We’ve recently started a forum for our own collabaration, and one board is called “Public Feedback,” where anyone can post without registering. If you’d like to post a comment to our staff for discussion, send it here:
https://fcyb.org/forum/posting.php?mode=newtopic&f=10
Input is appreciated!
We’ve come up with an idea to raise money. If we can get 300 parents to pay $10/month, our big expenses are covered. There are roughly 344 high school teachers in the district, which means that 87% of teachers would have to subscribe in order to pay for the station.
On the parent side of things, there are supposedly 25,000 students in the Poudre School District. Assuming an average family has 3 kids that means there are 8,333.333 families that the PSD serves. To make numbers smaller to assume the worst, that means there are 8,000 families in the PSD. If only 300 families need to have active membership for our expenses to be paid, that means only 0.375% of families would absolutely have to join, well below the average 3% of people who actually donate/subscribe to such a solicitation.
There are roughly 6,000 high school students in the PSD. Assuming there are 2 teens in high school from each family at any given time (which isn’t necessarily true, but it gives a worst-case scenario), there are 3,000 families in Fort Collins with a student attending high school. That means 10% of high school families would have to “join in” to this plan, which is well above the average 3%.
Assuming the 3% figure is accurate, 10 teachers will pay $10/month to the station. That leaves 290 subscriptions to go. 290 divided by 0.03 is 9,666.666, which means we’ll likely have to market to 10,000 families in order to achieve our desired donation amount. Ten thousand families 120% of the number of families in the district.
So basically, our financial situation sucks.
Monday morning at 7:45 AM in the PHS Counseling conference room, there are probably going to be quite a few more people than normal, and most of them will be newcomers to what’s going on. For this reason, we won’t have a set agenda, but here are just a few of the topics we’re going to go over:
Minutes and any activities will get posted Monday afternoon.
It has been determined that our non-commercial/educational full service application was rendered mutually exclusive by another application from WREN Communications, Inc. I don’t think it’ll matter, though, because I’m pretty sure we’re going to move to the really tall Clear Channel tower a little further north on 287.
We’ve also determined that we don’t need to obtain a letter from KRMA, since our 63 dBu interference f(50,10) contour won’t enter the 47 dBu f(50,50) contour of KRMA. It was either 63 or 60.5…something like that I can’t remember the exact number off the top of my head.
We also got our classified ad put in today. Woohoo $72 for a legal notification. Not exactly fun stuff.
Apparently SAM Broadcaster uses 90% of the processor of a very nice server. Yeah right. But, regardless, VPSLand will no longer allow to us to host SAM Broadcaster on their VPS.
That virtually renders our VPS worthless. We have one more month with these people, and then I’m cancelling the Windows VPS and going back to a Linux VPS for streaming purposes only. That definitely reduces our streaming costs. 🙂
I can’t wait until we can get some sponsors and get a studio and get a computer dedicated to this and an Internet connection dedicated to this so we don’t have to use my home bandwidth. 🙁
In order to get on FM radio, we basically have to cross a minefield and come back alive. Here’s a summarized list of all that has to happen, basically at the same time:
We have no idea what the story is with KIMX. They go by “Planet 96.7” in Laramie, and cover an enormous area with a Class C2 signal. However, they want to move to Nunn, CO and use an allotment there. We imagine they’ll have to go to auction to get this frequency, and we don’t know when the next auction will be for commercial radio stations. So, if we want to keep them out of Fort Collins, we need to have a bunch of signatures saying we don’t want them here.
Why we don’t want them here: because if they move to Fort Collins, the possibility of a translator on 96.9 disappears. The Educational Media Foundation applied for this frequency some time ago, and are likely going to have to take place in an auction to get it because it’s in the commercial band. That means lot’s of cha-ching being spent to get the translator. BUT then see step 3….
We purchase KLHV. Which means great things for Educational Media Foundation because we will have likely paid for much of their auction price. We get their full-power license, and they’ll get their translator license, and keep Fort Collins in a protected contour like they’ve always wanted.
So…if you want us on FM radio…welcome to the real world, and please sign the petition.
I’m thinking about proposing to the board that we operate a “Part 15” network until we can purchase 88.3. WHICH BETTER HAPPEN AND HERE’S WHY: EMF has applied for a TRANSLATOR license…IN FORT COLLINS!!!!
WHAT?!?!?!?!
So that pissed me off. And if we bought KLHV from them, that’d mean more money to use when participating in the auction to get the frequency. AND money for them to use on equipment for the new station. Unless they’re taking their old stuff out when we buy it.
But, in the meantime, I believe we should setup a Part 15 network across Fort Collins. I highly suggest this especially at the 4 high schools. We could then sell little FM radios so they can listen to us while in class :) Plus, Part 15 stations have a surprisingly large coverage area. You get about 3 kilometers covered with a 40-dBu contour, and a shocking 777 meters with a 60-dBu contour.
In addition, people could then setup Part 15 relays at their houses for about $170. We might even be able to start an incentive program where we pay a percentage of the cost, depending on how many students there are that would be covered.
I think we’ll also try to get a full-power 88.7 in Red Feather just as a “backup.” It also helps boost coverage in that area. And, if we find that we don’t need it or would feel better-served by a translator, we could potentially sell or just give the license to a local organization and have local Red Feather radio.
In the meantime, SPONSORS. Why isn’t anyone wanting to sponsor us? Or do I just suck at getting sponsors? One of the two is true…because I haven’t heard back from *anyone* except Fort Fun. And they don’t give cash donations.
Ugh. And listener counts have dropped too. :( We need another meeting.
We e-mailed EMF Broadcasting a few days ago about them moving 88.3-KLHV to 88.1, which would allow us to get on 88.5MHz if we were to broadcast from Nunn, CO. Woohoo, if you want a map, here it is:
This is not a realistic representation, we would have to use a directional antenna to avoid 40dBu-interfering contour overlap with KGNU-Boulder. This map represents a Class C2 station, broadcasting a 40-kilowatts from 70 meters above average terrain. Which, in Nunn, is pretty much 70 meters above ground. Seventy meters is about 230 feet. Anyone want to do some climbing? ;) Special thanks to 88.9-KRFC’s 60-dBu protected contour being sort of funky looking, we’d be able to safely broadcast from Nunn without causing interference to them. But, at the same time, this only works if 88.3 moves to 88.1.
This is basically our last straw at getting on FM radio. Our second option is getting some land somewhere down Poudre Canyon and building an enormous tower to get out of the canyon, which isn’t going to happen without a fight, and using a VERY directional antenna to basically cover half of Fort Collins with a city-grade contour. And by half, we mean that the middle half of Fort Collins would be circled, and it’d be a very funky contour. But, it’s really not worth attempting.
We’ve also contacted David Graf at Josten’s about Jostens potentially sponsoring us. Hopefully they do, we students put lot’s of money into Jostens year after year.
As for finances, we’ve predicted that, should EMF be willing to move to 88.1, we could then purchase a 34-acre lot in Nunn at $51,000, and then there are the additional expenses of getting on FM radio, all of which come out to about $100,000. This, of course, is a one-time expenditure.
As for Internet radio finances, we’ve predicted that this will cost about $6,000 per year, with studio space in Old Town. :) We’re waiting for an e-mail back from Matt to see about looking at the space in Oak Street Plaza.
Also, I’m going to be delegating the arrangement of a meeting with the board of directors, myself, and Kim, and possibly Isabel, to Elizabeth, because she talks to the board much more than I do. I mean, people don’t even remember what they DO, so we need a meeting again. So, board of directors…expect a call.
In bullet summary form, here’s what’s been happening:
Form 1 is now available for filling out and getting on the air! Exciting.
Fill it out at http://listen.fcyb.org/form1 . Applications will be granted on a first-come-first-serve basis.
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