How to make your own radio station?

Many would like to create their own radio station or television studio, but not everyone has a dream that turns into reality. Potential owners of the new media are scared of possible obstacles. This is paperwork, and the purchase of equipment, and relations with supervisory authorities. But are barriers really insurmountable? Let's discuss how to make your own radio station.

to contents ↑

Air or Internet?

Before creating your own radio station, it’s very useful to decide which broadcasting method suits you best. The word “ether”, of course, sounds tempting, and such a radio has obvious advantages:

• anyone with the simplest radio can listen to your broadcasts;
• Your signal will be caught in any conditions - on the road, at work, while cooking.

However, this method of broadcasting has its drawbacks:

1. paperwork takes a lot of time;
2. some documents are very expensive;
3. need special equipment.

Important! Some ranges are now completely open for amateur non-commercial broadcasting, so much less money and effort will be required to create a station operating on long and medium waves than for FM.

to contents ↑

Advantages and Disadvantages of Internet Radio Stations

Internet radio is just a page on the World Wide Web. Accordingly, such a pleasure would be much cheaper than creating a real broadcasting station.

The tangible advantages of this type of broadcasting are not only greater accessibility, there are a number of points:

• such a station is not necessarily registered as a mass media outlet;
• special equipment, of course, is needed, but not in such quantity as for the on-air - it's just a server and a set of programs;
• creating such a station can be much faster than broadcasting.

Important! The disadvantages include the fact that such a station must be specifically “untwisted” by purely network methods, that is, give links, attract friends, while the owners of any receivers often quite often catch on-air receivers.

to contents ↑

We create an FM radio station

So, wondering how to make a radio station, you decided to try what broadcast is. Well, nothing is impossible, but you have to start with the concept. If you do not have a solid start-up capital, you will have to look for people who are ready to sponsor your project - of course, they must understand what they give money for.

The procedure will be as follows:

1. Formulate how your radio station will differ from existing ones - determine its focus, goals, an approximate target audience, and the format of future broadcasts.
2. Make an estimate of costs, including the costs of acquiring equipment, documentation, obtaining frequency, attracting potential employees.
3. Determine how your station will earn.
4. Indicate how long your brainchild will reach self-sufficiency and even begin to make a profit.

In a word, it is necessary to draw up a full-fledged business plan. Otherwise, you simply won’t get the money.

What documents are needed?

Only a legal entity can open a radio station in the Russian Federation, so you will have to create your own small company in order to get a broadcast license.Without such a license, the station would be considered pirated. You need to indicate the types of activity:

• creation of television and radio projects;
• commercial and political advertising;
• television and radio broadcasting;
• activities related to the media;
• the possibility of acquiring the studio premises of radio stations and various facilities used for broadcasting.

You have to choose a radio transmitter in advance - you must know its parameters exactly:

• power;
• broadcasting radius;
• the coordinates of the place where it will be located.

All these data must be reported to the Main Radio Frequency Center. After that, you can proceed to the documentation to create your own radio station. This is a very serious process, which should be taken very carefully. It can be done:

• independently;
• through a subsidiary of the Radio Frequency Center.

Important! Self-registration with a successful combination of circumstances will cost less, however, you need to know all the details of the legislation very well and have a fair amount of time. Turning to the “daughter” of the State Reserves Center, you will immediately remove a lot of problems from yourself, including coordination with military units and the Research Institute of the Ministry of Defense.

Broadcast Frequency Determination

The FM range is from 87.5 to 108.0 MHz. Novice hams sometimes consider it better to choose a higher frequency. This is not entirely true. The radius of action under the same initial conditions for a station broadcasting at a lower frequency is almost always greater. It is possible that you are lucky, and in this range there is a free frequency. You can get it to create your own radio station. But it happens that someone else wants to open a radio station with you at the same time and claims to be the same frequency. In this case, you will have to participate in the competition.

When is the contest held?

Tenders for frequency are held twice a year, but not everywhere, but only in regions where the population is at least 200 thousand people. Information on this can be found on the official website of the Independent Broadcasting Fund and there you can also find samples of filling out documents.

Important! Legal entities that are going to create their own radio station are not always involved in such contests. Your opponent may be a company that does not plan to create media at all. For some entrepreneurs this is a very profitable business - they win the tender, and then lease the frequency.

to contents ↑

Register a new media

Having decided on the frequencies and concept of the station, register a new media. This is done in Roskomnadzor - more precisely, in its territorial, regional or federal branches, depending on the broadcast radius.

Important! The check lasts about a month - the supervisor determines the uniqueness of the name, you are given a certificate, after which you will have to start broadcasting within a year. If you do not, the certificate is revoked.

to contents ↑

Obtaining a license

Your relationship with Roskomnadzor does not end with a certificate. You need two more licenses to make your radio station:

• broadcasting;
• on communication services.

Important! You already have a program concept, you need to attach a package of documents to it (which ones are best found in Roskomnadzor itself or on its official website). If everything is properly designed, you will receive a license.

to contents ↑

Permission to use radio frequencies

And even after obtaining licenses, you will have to contact Roskomnadzor more than once. You need:

• permission to use frequencies;
• registration of the radio transmitter.

To obtain permission to create your own radio station, you write an application (the form can be obtained there, at Roskomnadzor), and you can use the selected frequency for 10 years. After that, you can get the last document - register the transmitter and get the appropriate certificate.

to contents ↑

We open the station

After you receive all the documents, the rest will seem simple.So, to create your own radio station:

1. Find a room and issue a lease.
2. Install the transmitter and broadcast equipment.
3. Test it out.
4. Get the right to do business.
5. Launch your radio project.

to contents ↑

How to make an internet radio station?

Making your radio station on the Internet is a bit easier than starting broadcasting. But first, try to decide what exactly you want to do, that is, decide what the focus of your channel will be:

• news;
• political;
• musical;
• historical and regional studies;
• tourist;
• something else - perhaps quite unexpected.

Important! Of course, such that there is only one thing that can be transmitted on the channel is that music programs are interspersed with short news, music is played on political ones, and everything can be done at the local history or tourist program. The music of a particular country or era sounds there, the news is read, there is talk of problems - and so on.

Channel face

Based on the focus, a page on the Internet is created. This is the calling card of your radio station. To create it, do the following:

1. Find a simple, effective, and catchy address.
2. Order hosting.
3. Create an engine - you also need PHP and SQL database.

Important! It’s better to create a channel not on your server, but to order hosting. This will provide good bandwidth. The quantity of your listeners, in turn, depends on it. To determine how many people can listen to you at the same time, divide the bandwidth by broadcast quality.

The best option to make your own radio station is a virtual server. It has a lot of advantages:

• static IP address;
• high speed connection;
• You do not need an ultramodern computer with a powerful processor and large RAM.

Determine the operating system

On the radioserver can stand both Windows and Linux. It does not really matter. Each OS has its advantages. For example, under Windows there are more programs, including sound ones. But Linux is cheaper, in addition, it provides better protection against viruses or hacker attacks.

Clothes

This is the main part of the radio station. It provides the merging of audio streams. There are two programs that most owners use when planning to make their radio station on the Internet:

• IceCast2;
• ShoutCast.

Important! Their capabilities are approximately the same, so in this matter you need to focus solely on your own taste. Both are accompanied by documentation - albeit in English.

To make your radio active, the broadcast must be configured:

1. specify the names of the streams;
2. specify parameters;
3. define switching rules;
4. set the security level (usually set by FireWall);
5. check the box that an exception is made for the port on which the broadcast is being made.

to contents ↑

We broadcast a sound

So, the server is found, the software is installed, the interface is done. Now the most important thing remains to be done, for which you, in fact, tried, that is, to put a sound on the air.

You can submit it in three ways:

• relays;
• auto broadcaster;
• direct, he is alive, ether.

Relay

Relay is actually a “forwarding point”. This point takes the finished link of your radio station and directs it to users, that is, to those who have joined the channel.

Important! With the help of such a point it is possible to organize broadcasting, for example, in a local network, intercepting ready-made broadcasts. This is a very convenient thing in the event that you are conducting some of your programs, but cannot fill all the airtime with them. When “windows” appear, you can clog your broadcast by relaying to other radio stations.

Relay is good to make your own radio station, and in other cases:

• if you have a weak server;
• if the presenters change frequently.

Auto Broadcaster and Live Stream

There are quite a few programs that can perform a similar task. The choice depends on the operating system.

Option 1

If you have Windows, the following programs are suitable for you:

• Winamp with a plugin for ShoutCast;
• RadioBoss
• SamBroadcaster.

Option 2

For Linux, the best auto-hangers to make your own radio station are:

• Ices
• phpCast
• PulseAudio.

Important! Installing the software necessary to start broadcasting takes very little time, but in the future you will need to debug some functions to ensure uninterrupted broadcasting even at a time when you cannot follow the process.

to contents ↑

Stock footage

The idea of ​​making your own radio station is relevant and interesting. If you really set yourself such a goal and clearly imagine the development of such a business, then why not try yourself in this direction. And with the help of our useful tips from this article, some questions will be solved at you much faster than, in fact, we are trying to help you. Good luck in your endeavors!