KMSC - Dragon Radio
BROADCASTING FEASIBILITY REPORT
Prepared for: Andrew Johnson, KMSC Advisor
Prepared by: Bernardo Anderson, KMSC Station Manager
November 20, 2008
KMSC - Dragon Radio Moorhead, MN 56563 T 218.477-2116 kmsc1500am@yahoo.com www.dragonradio.org
Contents
Executive Summary.........................................2
Objective.................................................................................2
Goals......................................................................................2
Solution..................................................................................2
Report..............................................................3
Introduction............................................................................3
Criteria...................................................................................3
Method..................................................................................4
Overview of Alternatives.........................................................4
Evaluation..............................................................................5
Conclusion............................................................................6
Recommendations................................................................6
Bibliography....................................................7
Broadcasting Proposal
1
Executive Summary
Objective
The question was posed by some DJs on what the future of the broadcasting of KMSC Dragon
Radio should be. We are currently on 1500 am. However, to achieve a higher audience
suggestions have been made for us to consider moving to either FM, Digital AM, or become strictly
online. Our final goal being that we would like to become more popular on campus and in
Moorhead.
Goals
I have researched the proposals and given a conclusion on what the best approach would be for
the station; Taking into consideration our budget, current DJ situation and our heads of staff. My
goal is to give a reasonable proposal of what our next move should be regarding over the air
broadcasting.
Solution
A positive solution would be to draw up a plan to become a Digital AM station in five years. We
need to start planning now so when the time comes we are prepared. This would include things
like budget and any paperwork necessary for us to do before we go forward with our plan.
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Report
Introduction
As we stand now we broadcast over the air at 1500 am but only around the campus. We also
have online streaming and we play in the dorms. Our license for over the air broadcasting is an
educational one so therefore we cannot broadcast over 2 blocks from the campus. This limits our
range to possible listeners to anyone living on or closely around campus. Our online streaming
helps parents or anyone who would like to, listen to us outside our over-the-air range. Also, our
streaming to the dorms is a great and easy way for students to listen to us and it comes at no
cost.
What we need to focus on is the over the air broadcasting. Our current license of an educational
broadcaster limits us from reaching a wider audience. It dictates that our range is 2 city blocks
from the ends of our campus. Since a large number of people in our area live in Fargo we must
look to expand our signal. This should help give us better credibility and a much wider audience.
This will in turn help the station find more and better DJs.
Criteria
While researching this I kept a few things in mind. First thing is our budget. We are a student
organization and depend quite a bit on the salary given to us by the school. This can change from
year to year and it’s a tough way to keep a budget. This limits our ability to buy new equipment for
broadcasting. We are also a very small organization with 3 main heads of staff running the station.
Every year they can change and any progress we might have made could be lost. This change in
the structure of the station makes it hard for any long term planning. However, with small enough
steps anything is possible. The third thing that I considered was the fact that there is already a lot
of competition in our department. There are 2 other universities with radio stations, those being
NDSU and Concordia College.
Broadcasting Proposal
3
Method
I have researched into Digital AM/FM, FM, and a new AM license. Some of this comes from the
FCC website itself and some of it comes from radio journalists. I’ve searched in online articles from
credible journalists, books about radio broadcasting. All the legal ramifications information was
found on the FCC and IBS(Intercollegiate Broadcasting System) website. Since our station goes
through IBS to be legally broadcasting, I’ve done a great deal more research under it.
Overview of Alternatives
I’ve evaluated each alternative here.
Digital AM
This is the most popular alternative right now for our station. The advantages of going digital are
plenty. The signal is much clearer and it provides a near CD-quality even down to 48Kbps. Also,
because we continue to broadcast over the same AM frequency there would be no need to apply
for a new license. Another advantage is that under Digital AM, we can split up our signal to
broadcast two different channels. We could broadcast our regular station music programming and
also our sports which we currently only do online. Going digital allows us to include information in
displays in radio, giving us an advantage to update listeners without having to go online.
However, the limitations make us rethink this route. The first thing is that our station currently only
broadcasts in mono. It is possible to switch to stereo but the cost of infrastructure update would
be about $1,200. We also would need to update our streaming service because under digital there
are encoding involved in the signal the cost of this would be in the upwards of $3,500. We could
use our current antenna and therefore be ok with that. The last limitation we have is the biggest
one. Not everyone has a digital radio receiver. Old radios don’t pick up digital signal and we would
exclude a lot of people from this. Although Digital AM seems like a very good idea there are many
limitations in which we would have a hard time going around. The possibilities are everything we
could as of but the clear fact is that it is not the right time to go digital. Maybe in the future the
investment would be worth it, but as of now we should not look into this.
FM
FM is where most radio stations would like to become. This is a great opportunity for any station
who would like to expand their listenership. The problems are many, and it begins in new
Broadcasting Proposal
4
infrastructure. We would need to buy a new antenna, change our audio from mono to stereo, and
find an available license to buy. Of course, the new license only becomes available when another
station chooses to not renew theirs. This leaves us waiting for a station to fall off. The money spent
on going FM is extraordinaire. It would be 3 times our current budget total. If we start of in small
steps maybe one day we can become an FM station. For now I believe this option to be a hard sell
for our station.
AM
This is what we currently have. However, my proposal for this option would be to expand our
station’s power and broadcast to the entire population of the city. There would be no extra money
to be spent and we already have everything needed to accomplish this. In the past we have
ignored the potential to expand our reach only because we have no looked into it. The cost of
expanding our coverage would be about $2,000 a year. This is a heavy investment for a station like
ours. However, the biggest problem with this alternative lies in the fact that unless a new station
becomes available we could not take advantage of this. And as long as each station renews their
license we do not know when this opportunity becomes available.
Online Streaming Only
There are a lot of stations on the internet. Of course our’s is a very specialized station and would
get attention because of it. Going online gives more money to spend on things that we might need
at the station which might have been neglected for a while. Our whole campus is wi-fi, therefore we
could easily implement the ability to listen to our station a little bit better if we focus our attention on
that. There are widgets that we could make. Making listening online easier is a platform we could
work on and concentrate ourselves in. This of course could decrease our immediate listenership,
but I believe that in the long run it could pay off. In my estimates we would save about $900 every
fiscal year if we implement this alternative.
Evaluation
I would like to start by dismissing our alternatives which have no chance of going through as of
now. FM and AM need licenses which require for another station on the dial to open up. This is
unknown when it becomes available, and as history tells us, it’s few and far between.
Broadcasting Proposal
5
Let’s look at what our current goal is: to become more popular on campus. This is a simple goal
that could have many routes to achieve it. Looking at Digital AM we find a good possibility for the
future. Where our goals could be met and where we could easily implement it. I find this a good
goal for us to achieve in the year to come. I believe we should make up a plan for our future with
Digital AM. And as for becoming online only, this is a good short term goal while we work for our
Digital AM license. If we become online only for 5 years and use the money saved to put towards
our Digital AM license we can get to our goal.
Conclusions
As stated before, I believe our future goal should be to have a Digital AM license. This will give us
all the options that we would like, we can become more popular on campus and we would reach a
wider audience. Digital AM allows us many benefits and compared to the other alternatives it is our
best bet. This becomes quite obvious when taking into consideration our limitations as a station.
Recommendations
What I would recommend we do is to format a plan for our future as an Digital AM station. The first
piece of business for us to accomplish is to draw up a plan that is 5 years ahead. We need to
focus mainly on our budget which has become tighter as the years progressed. Until then we
should focus on saving money wherever we can. Putting it into a savings account where we could
make the money earn interest. During this time of saving we also check on all the equipment and
staff necessary to accomplish our plan.
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Works Cited
FCC
www.fcc.gov - Information on legal aspects
IBS
www.ibsradio.org - Information on legal aspects
Audio/Video International
“The Future of AM and FM radio” by John Gardner - Information on the advantages of digital radio.
Future of Music Coalition
“Full Power FM Radio” by FMC - Information on getting an FM license.
Broadcasting Proposal
7