What would it cost to fully license a commercial FM radio station in the U.S.?

Question

I have been toying with the possibility of opening an alternative music radio station. I was pleasantly surprized by the price of broadcasting equipment, which I expected to be much higher. However, I am having trouble finding out how much it would cost to license a station. Can anyone help?

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

A new commercial FM station license is very expensive. The FCC puts them up for auction to the highest bidder, several in my state (Wyoming) went for over a million dollars. Even for a very small market you can expect to bid over $100,000. That is just to get permission to build a station. Once built, you have to pay spectrum fees to the FCC based on market size. You will also have to pay ASCAP and BMI fees for the use of music.

The application itself is very technical, you will need to hire an FCC attorney and a consulting engineer. Generally you will be expected to build a station at the full power level licensed and in some cases the antenna height must exceed certain minimums for full coverage and public safety. Not something you can put up in the back yard. Your best bet is to share a site already used for broadcasting, renting tower and building space. Your studio will have to be a public accessible location in the "city of license", not a personal home, or else you will have to "rent" a lawyers office to keep your public file. In addition to buying the normal audio production equipment, you will be required to have working EAS gear that is tested weekly. You will need to connect the audio to the transmitter and provide for remote control. broadcast phone lines are expensive, you can apply for STL microwave license as an auxiliary to the broadcast license.

Certain people are not allowed to hold a broadcast license in the USA. The FCC will not refund your fees if you fail to qualify.

There are a lot of issues that affect the bottom line in building out a station.

Asker's Rating:

Asker's Comment:

very helpful, even if discouraging.