Starting and Operating Your Own FM Radio Station. - book reviews

When Peter Hunn decided to build an FM station, he looked around for small towns with unclaimed channels, and for quidebooks telling how to get o license and construct the faility, which he assumed must have been published. Surprise, surprise; those who hove gone through the process are not eager to help potential competitors, and engineers with the know-how prefer to sell it to newcomers in the form of high-priced private services.

So Hunn wrote this step-by-step account to let other beginners know how it's done. WHRC-FM, his 400-watt station near the New York/Vermont border, cost a total of $40, 000, including purchase of an acre of land and a garage for the studio and o tiny apartment/office.

The book has lots of charming anecdotes and bits of radio lore. Most valuable are the reproductions of various forms required by the FCC, and comments on dealing with them without c lawyer. He also suggests ways to build community support. Inspiring and practical.

* When considering preowned gear, make certain that replacement parts are still available. Also, concentrate on radio equipment that the seller is offering because he has no more need for it, not because it no longer operates well. For example, many AM stations converting to stereo are marketing their mono equipment. These mono pieces are being sold to make way for a new technology. in this way, a small, new station might inexpensively acquire a reliable mono control board, tape cartridge machine, or signal processor.

* "The instant my clock radio clicked on this morning, I heard you say the raindrops were clouding the view of your weather window, but that you could see the automatic wind-indicating pine tree doing the twist," reported a faithful WHRC-FM listener. So," he continued, "I knew it would be too breezy to use my umbrella."

* Do not reside at your radio station. Doing so makes needed leisure a practical impossibility since there is always something else in plain sight that needs attention.

Starting and Operating

Your Own FM Radio Station Peter Hunn, 1988; 155 pp.

$12.95 postpaid from TAB Books inc., Blue Ridge Summit, PA 17294; 800/822-8138 (or Whole Earth Access)

COPYRIGHT 1991 Point Foundation
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group