Backyard Radio

Posted by Carl Gerhardt

on Oct 21, 2014

On 10/21/2014, Manager of the new "Backyard Radio" in Magnolia, Tom Conley, spoke to the Magnolia Rotary Club about the new radio station to be located in Magnolia, Texas at 103.5 on the FM band. Pictured from left to right are Tom Conley's wife, Cheryl Conley and Tom Conley.

Tom told the group that the new radio station will be an FM station located at 103.5 on the FM dial and that the transmitter will be located on Kelly Road in Magnolia, Texas.It has an FCC license to operate as a 501C(3) (non-profit) station and will serve up multi-genre music in addition to other shows. Tom indicated that they have a little over 35,000 song titles to serve up and that if played sequentially, it would take a little over a week before the same song would be heard again. Backyard Radio is licensed to operate as a low power station which means that it will have a transmission radius of somewhere between 3.5 miles to 10 plus miles depending on the weather. The new station is expected to formally start broadcasting no later than 10/31/2014. However, they are streaming music now from their online website at www.backyardradio.org. Simply click on the ear phones with the words "Listen NOW" in the upper right corner of their home page.

Tom listed the community benefits as follows:

1. Community Communications (club and community announcements)

2. Emergency Communications

3. Special Events Coverage

4. Updates/announcements from the Magnolia Police and Fire Departments

5. Local & National News

6. High school sports coverage (both local and away but more local)

7. Church broadcasts on Sunday mornings.

8. Political event coverage

9. Educational opportunities including announcements and shows.

10. Feature shows as dictated by the radio listeners.

Because Backyard Radio is a non-profit organization, they are limited in some of the things they can do:

1. They can't endorse a candidate but can have a political guest on.

2. They can't sell advertising but radio sponsors can be "plugged" for supporting time slots.

3. They can't sell products on the air.

Backyard radio is mostly supported by underwriters, sponsorships, and listener memberships. They are a member of the Magnolia Chamber of Commerce and they have an email address for comments and requests. their email address is tom@backyardradio.org. Although they do not yet have their schedule online, it is something they are currently working on and hope to have in the not too distant future.

Backyard Radio is also currently looking for a station home/studio as the station is currently operating out of Tom & Cheryl Conley's home.