Has anyone here ever tried renting shortwave airtime to make your own shortwave broadcasts? I'm idly curious about this and looked into it a few years ago, and it seems that normal folks are able to rent airtime for maybe $60-$100/hour. Some links:
This isn't something I'm really ready to shell out money for, but I was a bit surprised (and happily so) to find that this kind of service even exists. Just curious if anyone has any direct experience with these services.
Cool, I looked them up out of curiosity. Looks doable.
I have a few comedy friends that might transmit a podcast on shortwave. That would be crazy fun. We have kicked around the idea.
There is a new SW station from Australia started up , limited times at the moment , you will find it on 2310 and 4835. I believe its a few hundred watts with a licence max of 5kw.
Stations pay royalties on a yearly basis if they are to play music at all. Your hourly fee probably includes a portion of the royalty. Usually something like ASCAP and BMI get the payments and track airplay and listeners reached, then send the royalties out. Kind of like union dues and the benefits are the royalty. If a station has music on it, you are usually covered under the blanket agreement. Works like that for TV talk shows, etc.
That's a funny coincidence. I looked into that too !!! I haven't called any of them yet. That's why the airwaves on SW are so OMG. My fave SW station is WTWW 5.085 MHZ at night. Oldies in the style of 1965-70 WABC in New York, with a prayer thrown in here and there. It's amusing, but the music is cool. You can listen online too. I use that station to fiddle with my two transistor regen. I have broadcast experience and am involved with the Philly comedy scene. I've been tempted. Can you imagine someone 6000 miles away listening to Philly comedy nonsense? How about a zoom simulcast? 😀