 

[theGlove]

damn that sucks, well there goes my great idea for the day haha

 

[Blieb]

millions!!

 

[Slick5150]

Originally posted by: theGlove
damn that sucks, well there goes my great idea for the day haha

There's always internet radio

 

[JoeKing]

Originally posted by: Slick5150

Originally posted by: theGlove
damn that sucks, well there goes my great idea for the day haha

There's always internet radio

or turning on your boom box really really high and pointing it out the window...

 

[jadinolf]

Originally posted by: Colt45
depends.

transmitter itself can be home made even, say 100w, and get decent range.. run it off your computer, no DJ required.

the expensive part is a fcc permit.. probably 10 gazzillion dollars, which is why radio sucks - only corporations can afford to run it.. no real independent stuff except college like low-power stations..

I thought the license was free.

 

[sunilv]

I was thinking of starting a AM radio station.
Is this the same way as FM?
Does it need a lot of soft/hardware?
Can't I do it from Home?

Just trying to go cheap...trying

 

[So]

Originally posted by: sunilv
I was thinking of starting a AM radio station.
Is this the same way as FM?
Does it need a lot of soft/hardware?
Can't I do it from Home?

Just trying to go cheap...trying

Yes...you might capture 100% of the AM listener base...once you have all 6 listeners under your spell, you'll be an unstoppable corporate juggernaut.

 

[Cristatus]

Originally posted by: So

Originally posted by: sunilv
I was thinking of starting a AM radio station.
Is this the same way as FM?
Does it need a lot of soft/hardware?
Can't I do it from Home?

Just trying to go cheap...trying

Yes...you might capture 100% of the AM listener base...once you have all 6 listeners under your spell, you'll be an unstoppable corporate juggernaut.

LOL

 

[akubi]

one meeeeelion dollars

*pinky to lip*

 

[radioouman]

Cost me about $700 to put a quality pirate station on the air, and that doesn't include the computer or the time it took to assemble the transmitter/amplifier/eq.

 

[sunilv]

come on:laugh:

really what should I do, is it really EXPENSIVE?

Well I would only air it for couple of hours (may be 4-5 hours)

well I have time and a good computer.

thanks

 

[Eli]

Virtually nothing if you know a bit about electronics...

You'd be surprised how far even 1 watt of broadcasting power can go.

 

[sunilv]

if its so, can you give tell me the procedures and the equipment that are need to start a radio station from home.

Thank you