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Show HN: I'm launching a LPFM radio station

40 points by solomonb ago | 27 comments
I've been working on creating a Low Power FM radio station for the east San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. We are not yet on the broadcast band but our channel will be 95.9FM and our range can been seen on the homepage of our site.

KPBJ is a freeform community radio station. Anyone in the area is encouraged to get a timeslot and become a host. We make no curatorial decisions. Its sort of like public access or a college station in that way.

This month we launched our internet stream and on-boarded about 60 shows. They are mostly music but there are a few talk shows. We are restricting all shows to monthly time slots for now but this will change in the near future as everyone gets more familiar with the systems involved.

All shows are pre-recorded until we can raise the money to get a studio.

We have a site secured for our transmitter but we need to fundraise to cover the equipment and build out costs. We will be broadcasting with 100W ERP from a ridgeline in the Verdugos at about 1500ft elevation. The site will need to be off grid so we will need to install a solar system with battery backup. We are planning to sync the station to the transmit site with 802.11ah.

I've built all of our web infrastructure using Haskell, NixOS, Terraform, and HTMX: https://github.com/solomon-b/kpbj.fm

This is a pretty substantial project involving a bunch of social and technical challenges and a shoe string budget. I'm feel pretty confident we will pull it off and make it a high impact local radio station.

The station is managed by a 501c3 non-profit we created. We are actively seeking fundraising, especially to get our transmit site up and running. If you live in the area or want to contribute in any way then please reach out!

Denatonium |next [-]

It's pretty cool to see a licensed, authorized LPFM station being set up by hobbyists!

Prior to the PIRATE act of 2020, running a pirate FM station was effectively legal until the second time you were busted. Prior to 2020, if you shut the station down after getting your NOUO, there wasn't any real penalty. Teenage me loved this, and my buddies and I had a little irregularly-broadcasting pirate radio station, using a cheap CZH-7C transmitter purchased on eBay. One time we went on air from our high school's cafeteria during a study hall, and surprisingly, nobody questioned anything! We did have Microsoft Sam narrate our broadcast so that we weren't making a ton of noise.

We never did get our NOUO; instead, we ran into the much bigger reality, which was that none of us had anything of interest to say. After the novelty of hearing our voices on the radio wore off, the transmitter ended up in a closet, where it probably still sits today. Good times!

josefritzishere |next |previous [-]

KPBJ should have co-channel interference from KAIA and KCAQ, but the first adjacents are pretty clear. an LPFM has no protected contour. How is the local signal?

alrs |next |previous [-]

Why do you need a studio?

If this is completely non-commercial and you have an amateur license you could probably use AREDN as a backhaul instead of HaLow. We've gotten wifi going from a panel in Elysian up to Wilson on AREDN.

100w from the Verdugos should be pretty substantial. I regularly make 70cm FM contacts on 446.500 from Elysian Park down to San Diego at 5w.

solomonb |root |parent |next [-]

I would be really surprised if we are allowed to use AREDN.

We need a studio to be able to do live radio shows. Currently our hosts have to pre-record and submit through an online dashboard. The goal is to have a live studio in Shadow Hills where hosts can do their shows, bring on guests, take calls, etc.

giantrobot |root |parent [-]

There are many examples of Internet radio/livestreams that do all the live studio work virtually. It would be so much cheaper and more flexible as guests just need a microphone and Internet connection. Getting good audio is not terribly difficult even with a laptop or phone's built in microphones. Positioning and some isolation do wonders for voice quality.

mothballed |root |parent |next |previous [-]

Broadcast radio is, with caveats, prohibited on amateur radio.

fortran77 |root |parent |previous [-]

You're not allowed to "broadcast" (with a few exceptions) or play music with an Amateur licence.

solomonb |root |parent [-]

I think the suggestion is to use AREDN for our backhaul from the station to the transmit site instead of 802.11ah. So it wouldn't be for broadcast per se, but I am still skeptical that is an allowed use for AREDN.

raffael_de |next |previous [-]

Clandestine radio stations would make for a nice counter culture. Judging by the website style I think I receive an appreciation for keeping it simple. In that spirit I'd say ditch the internet stream. Stick to FM.

solomonb |root |parent [-]

To be clear this is an FCC licensed LPFM station.

Also I am /much/ more interested in terrestrial radio but the reality is that the vast majority of listeners are online and not using a radio. : (

raffael_de |root |parent |next [-]

I'm probably looking at this a little naive, no doubt. It's just that (in my fantasy) a pure good ole radio could be a great medium for enthusiasts and odd balls (#cyberpunk). But as soon as there is an internet stream then the actual radio is going to be a gimmick. The whole experience changes if you actually _have_ to use a radio to listen. Of course, your audience is limited by design ... so, realistically there just might not be a sustainable audience in your FM radius. Anyway, cool project!

solomonb |root |parent [-]

I agree that there is a strong allure to being strictly terrestrial. I actually started such a station 15 years ago under the Part 15 rules for unregulated broadcast band transmission: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KCHUNG_Radio

Almost immediately (like within the first week or so) everyone involved demanded an internet stream and now that station has two internet streams lol.

I've been thinking about setting up another part 15 station at my house as a personal project but for something like KPBJ the goal is to be a community resource. Terrestrial broadcast is super important to me and helps cement the station's place in our local community but we also want to be accessible to those who are not in this immediate area or who don't know how to use a radio (yes in 2026 that is an issue!).

MisterTea |root |parent |previous [-]

How many listeners actually have a radio these days? How many people under 30 listen to radio? Under 20?

bloudermilk |next |previous [-]

Congrats on this! As a born and raised valley kid, I wish this was around when I was living there as a teen.

solomonb |root |parent [-]

Thank you! The LPFM license system was started in 2000 so its pretty new.

polarbearballs |next |previous [-]

Thats awesome. I'm a huge fan of KEXP and WFMU. I love radio stations like this. I just signed up for your newsletter. I have it on my listen list and will stay tuned here on the East Coast.

MisterTea |root |parent |next [-]

WFMU is fantastic. That was where you heard all the fun weird stuff and WSOU was right next to it playing (back in the day at least) the latest hard core, punk, and metal.

Fun fact, the Go Gopher drawn by Renee French was originally drawn for a WFMU tee shirt given out at a fun raiser they hosted.

solomonb |root |parent |previous [-]

Thanks! We haven't been using the mailing list much, I'm afraid of coming off spammy, but I appreciate the support and hope you enjoy the station!

onetokeoverthe |root |parent [-]

[dead]

abetusk |next |previous [-]

Can you talk about the process of getting an FCC license and other legal logistics to broadcast?

The technical side, while interesting, is relatively clear to me. The legal side, including cost, is something I have no idea about.

solomonb |root |parent [-]

You essentially have to be in the right place at the right time. The FCC releases LPFM channels every year all over over the country. If you have a 501c3 non-profit within the designated broadcast area you can apply for the channel. They tend to award the channels to more established non-profits. There are no filing fees.

In our case we created the non-profit in anticipation of applying for this license. We got really lucky and no one else applied for the license and it was awarded to us.

abetusk |root |parent [-]

Do you have links to resources for people wanting to go through this process?

solomonb |root |parent [-]

I worked with https://commonfrequency.org to acquire the license. Their mission is to help local community groups acquire LPFM licenses nationwide.

edoceo |next |previous [-]

How does licensing work for the music you play?

solomonb |root |parent |next [-]

For terrestrial broadcast or online? You go through a handful of music industry organizations such as ASCAP and BMI. For terrestrial broadcast the costs are scaled to approximate listenership.

josefritzishere |root |parent |previous [-]

They just pay into ASCAP, BMI and SESAC. The royalty groups disburse on estimated airplay. Non-coms pay a reduced rate. I can go mch deeper if you want. I used to work in that field.

mkprc |previous [-]

Do you have a direct link to the audio stream? I'd probably add it to my go-to list of stations.

solomonb |root |parent [-]

https://stream.kpbj.fm

At the moment we are only airing a few new shows per day and filling the rest of our airtime with content from archive.org and other free sources (chosen by all our hosts), but over time more of the schedule will fill with original content.