Local Radio Stations
Local radio stations whether operated by professionals or amateurs address the needs of a certain area, city or region, promoting local names in entertainment shows, broadcasting local news and often providing music-on-request services. Local radio stations can be divided into public, commercial and non-profit, but campus and even hospital radios are also run. The popularity of local radio stations broadcast on shortwave bands slightly decreased when the Internet-distributed radio started to get more and more attention. Yet, with the high fees established by the Copyright Royalty Board for online broadcasting, local radio stations have a chance to recover their fame.
Local radio stations that share the same frequency on the AM transmissions may have to reduce their activity at night if the environment in which they operated is very crowded. Radios that use the frequency modulation system (FM) are definitely more popular and present no problem in terms of interference. Amateurs who want to create local radio stations have to go through a licensing exam in order to prove that they have all the radio frequency and spectrum knowledge necessary for radio communications. The legislation is slightly different from one country to another in terms of procedure and with some states, it is just an administrative formality.
In the United States, the licensing of local radio stations is organized according to three standard levels, the technician class, the general class and the amateur extra category. These three modules usually work for people who take radio operation as a hobby and just want put up a ham station. Together with the licensing, all national, amateur and local radio stations receive a call sign that is used on the air as a means of legal identification. Some operators use some vanity call signs for which they have to pay a fee, but the procedure is not standard for all countries.
Many local radio stations are not simple amateur creations but profitable businesses that generate quite a revenue from advertising. Lots of local companies can thus target the potential customers in their area, and their commercials allow the radio stations to exist in the first place if they lack other financial sources for support. In the case of non-profit local radio stations, the conditions are often different, as there is usually a donor that covers the expenses. Whichever be the case, local radio stations are a necessity in regional communications just like local press.
