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How the disappearance of rural stations takes America's soul with them
This won’t be something everyone here will want to read and it’s pretty lengthy, but what a great little yarn about the fate of an increasingly disappearing rarity - a small independent U.S. radio station, the challenges of keeping it running in today’s multi-conglomerate world, and what it means to the tiny town it serves.
Add to that the guy who runs it lives there and hasn’t been paid since 2018 after a dispute with a co-owner and it’s a sad saga of the current state of the business, the dedication of one man to somehow hang on and the loss of a voice in a place that doesn’t have anyone else to speak for it.
The fact it took a British newspaper to research, write and print it also speaks volumes. Worth a read if you have a few minutes to spare. And the pictures are pretty neat, too.
Radio silence: how the disappearance of rural stations takes America's soul with them
- Dale Patterson
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Re: How the disappearance of rural stations takes America's soul with them
Thanks for that RA! A wonderful article about a very dedicated guy.
"Life without echo is really no life at all." - Dan Ingram
- John D
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Re: How the disappearance of rural stations takes America's soul with them
I read this story with extreme sadness. I remember the first time I explored Mississippi. I couldn’t wait to hear authentic “Blues” stations. At least that’s what I thought. I won’t bury the lead. I did hear one. The rest of the AM dial was filled with syndicated programming. Namely Rush Limbaugh. Yes Rush. It was naive of me I guess to think differently. It reminded me of a station I worked for in Toronto and upon asking why we don’t have an Americana station here. The simple answer I got was, “It won’t work here.”
Whatever happened to the imagineers? The death of independent smaller stations is fading away and before someone else says it, yes I guess you have to have some history in the game to understand it. My wife and I once stayed a few days in Mount Airy; which was the real home of Andy Griffith. He based Mayberry on that town.
The first night we were there we took a drive. I could see in the distance a fully lit Radio Tower. We drove up to the front door. It was the oldest independent Bluegrass station in the United States. I took a breath and smiled. Went back the next day and got a tour. The owner was over 90 years of age. White shirt and suspenders. A real character.
We need more Real Characters.
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Re: How the disappearance of rural stations takes America's soul with them
The KHIL website is the most bizarre of any radio station I've ever seen. It includes the co-owner's extreme grievances in a section called "The Ugly Situation." Here's just part of what this veteran radio man has to say.
Imagine calling up your average station's site and reading this:
In spite of not being paid a cent since April 2018 this is what I managed to do for KHIL radio in 2018.
I alone repaired the tower light beacon and saved a couple of thousand dollars in engineer expenses.
Over three days I alone found and repaired the KHIL signal degradation points in the on air feeds and fixed KHIL’s on air signal. This alone saved several thousand dollars in engineer’s fees.
Well over fifty times I alone have fixed KHIL off air issues and returned the station back on air, for free.
Over a dozen times I alone have fixed EAS off air issues, for free.
I alone fixed the EAS CAP issue, for free.
In April 2019 KHIL was flagged for fines by the FCC for well overdue filing errors. Normally a radio station hires a FCC attorney to complete and submit these document. I did it on my own saving KHIL several thousand dollars in attorney fees and FCC fines and I did it for FREE!
Before the KHIL streaming was disconnected for non-payment of $80 a month I had an audience of 10,000+ listeners a day.
My website generates 5,000+ new hits a month for the radio stations.
The documentary “Lonesome Willcox” has generated worldwide interest in KHIL and me.
People have traveled to Willcox Arizona just to meet me in person from Tucson, Phoenix, California and Minnesota.
I generated advertising income of $16,672 for the year, against actual expenses of $26,453 for a loss of $9,781. Not bad for someone not being paid a single dime!
I almost paid the bills anyway, in spite of not being paid.
Several times during the summer heat, when temperatures were over 100 degrees inside this studio, people have had to leave the studio because the heat was too much for them and the advertising was lost.
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Thread Starter- mace
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Re: How the disappearance of rural stations takes America's soul with them
Very interesting article. Well worth the read. It got me thinking. How many AM stations are left in Ontario that could be considered local and full community service. There are not many Medium Wave stations left period. When you eliminate major market stations [Toronto, Ottawa] and smaller markets not owned by Bell, Rogers, Corus [Kitchener, London, Guelph, Hamilton, North Bay] CBC repeaters, muticultural and religious [CJYE] stations. I could only find seven that would fit the criteria. 1070 CHOK Sarnia, 630 CFCO Chatham, 920 CKNX Wingham all owned by Blackburn, 1380 CKPC Brantford owned by Evanof, 1580 CKDO Oshawa owned by Durham Radio, 800 CJBQ Belleville owned by Quinte Broadcasting and finally the much loved 960 CKNT in Mississauga. Then I forgot about Bayshore Broadcastings 560 CFOS in Owen Sound. That would make it eight.