Here’s the latest in my trials with Radio Cambio:

My idea is to generate something that functionally looks and operates like a community station, in other words, with community input. The target audience is people in Lake Worth. I haven’t fleshed out how this will all operate entirely, especially since I’d personally like for it not to be just another mouthpiece for conservative voices. In my opinion and experience, they get far too much airtime and they scream far too loudly already, drowning out civil discourse. On the other hand, if it truly is a community project, my opinions are my own and while they may contribute to the dialogue, they also should not dominate it. In other words, the decision making power lies in the hands of the community. There are a couple of addendums that are relevant but I’ll get to those later.

Here’s where I am with each format:

AM radio

This is effectively dead, unless I find a compelling new piece of information that resurrects it. The cost of setting up an AM radio station versus the range that you can get is just not balanced enough to make it worthwhile. At first I had read that getting a range of about 1 mile was well within the realm of possibility and in fact, ranges beyond that are common. Then I found this page, from the guy who custom makes the antennas for the SSTRAN AMT3000 radio transmitter model.

He says that the average range you can expect is 3/4 of a mile, which is a bit short of what I’d like to hit. Optimally, I’d like to have a strong signal at a mile radius. AM radio is a wave that travels across the ground which is great in Florida, because despite all the buildings, it’s pretty flat here. Soil conductivity also has a big impact on your range however, and sand is an extremely poor conductor.

Another consideration: creating the coil which ‘charges up’ the transmission. If it’s poorly constructed your range will be negligible, and it’s just complicated enough that I don’t think I have the manual mechanical ability to do it right the first time I attempt it. The aforementioned guy who makes the antennas sells just this part, for $110.

FM radio

Thanks to decades of the FCC being dominated by stooges for corporate radio, it’s virtually impossible to 1. operate a station legally without a license (unless your target range is your yard) and 2. for a low powered station to acquire a license. Thankfully, there has been some shakeup at the FCC, though who knows if it’s enough to make a real difference.

There is a hopeful piece of legislation, called the Local Community Radio Act of 2009, that’s sitting in the Senate right now: S.592. Read it and then go sign the petition at freepress.net to get some forward motion on it. The bill essentially makes it possible for communities to apply for low-power FM licenses.

The cost of FM equipment is more or less affordable for the range you can get, though you need to set the antenna somewhere high enough to get a decent range. Setting up a pirate station is definitely possible, though the fines that the FCC hands down to pirates are both ludicrous and extortionate. Again, the best option would be for them to open up to low-power FM and give the people back the airwaves which we are LEASING to corporate radio.

Internet radio

This is where I’m leaning now, for the moment. It completely flies in the face of the community service idea that I have because to even receive internet radio it assumes that you have a computer and internet connection. But it’s something that I’ll entertain until the senate takes action on the previously mentioned bill.

Next steps

• My intention is to move this forward as if Senate will approve S.592 and start reaching out to interested people. If the inner workings are all in place, it will make changing format from online to airwaves that much easier.
• I’m going to start looking at hosting options for Shoutcast to see how much it’ll run monthly.
• You! I’m going to start reaching out to you, my fellow Lake Worthians and friends further afield. Let’s get together if you’re interested! Have time, money or equipment to contribute? Please reach out to me!

Contact me through the form below if you’d like to join me: