STARTING UP A COMMUNITY RADIO STATION

Equipment basics

Planning
Plan carefully before purchasing any equipment. First, determine where your target audience is situated geographically. Next, find out what type of transmitter and antenna you'll need - and where to install them - to best reach that audience.

Transmission
Use professional broadcast engineers who specialise in transmitter and antenna installation. Check their qualifications and experience. The majority of transmitter/antenna problems can be traced back to flighty purchase and installation decisions. The future of your station depends largely on what proportion of your target audience can receive your broadcasts, so try not to cut corners here.

Studio-to-transmitter link
An antenna mast next to your studios is unlikely to give good transmission coverage unless your station is located on top of a sizeable hill. Your broadcast signal will probably need to be fed to a remotely located transmitter/antenna by either a wired or wireless method. Again, studio-to-transmitter links are best left to the professionals.

Studio
Constructing and equipping studios is the last and often least expensive step in setting up a new station. Modifying an existing space by sound proofing and treating the walls, doors, ceiling and floor can be accomplished adequately using cheap materials and volunteer labour. Pre-loved professional studio equipment can, with care, be successfully mixed with new domestic gear to keep costs down without sacrificing flexibility.

Basics
What equipment do you really need to start broadcasting? Here's a list.

• a transmitter (with exciter and peak limiter)
• an antenna
• coaxial cable to connect the two
• source audio equipment.

If your initial budget won't stretch to include studios and a studio-to-transmitter link, consider installing a multi-disc CD player (or better still, a computer) in your transmitter hut. Then record your programs externally, and transfer them to the play-out equipment for broadcast.

Apart from sound proofing and treating, a simple studio set-up might include:

• a broadcast console
• at least one microphone/microphone stand
• a copy stand
• headphones
• stereo monitor loudspeakers/amplifier
• two CD players
• two mini-disc units.

Alternatively, a computer can be used instead of the CD and mini-disc units.

Once usage exceeds approximately 6 hours a day, 7 days a week, you will need a second studio.

Expenditure
The total dollar cost of setting up a new community radio station depends on a wide variety of factors. Some stations start successfully using a combination of borrowed and donated equipment and premises. They then arrange sponsorship contra deals with communications carriers, utilities and local government.

But it is more likely that you will need to buy some equipment. And don't forget the added expense of things like telephone and power. For this reason, as well as the upfront cash required to equip your station, you must source income before launch day to cover your running costs.

For a low power budget station start-up, you could begin broadcasting from your transmitter hut for around $10,000. Add a fully equipped studio, and you'd be looking at approximately twice that amount.