[BC] Mom & Pop Stations endangered?

[Barry Mishkind]

At 08:26 AM 2/14/2006, Larry Fuss wrote
> > Those loyal locals must have used the service but not supported it with
>advertising.
>
>The last few times I've been back to Cleveland, Mississippi, people come up
>to me on the street and say "we sure wish you had the radio stations back,
>they are terrible now."  Indeed they are, but I was never ever to generate
>enough advertising revenue to pay all the bills, despite having the best
>small-market stations in the state.  The local morning shows are gone now,
>the local news is gone,

         ... in many cases, so is the entire station.

         In 1980, I was part of group that bought a little station
         in southern Arizona. Once we took over and discovered
         it was clear that the businesses in the town were more
         interested in using the station (we gave the station over
         to the local "service groups" several times, for example,
         so they could raise money) than supporting it in any way.

         It wasn't as bad as Shamrock, TX, but it nearly
         destroyed us.  In the end, the station went dark,
         and eventually was deleted. The only way we
         survived as long as we did was to move into
         the station and live there, with virtually no
         staff.

         After it was all over, the business owners all
         complained that with the FM station coopted to
         a city 35 miles away, they had no local station.

         One of the oldest stations in the state was
         reduced to mere memories.