Randumb Thoughts

Updates when the spirit moves me...

Personal Commentary about current events and issues brought to you by
William C. Walker of WILW Radio.


June 1, 2009

June 2009 Edition...

Randumb Thoughts for June 2009 (part two of the May edition)

A Lesson In Perseverance or an Exercise in Futility?

2005

View Part One here.

We begin in the year 2005 with the move to Buffalo. I finally was unable to unload the property in Lincoln, Maine but at a loss. Not surprising despite the fact I had made a number of improvements to the property. In any event, the move to Buffalo during the month of August was strictly an exploratory measure and I was uncertain whether or not I would even be able to find a good location for my radio station, then purchase a home in that community and find a job.

Drew, my station engineer and I launched the radio station from the home I was renting near the SUNY Buffalo State College campus. The area which is adjacent to the Elmwood neighborhood is slowly improving and lots of rehabbing seems to be taking place in the area. For an inner city area I found it to be a pretty decent place to live and as much as the city of Buffalo gets maligned by many people around the country, I can’t honestly say that I feel that negatively towards the city or its people. Granted the winters are filled with snow and corruption at the City Hall and at Erie County does give the area a black eye but the people are pretty decent and friendly for a city of this size and they show a lot of community pride and spirit. Something that I’ve found lacking in many places like Kansas City. In any event it was not Part 15 AM friendly at all in that neighborhood thanks to some high voltage power lines that ran at the edge of the backyard. They wiped out my signal and the range was a tiny fraction of what it could have been.

I looked at the communities of Jamestown and Dunkirk-Fredonia as a potential site for my Part 15 AM radio station. Eventually I determined that I would have a devil of a time breaking into the Jamestown radio market because despite its small size, it is relatively remote from larger metro areas like Erie and Buffalo and has its own distinct radio market with at least half a dozen stations. Dunkirk-Fredonia appeared to have more potential but when it came to finding a property in my price range in a suitable location, I came up dry. From that point I looked into the New Castle and Elwood City area of Pennsylvania which is 50 miles or so NW of Pittsburgh and the Vandergrift-Apollo area which is 40 miles NE of Pittsburgh. Again, just like Dunkirk-Fredonia, I could not find a suitable property that would accommodate the needs of my AM transmitter.

By the time November had rolled around I began to get frustrated again because things were not going my way. I decided to take a break from everything and make a move back to WaKeeney, KS with the hope of getting some peace and quiet and to be able to launch my station there again. In essence, I figured that if I could get a decent property minus the power lines then it would work there. And at this same time it would give me an opportunity to live closer to my then potential business partner in Oklahoma. That issue alone could merit a complete book but I’ll simply bypass the entire sordid story of how that played out. You will see more about that later in this month’s edition but only a small condensed version of the full story.

By early December I had a home lined up to rent in WaKeeney with the possibility of purchase. About this time I wound up dislocating my knee again when I fell in the house while packing up my personal possessions and I was limping around for the duration of my stay in Buffalo. Ten days later I fell again and made the problem worse. Somehow, by the end of December I had everything packed and got a moving company to get everything out to WaKeeney.

2006

Off to another bad start. Right when I moved in I got a call from my Uncle telling me that my Mother had to be hospitalized because she fell and broke her hip. Fortunately, she did recover but I was very worried for several weeks while she was in the hospital and getting medical treatment. Not much at all happened here during the three months that I was in WaKeeney. Job opportunities were not looking all that promising at this time and with my funds starting to dwindle I drove to Kansas City to find a job. It turned out to be the right move because I landed a job on the first interview.

I moved to Kansas City on the weekend prior to St. Patricks Day with the intent of staying here only until my friend and business partner in Oklahoma cleared up some legal issues he was having. For the rest of the year we were making plans about where to locate a network of Part 15 AM transmitters in order to create a viable commercial business. We were discussing various areas of NY, New England and PA. This continued through the end of the year.

2007

Basically, things were not much different when compared to the last half of 2006 at least as far as activity surrounding the radio station was concerned. My friend in Oklahoma and I simply continued to make plans and little else. I was able to put some money in the bank now that I was earning a pretty decent paycheck each week. I simply continued to research communities to locate the radio station.

2008

Things start to get a little interesting now. In May I suddenly lost an account that represented about 30% of my monthly income. I went from being able to bank money to breaking even. That was unexpected and it resulted in having to start thinking about making changes to my future plans about where to live in the event that my business partnership with my friend in Oklahoma broke up. By the Fall of this year that is essentially what happened. About all that I can say is “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice and shame on me.” It pains me to say this but after all of the negative experiences I’ve had with the people in Missouri and parts of Kansas I am no longer going to be very trusting of these people. I rarely ran into this kind of problem in the Northeast or Minnesota or even Indiana for that matter but culturally speaking, the Kansas City area is a different ball game and we’re obviously not on the same playing field, let alone even in the same stadium.

By September it became obvious that I was back on my own again, radio wise that is, and that I’d have to start making plans to do this without my friend and former business partner. I started to look at communities in NY, PA, MN, IN and OH. While a move to ANY of these states was preferable to staying in the Kansas City area it was at this time it became evident that the economy was starting to crumble and that I might actually have to stay in the KC area indefinitely because despite all of the problems I’ve had here with the people over the years, at least my present job was secure. I now started to look at some KC area communities though they are a good 30 to 50 or more miles outside of the city. I came to the conclusion that it would not be possible to start a commercial Part 15 AM in the immediate Kansas City area because the demographics are wrong and because the AM dial is lacking in available channels.

I decided not to make a move of any sort while I continued to watch what the economy would do. More or less I gave myself a deadline of having to have a decision made about where to go by the Summer of 2009. Obviously a move to the Northeast or even Minnesota, Wisconsin or Indiana and Ohio would be fine because I had friends in or near these places but I did not want to rush into making another bad decision and decided to stay put in Kansas City for a while longer.

2009

By this time I am beginning to believe that barring a miracle, I am going to have to stay in the Kansas City area. I scouted out Terre Haute, IN and continued to research Anderson, IN as places that might be good for my radio station. They are attractive in that I can probably take a transfer with my current employer to Indianapolis and have a job lined up if I can find a good community for the radio station. I have also looked at some of the smaller, rural communities outside of these places as well.

During the winter I found out my former business partner and former friend moved out of Oklahoma and into the Portland, OR area. Believe it or not, I was not that surprised because I began to see some signs a while back that indicated he was not a man of his word or even a person of reputable character. I do like to give people the benefit of the doubt while remaining cautious and I did. Thankfully while this matter cost a considerable amount of my personal and professional time, it did not really hit me in the wallet.

In April and May I started to look at houses in some of the smaller cities that reside some 30 to 45 miles outside of Kansas City. I made an offer on one in Lexington, MO but it was not accepted. And now in May, having learned of my Mother’s passing, I can say that yet again, my plans are going to be affected by another negative event that has taken place and is out of my control. Right now I don’t know how things will now play out and how they will impact my future plans as well.

Currently I am waiting to see how the GM bankruptcy is going to impact the central Indiana region before making any decision about whether to try to move there or pass. And, I am going to continue to watch the national economy to see how that impacts every region where I am considering making a move.

Synopsis

Despite the fact I am still facing setbacks I can see some progress with achieving my goal. Naturally at some point I’d like to obtain a licensed radio station but that will be years down the road. One step at a time as they say. But at this point I’ve decided to move forward and not give up on the idea of starting a commercial Part 15 AM station. In years past, when other members of my family told me to give up my Mother ALWAYS told me to keep at it and not give up and to achieve my goal. I plan to do just that. Stay tuned for future developments in the WILW Radio News section...