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Grex > Music2 > #181: A Real Community-Based Radio Station for Ann Arbor? |  |
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danr
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A Real Community-Based Radio Station for Ann Arbor?
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Feb 23 01:56 UTC 1999 |
The item on the latest pop music has kind of drifted into a discussion of local
radio stations and the lack of a classical music station here in Ann Arbor now
that WUOM has gone talk radio. I wonder what it would take to put a real
community-based radio station on the air instead of what WUOM offers? How
would such a station be staffed? Could we enlist a lot of student interns like
WCBN? Could it somehow be carried on cable TV instead of having to build
studio facilities and set up transmitting facilities?
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| 39 responses total. |
steve
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response 1 of 39:
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Feb 23 02:34 UTC 1999 |
Gosh that sounds like a nice thing. The cable company would be the
people to talk to about carrying it. Not going RF would make it a
whole lot easier to do.
A facility need not be bigger than a space like the pumpkin, at
least at first. I much more wonder what the problems/legalities are
with using music from various sources. Given that CD's would want
to be played, so you have to give someone like Deutcsh Grammaphone
money when something of theirs is played?
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drewmike
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response 2 of 39:
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Feb 23 02:50 UTC 1999 |
It *might* be possible to get something arranged with MediaOne, though your
chances would have been much better about a month and a half ago when the city
was renegotiating its franchise agreement.
*Possibly* the signal could be carried over cable. But you wouldn't be able
to get that kind of studio space from CTN. There's just not the room, nor the
resources.
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mcnally
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response 3 of 39:
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Feb 23 03:09 UTC 1999 |
How would this differ from WCBN?
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steve
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response 4 of 39:
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Feb 23 03:12 UTC 1999 |
Playing classical?
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flem
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response 5 of 39:
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Feb 23 03:36 UTC 1999 |
I recall that at last summer's art fair there was a table in the
vicinity of the Michigan Theater and SKR classical that had a petition
of some sort for a classical radio station. I don't remember the
details, but I signed my name and email address. I haven't heard
anything more about it. Does anyone know if this went any further? Was
this a figment of my imagination? I've asked once or twice at SKR
classical and they don't seem to know anything about it.
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mcnally
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response 6 of 39:
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Feb 23 03:37 UTC 1999 |
#0 just refers to the lack of a classical music station, it wasn't at
all clear to me that it meant that the proposed station would be an
all-classical format.
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void
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response 7 of 39:
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Feb 23 07:36 UTC 1999 |
an all-classical format would be a great thing. after the demise
of wqrs, i jsut about stopped listending to the radio for several
moths, then discovered that msu's npr affiliate plays classical most
of the time. there's still nowhere to hear classical music on the radio
between 4pm and 6pm, though.
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jmm
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response 8 of 39:
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Feb 23 11:34 UTC 1999 |
There are three stations that play classical most of the time -- WKAR in East
Lansing, WGTE in Toledo, and CBE, the CBC affiliate in Windsor. As void points
out, there are periods when none of them broadcast classical, not only the
All-Trivia-Considered time on PBS, but long periods in the evening with folk,
jazz, and Lake Wobegon. In addition, all three stations are 50-70 miles away,
which means that reception in a car or a portable radio can be a disaster.
And, of course, CBC has decided that they can attract more listeners by
intermixing some pop with classical, although this just leads me to change
stations. We definitely need an all-classical station here, but we also need
$100,000 a year to finance it. Anyone know of a source of funds?
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scott
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response 9 of 39:
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Feb 23 12:12 UTC 1999 |
Hey, micropower broadcasting! After years of gradually tilting the tables
in favor of giant comglomerates, it appears that enough people are now
starting to think that lots of tiny stations would better serve communities.
For a long time there have been "pirate" radio stations of less than 100
watts, often just 1-5 watts (couple miles coverage), which of course are
illegal. But there are some people in charge that are starting to try to make
it possible to have a small, legal station.
(agh, I'm not yet awake enough yet to be eloquent)
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cmcgee
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response 10 of 39:
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Feb 23 12:54 UTC 1999 |
Could we do some kind of internet classical station?
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danr
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response 11 of 39:
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Feb 23 13:24 UTC 1999 |
What I'm thinking wouldn't be all classical, but I imagine a large part of the
programming would be classical music. Basically, what I'm thinking of is a
"Grex on FM" kind of thing. It would be run cooperatively, and its policies
and programming would be the result of what the membership decided and who was
willing to work on it.
I like the Internet idea, too, but doing an Internet-only would limit its
appeal and reach.
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steve
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response 12 of 39:
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Feb 23 16:04 UTC 1999 |
Ah, but would it limit its reach as much as a low power system would?
What Scott says makes sense, and in a "grexian" sense would be the way to
go. The net would be heard over all Ann Arbor, unlike the a little 5W
station.
I'm still wondering how you legally broadcast music. I think that
might be harder to deal with than the technical aspects of how to get
the signal out?
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rcurl
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response 13 of 39:
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Feb 23 17:01 UTC 1999 |
Do you mean the royalty questions? I don't know how that is handled, even
for music for which the copyright has expired, because the *performance*
can still be copyrighted.
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cmcgee
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response 14 of 39:
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Feb 23 17:19 UTC 1999 |
You get performance licenses from the organizations who hold the license.
ASCAP is the one that comes to mind, although there is another that is equally
universal. After you copyright music, you register the copyright with one
of these performance organizations. They monitor the airwaves, stages, etc,
and collect royalties from anyone who plays your music, then remit part of
that royalty back to you the musician.
The monitoring is partly sampling, and the money is paid to ASCAP, etc, in
the form of a yearly licensing fee. Bars, radio stations, music venues of
all sorts pay yearly fees to the performance licensing organization.
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rcurl
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response 15 of 39:
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Feb 23 17:34 UTC 1999 |
I would presume that bars pay for this in the service contract for their
juke boxes. Do you have any idea how much it costs per piece played?
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steve
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response 16 of 39:
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Feb 23 19:37 UTC 1999 |
Right Rane, its the costs and how to pay (and when) for playing various
things that I could see as the hardest part to overcome.
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cmcgee
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response 17 of 39:
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Feb 23 20:53 UTC 1999 |
They send you a bill based on 1) how many of their pieces of music you played,
and 2) the size of the audience listening.
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richard
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response 18 of 39:
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Feb 23 23:22 UTC 1999 |
have the name for it....
RADIO GREX!
perfect little public access outlet with a cool name that crosspromotes
the computer bbs of the same name :)
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cyklone
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response 19 of 39:
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Feb 23 23:59 UTC 1999 |
Re #14: BMI (SESAC is another more recent one)
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scg
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response 20 of 39:
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Feb 24 00:04 UTC 1999 |
My rather limited understanding of how playing commercial recordings on the
radio works is that the record companies ask the radio stations to play their
stuff, because it's good publicity for them. I could be wrong about that,
though.
I think there's a classical station in New York that also does all its
broadcasts in streaming real audio.
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scott
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response 21 of 39:
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Feb 24 11:45 UTC 1999 |
There is a tangled web of relationships in who plays what and why. "Payola"
is the (illegal) practice of record companies paying for radio play of their
product. At various times it has been a widespread practice.
Generally most radios stations now pay for "consultants" or "programming
services" to decide what to play. DJs rarely get any control over music.
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cyklone
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response 22 of 39:
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Feb 24 12:52 UTC 1999 |
So now record companies pay promoters to convince the consultants and
programmers to play certain songs . . . .
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danr
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response 23 of 39:
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Feb 24 13:32 UTC 1999 |
re #12: Maybe I need to rephrase my idea about an Internet radio station.
Putting it on the Internet solely would certainly change the listener base, and
therefore, the station as a whole. Maybe that's not a bad thing, though. The
Grex membership and participation in the conferences is still mostly from Ann
Arbor, after all.
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danr
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response 24 of 39:
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Feb 24 13:34 UTC 1999 |
As for how pay for the music we play, I don't imagine that's a real big deal.
Perhaps an email to Thayrone is in order. He seems to play whatever he or his
audience wants without much thought to how he's going to pay for it.
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