Something about just broadcasting whatever you want into a protected frequency band for anyone with an antenna to hear seems really cool.
but that's not exactly true unless you wear an eye patch, roll your Rs when you speak, have a wooden leg, and have a parrot perched on your shoulder.
that $200k buys you equipment and land. it does not include any licensing or royalty payments for the content you ultimately decide to broadcast. if you have a full 100k flamethrower of a transmitter, the utility bill for that bad boy is not something I'll envy from you.
don't know the level of urban legend, but i have heard that BASE jumpers that climb to the top of a tower to jump will start to feel their fillings heat up by the time they get to the top.
I guess that’s not really a thing, but it’s gotta be cheap if you’re sharing some portion of revenue that they weren’t otherwise getting.
That's like asking how long is a piece of string?
How much is part of negotiations. The more people following, the higher the number. The larger the ego of the podcast producer(s), the higher the number. The more desperate the radio op is, the higher the number. If the podcaster has a set price tag type of licensing, then they must be new or are very naive or just don't feel like negotiating. In content licensing, you always shoot high in negotiations. If they come back with a yes on the first offer, you learn to shoot even higher the next time as you're leaving money on the table. If they do the more natural response of a much lower counter, then you get to play the traditional game. If they are someone so big of a broadcaster that they come in with an offer, never accept on first offer either. Always make them provide at least a second offer.*
*I'm not a professional anything in this regard, so don't take the word of rando inteweb person. Talk to your lawyers regarding licensing offers. I'm just someone who has been near/around these things for a long time.
Bought an old Cambridge AM station for cheap.. runs at low power to keep the costs low.
Check out: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WJIB (740 AM)
For years they had no commercials, but took donations (but they were never non-profit).
And even low-power AM transmission stations need an annoying amount of physical plant maintenance—cutting grass, trimming overgrowth, fixing all the random annoying issues that crop up when maintaining any kind of equipment at a remote site (theft, rodents, water ingress, cooling, power, comms, etc.).
If I ever get ridiculous amounts of money that could be burned on frivolous stuff like this without a worry, I'd make something similar to Fallout's radio stations.
Lots of fire and brimstone, and right wing talk radio. Which isn't that weird, it's what you'd expect given our media ecosystem.
But also really niche stuff. A friend of mine told me there's an AM radio station in NYC which plays nothing but Black Metal.
Many of these stations carry Coast to Coast late at night, which is about as weird as you get.
Anything a little less mainstream which is cheap to get into.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ching_Hai
But late night AM, you get "Ministry in the Marketplace with Dr. Richard Hamlet" on WEZE 590. This is the craziest right wingnut radio I've ever heard, even including shortwave. Last week they were ranting on about the "death vaccine".
"By the 1950s, America had forgotten the Biblical principles that it was founded on. In the mid-60s, government-controlled education was implemented. At that time, The Foundation for American Christian Education was formed to help limit that control by educating families and even schools on the . . ."
As for the Loving Hut restaurants... oh, that's what I went to downtown? It did seem culty. They were playing some video on a loop about world peace, etc. I've gotta say, though, their vegan shrimp were quite good - a very good approximation down to the texture.