These Are Small Markets??

The CMA considers these to be small markets! Wow, I wonder
what that makes us here at KLQP-FM in Madison, Minnesota
(Pop. 1,600)....no wonder we can't get any respect. Do they
have a category for micromarkets??

•KCLR –Columbia, Mo.
•KUAD – Ft. Collins/Greeley, Colo.
•WKSF – Asheville, NC
•WKXC – Augusta, Ga.
•WUSY – Chattanooga, Tenn.

FEMA Gets It Right!!

As reported by Inside Radio on August 25, 2011

FEMA tells public: turn to radio, TV.
With Hurricane Irene approaching and East Coast stations prepping for her arrival, FEMA administrator Craig Fugate’s message to the public is tune to local radio and TV stations. In an interview with CNN, he says people may be enamored with smartphones but cell service is unreliable. “Local broadcasters are going to be giving you the best information, real time, from those local officials,” he said.

Be A Radio Station...Not an iPod!!

Radio is destroying radio. On a trip to the Twin Cities last weekend I listened around the dial to the various metro stations...most of whom were touting "commercial free" music and little else. Talk about boring. If I wanted commercial-free music I'd buy an iPod. Come on broadcasters...let's do some radio! Tell me what's going on in your area...don't read the weather like it's an impositions...don't apologize for commercials, they're what's paying your salary. Give your listeners something an iPod can't give them. Music radio is dead or dying quickly, get over it, be a radio station and you have nothing to worry about.

It Has A Knob!!

The exciter on my FM transmitter died the other day and I had to borrow one from an engineer friend while sending mine in for repairs. The temporary exciter is an older Harris MX-15. I have to say a couple of things about this exciter. Number One: It has a knob! That's right...a knob! I can actually grab onto a knob and turn the output power up and down, no more trying to hit the slot on some dinky pot with a jewelers screwdriver! Number Two: It has two meters! One for output power and one for modulation...no more navigating menus to see what's going on! There's a lot to be said for older technology. I love knobs! I'm going to hate going back to my "modern" unit when it comes back from the shop.

Minnesota Broadcasters Hall of Fame!

I am honored to have been notified that I will be inducted into the Minnesota Museum of Broadcasting Hall of Fame in October, 2011. Very few rural broadcasters have received this honor and I will accept it on behalf of my many friends who work long days, seven days a week to provide radio service to those who are often ignored by the metro media.
My radio career has been ongoing for about 45 years and all of those years have been spent in small markets, including my current stint with KLQP-FM here in Madison, Minnesota which my partner, Terry Overlander, and I put on the air 28 years ago.
I have been an outspoken advocate for radio, particularly local radio, and will continue to deliver my message as long as I am able to do so.

Goodbye NPR

I've commented on NPR before and now they've stepped over the line with the firing of Juan Williams who simply expressed his feelings in a discussion on Muslims. America does not need NPR any longer and it certainly should not be funded with tax dollars. It has gone too far to the left, it has become a George Soros machine and a Barack Obama puppet. I've said it before...there's absolutely nothing public about "public radio", they do little or nothing for their local communities. Good riddance. By the way...Muslims on airplanes scare me, too! Why wouldn't they after 9/11?? If Norwegians had blown up the World Trade Center they'd scare me too, but they didn't...radical Muslims did.

The Shack???

Not only has NPR decided to shed their affiliation with Radio...now Radio Shack wants to be known as "The Shack". Give me a frickin' break. I don't even know what to say about this one. I sell on ebay as "radioguy12"....I'm thinking about changing my name to "guy12".