Air Ways

I was at the radio station for a show this evening and the band didn't show up, so I decided to catch up on some blogs... the first place I went I saw my pal Barb getting in on the ground floor of her local LPFM station. LPFM stations are are a fairly recent, but rapidly growing new form of low-power 'LP' community based, non-commercial radio.
I have been volunteering at one for two years now and it's been one of the most rewarding things I've ever done.

Seeing someone else take the first steps into LPFM does my cold heart some warm good. Check around your town- you may have an LPFM already. It's becoming quite a movement. This site has a lot of info.

Even in this day of instant Global access to everything-or perhaps because of it- people want a station that talks about their schools, their jobs, their churches and their city's issues and uses local voices to do it.
At first, we didn't know it would work. I certainly had my doubts, but I shouldn't have. Our broadcast radius is maybe 6-7 miles on a good day, yet we consistently break donation records every pledge drive- our last pledge drive netted $24,000 , all in indivdual donations from local listeners. To me, that sort of down-home grass roots support is overwhelming.
Here are some pics of our station in action:

Lee Harris and Country Sunshine setting up in Studio B. Studio B is my domain.
At first, that's mostly what I did- live engineering- but I've really started to enjoy being a DJ too- I hope my new job leaves me with enough time to do a weekly show. I can actually have a show if I want one- and I can play anything I want.( if it's FCC-compliant) I think that's pretty cool
The window behind Lee actually opens into the 'control room' where I have my mixer set up.



Doyle and Mark, also of the Sunshine:



They turned the studio into a swingin' Honky-Tonk saloon for us- they were tight, fun and very pleasant to work with - they really put their hearts into helping us along and it showed in the caller response we got. I got an email from Lee telling me that it was the most fun he's had in 26 years of playing music.
I actually cried when I read that.
I engineered and produced that show, and our own DJ Will Armstrong did a truly outstanding job of hosting the group and convincing out happy listeners to pony up the bucks. I'm glad the band had as much fun as we did.
Kudos!

Here's me in our posh office suite. In all seriousness, we have a really great space- it looks like a former group home of some sort- big kitchen, two bathrooms, lots of small rooms and closets- even a mini-greenhouse. Weird.
A visitor once told me he vaguely remebered attending parties here in the 1980's...who knows?


Crazy old people we thought we had rid ourselves of returned and ran amok in our broadcast booth. Well, they sat amok... that counts for something, I guess.
Welcome home!