11/11/2023
ANOTHER ACTUAL, ALMOST MEANINGFUL UPDATE... Wow. They're coming fast and furious now, huh?
Today we'd like to announce part of our long-overdue plan to make 101.9 WKRP's programming available online. This... is a long story. But it's one we feel we need to tell, if not to be informative or entertaining, then at least to acknowledge that we're really glad our GM uses his brain for things like this instead of Pinky & The Brain-like plans to take over the world. Anyway...
Online streaming of 101.9 WKRP was intended from day one. As late as two weeks before going on the air in 2015, we intended to simulcast our signal online via our web site. And then? Events started unfolding that kept making us revisit our plans.
Now, to play music over the air or online? You have to pay rights fees. In our case, every year we pay three "performance rights organizations" (ASCAP, BMI and SESAC) for that privilege. While most grouse about this, we've never had a problem with it - as we believe artists who create work deserve compensation, however small, for others using it. These aren't "universal" licenses, however: if you've a radio station and you want to stream that signal online? You have to maintain two distinct sets of licenses: one for the radio broadcasts, and another for the "internet broadcasts." Again, we've no issue with that, and as we prepared to go on the air we'd budgeted for doing both.
But just as we were planning to sign on, the internet rights fees went into a state of flux... and when things finally shook out, the fees had tripled. Having spent $25,000 of member-donated money just to get on the air and pay for on-air broadcast rights? We simply didn't have anything left to pay tripled internet rights fees. So we reallocated that money elsewhere, and moved on.
We know what you're thinking: "Wait. That was nearly a decade ago. Why haven't you budgeted for it and gone online since?" Well, there's a story there, too.
101.9 WKRP is an "LPFM" class station. We're not only limited to 100 watts of power output, but we're also very restricted in what we can do to "monetize" station operations. We can't air commercials for instance. We can offer "underwriting announcements," but in doing so literally the use of one wrong word could result in a fine or even license revocation by the FCC. And unlike George Carlin's famous "Seven Dirty Words" routine? The FCC has never clearly stated all the words that could get you into trouble. We know a lot of them, but not necessarily all. So we resolved this potential issue by not bothering with it - 101.9 WKRP's never taken a dime from a local business in exchange for mentioning them on air. We may do so from time to time, but it could be positive or negative; and we guarantee, it's not because any money changed hands for that mention. We knew these restrictions going in, and just as with paying ASCAP/BMI/SESAC every year, we're fine with the FCC's restrictions in this area. But admittedly? It hurts the bottom line.
101.9 WKRP was built "lean and mean" with all this in mind. We have no paid staff. One of our members leased us the first floor of his house to broadcast from at $1 year, and then has conveniently forgotten to collect rent for nine years. What expenses we do incur? Are covered thanks to a combination of membership dues paid to the station's parent organization (Oak City Media, Inc.) and infrequent but incredibly generous donations from people who want to be of help. Guys like Will Eichler and Erik Rogers for example.
During COVID we again began exploring streaming seriously, but yet again, something happened that made us re-think it. LPFM station operators act as a loose, friendly community - we try to help one another when we can. I've never heard one refer to another as a competitor. And we routinely keep each other updated on issues that might impact the "LPFM Community" as a whole - often a case where an LPFM station operator begins violating FCC regulations by airing advertising, or "underwriting messages" that go over the arbitrary line the FCC has drawn in its sand. We as a collective frown on this, so our attitude in general when the FCC drops hammer on them tends to be "they had it coming."
But during the COVID era a case came up that got our GM's attention, and didn't produce a "they had it coming" response. The FCC received a complaint that an LPFM station was airing full blown ads, but there was a wrinkle: the complainant explicitly stated in the complaint that they were basing the complaint not off what they'd heard on the radio station itself... but rather, on its online stream. And as the FCC tends to go out of its way at times to base rulings on obscure technicalities? The GM predicted this case would be dismissed on a technicality - that the complainant, by their own admission, didn't listen to the actual broadcast station... but rather via the internet, something that's not regulated by the FCC.
It didn't work out that way. The FCC skipped over the technicality and slapped the station operator with a pretty substantial fine. Was the station guilty? Yeah, almost certainly. But the result of the case conveyed a stark message: right or wrong, anything a radio station operator put out via the internet could get it in trouble just as readily as its on-air signal could. And however we "did" streaming? We had to generate revenue from it somehow, at least to a point of self-sufficiency.
So when our transmitter failed this June, the GM met with the board and put together a plan - not just to put the station back on the air and return to the status quo, but to do more of what we'd originally intended a decade ago. That included online streaming, and doing it in a way that may generate revenue, but which keeps 101.9 WKRP "squeaky clean" in the process. So after all that backstory? Here's the convoluted, complex plan he devised, and which we're in the early stages of implementing...
First, a separate non-profit corporation (WKRP, Inc.) was organized. The membership rolls of WKRP, Inc. just happen to be identical to those of Oak City Media; and the GM, who serves as Oak City Media's executive director, serves WKRP, Inc. in the same capacity. WKRP, Inc.'s Board of Directors has a slightly different makeup, however.
Second, Oak City Media and WKRP, Inc. entered into an agreement that gives WKRP, Inc. the right to stream any and all programming Oak City Media airs via 101.9 WKRP, via a domain that'll be announced soon. 101.9 WKRP's web site will also link to WKRP, Inc.'s streaming service. But the streaming service cannot (a) use "101.9 WKRP" in a promotional manner, or (b) run a true simulcast of 101.9 WKRP's signal.
Third, WKRP, Inc. agreed to donate any 'profit' generated from its online streaming service to Oak City Media, Inc. as its license fee. So in effect, any money the streaming signal generates goes the same place, just through an intermediary.
Listeners will hear the same programming they'd hear on 101.9 WKRP, but with slight differences. Some shows may air at different times online than they would on the air. There may be commercials aired on the stream that won't be aired over the air. The online stream may be made available commercial-free, but via an inexpensive subscription service (think Max, Peacock or SiriusXM, but MUCH less expensive). The stream may be offered free but offer listeners the chance to turn it into something of a community jukebox - where for a donation made online, a listener could pick a particular song from our music library and have it air over the stream.
Specific details on all this haven't yet been ironed out. The online stream's currently scheduled simply for "sometime" in 2024, coinciding with a relaunch of 101.9 WKRP's web presence (and with it, the launch of the separate, online presence operated via WKRP, Inc.) But all money that may be generated via online streaming, after expenses, will ultimately end up helping keep 101.9 WKRP on the air and serving others.
It's admittedly a long and winding road. But it's one we need to take to bypass regulations that have made 101.9 WKRP hard to operate without our members digging deep into their pockets time and time again... all while avoiding the wrath of "the federales." Our GM? He's a stickler for rules, and while at times we chafe because of that, we also appreciate it. But he also has a knack for bypassing rules - always completely within the law - and in this case? I think long term we - and our listeners - are going to appreciate that trait more.
