[BC] Class C AM Stations

[Broadcast List USER]

Scott:

Your 1 kW transmitter isn't squat.  Five PCs draw as much power.  Your  
AC and heating (if a heat pump) draw very much more, and your heat, if  
resistive is killing you.

I will bet your lighting is as much as your transmitter.

Your refrigerator is drawing about half what your transmitter does,  
and your electric range draws four to eight times more, depending you  
what you are cooking.  Your coffee pot is a fairly large percentage of  
your transmitter's draw when brewing.  Your TV is a large percentage  
of the draw of your small transmitter.

Your studio draws as much or more than your transmitter when the  
"master control" elements such as your satellite receiver are  
considered.

AND FINALLY, since you have such an interest in tube consoles, they  
likely draw MORE than your transmitter.

Frankly, your transmitter is such a small amount of your total draw  
that it doesn't even need to be considered.

I wish you would just drop this unless you really want to apply for a  
power decrease and make your station worth absolutely nothing.

My back of the envelope guess is that your transmitter is about 10% of  
your power bill.  Even if you go to 1/4 power, that 10% won't become  
2.5%, it may become 5%.

Sadly, there is no easy way for you to prove it to yourself.  However,  
you might take the word of the MANY people who have told you this on  
the list.

Finally, you touched on the point recently.  There are bad receivers  
out there, and a lot of noise.  Why in God's name would you want to  
give up even a few listeners for a savings of a few bucks a month?  It  
just makes no sense.

I now rarely respond to you on this issue.  I think it is the same for  
other people on the list.  We are just getting tired of explaining it  
to you.

My suggestion?  Go ahead, apply for 250 Watts and make your station  
worth exactly zero.  Or, stop posting about it.  Either one is OK by  
me.  I like you a lot.  I love what you are doing running a local  
staion, but I am tired of hearing about this power reduction stuff.   
It won't pay off, and I really hope you know it.

--chip

On Feb 16, 2010, at 11:49 PM, broadcast-request at radiolists.net wrote:

> Message: 12
> From: "Scott Bailey" <wmroradio at bellsouth.net>
>
> The transmitter pulls more at 1 KW than 250 watts. I've even seen  
> the difference in the AC Bill. This station covers it's COL and the  
> county very well with 250 watts. If you look at BE AM1A I have, it  
> pulls about 1700 watts for 1,000 watts of power.
>
> An engineer at BE told me that the AM1A will pull about 630 watts  
> for 250 output power. If you're able to cover your COL and the  
> county with that power, it makes sense. Now keep in mind Mike, this  
> is more of a rural/small town area. I'm not in a metropolitan area.  
> Why spend pennies more with the economy the way it is today when AM  
> is not making that much money.
>
> If I was in a position that I wanted to make it big just to sell it,  
> then it would be at 1,100 watts, but this station is not for sale,  
> it's staying in the family, and it makes sense to keep those pennies  
> in the bank than let them go out in the air in AC, with a possible  
> "not return" on getting that advertiser back
>
> --
> Scott Bailey
> WMRO Radio, Gallatin, TN