RELIGIOUS BROADCASTERS OWN THE VAST MAJORITY OF NONCOM FM TRANSLATORS

Last week Radio World [link] published a chart showing the changes in the number of various broadcast facilities from 2005 to 2015. From this data I created a chart showing the changes for analog radio broadcast facilities. Scroll down to the end of this post to see Radio World’s complete chart.  HD Radio stations were not included in the Radio World data.

ANALOG RADIO BROADCAST FACILITIES 2005 & 2015

SERVICE	9/30/05	9/30/15	CHANGE	CHANGE %
AM STATIONS	4,758	4,692	- 66	- >1%
FM COMMERCIAL	6,215	6,688	+ 473	+ 8%
FM NONCOMMERCIAL	2,626	4,090	+ 1,464	+ 56%
FM TRANSLATORS & BOOSTERS	3,920	6,422	+ 2,502	+ 64%
LPFM	598	1,364	+ 766	+128%

Source: Radio World 10/20/15

As you can see, there were 64% more FM Translators and Boosters in 2015. This is a dramatic growth in the number of licensed facilities is surpassed only by LPFM.  The FCC did not report whether the FM translators were owned by commercial or noncommercial licensees.

To get an idea of the proportion of the noncommercial FM translators by licensee type, I studied noncom stations in eight typical markets as listed on Radio-Locator.com.

TYPE OF NONCOMMERCIAL FM TRANSLATOR

LICENSEES IN 8 SAMPLE MARKETS

LICENSEE TYPE	#	%
RELIGIOUS	25	76%
COMMUNITY	5	15%
CPB-SUPPORTED	3	9%

Sample Markets: Austin, TX; Boise; Raleigh; Harrisburg, PA;

Santa Rosa; Birmingham; Portland, ME; Jacksonville

In the eight markets observed, religious licensees comprise the vast majority of FM translators. Of the 25 religious FM translators, it looks like 13 are fed by satellite or streaming audio from distant places.  In the early 2000s the FCC allowed noncommercial broadcasters to run translators remotely with satellite-delivered programming. The ruling led to the rapid rise of Educational Media Foundation’s K-Love and Air1 national networks.

Why has this happened? The FCC said it was okay and religious broadcasters took advantage of it.  Public radio, community radio and college radio didn’t.  Broadcast spectrum is generally first come, first served.

But, at what cost to the public interest? Consider this real world example:

CASE STUDY: JIMMY SWAGGART & WATERTOWN, SD

My wife’s mother lives in Watertown, South Dakota and I am there a couple of times per year.  Whenever I travel I comb through the radio dial to hear the choices for local listeners.

In Watertown, K211EC 88.5FM is a FM translator that repeats WJFM-FM from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  WJFM is the flagship station for SonLife Radio, 100% owned and operated by Jimmy Swaggart Ministries.

When I visit Watertown I listen to Jimmy’s station.  It not only is a perfect example of lost public service, it broadcasts some of worst programming ever on radio.

SonLife Radio [link] is all about Jimmy Swaggart, his family and associates. Program hosts include Jill Swaggart, Francis Swaggart, Gabe Swaggart, Donnie Swaggart, Gabriel Swaggart and, of course Jimmy Swaggart himself.  It is difficult to find a program where a Swaggart does not appear. 

Jimmy Swaggart

 I heard part of a service by Donnie Swaggart that was apparently recorded on a cassette. The left channel had only the pastor’s voice and the right channel sounded like an open mic in the room.  Unfortunately the choir was not close to a mic.  This created a surreal audio experience where the choir could hardly be heard but a couple of singing voices in the room were quite loud.  They either didn’t know the words of the hymn or were singing in tongues.

Awful programming is not a punishable sin. What about serving the public with a federally licensed broadcast facility?

• I have never heard a top-of-the-hour ID or anything about Watertown, the city of license, on 88.5.

• I could not find the physical location of K211EC’s public file or facilities.

• Four times an hour, 24/7, SonLife airs funding solicitations, often touting premiums that can only can be called infomercials. Major premiums include cassettes and CDs by Mickey Gilley and Jerry Lee Lewis – Jimmy Swaggart’s cousins.

• According to the SonLife website, in addition to Watertown, SonLife’s programming is carried on over 80 FM translators natiowide.

You be the judge: Is this a valid public service or a money-making scheme?

READER NOTE: For the best reporting on FM translators check out John Garziglia’s writing in Radio World [link].

RADIO WORLD CHART