How To Establish And Setup And Start A FM Radio Station

One of the mostly accessed means of information is a radio due to its wide reach to large number of people and the cost of getting a radio station is very cheap, even most mobile phones being produced nowadays are preinstalled with a FM radio.

Radio is a very important tool of getting information, enlightment, education, announcement, entertainment and other information dissemination. Radio station is even taking over other means of communication like Television due to the epileptic power supply in the country. Most companies or organizations prefer to advertise their product, services or announcement via radio station due to its wide accessibility
that those in the rural areas can listen to it via their transistor radios.

With this it is safe to say investing in Radio station is a profitable business to engage in, but in star6ting a radio station there are some procedures and steps which needs to be followed, sit back and relax while you see them below.

Feasibility Study

You need to know the reason why you want too establish a Radio station, the preferred location where you want it to be located, who will be your listeners and the capital you are willing to invest, the type and class of equipments you want to use, the number of employees you will have, how to get license, how to source for advertisers etc.

Get A Good Location To Site Your Office

It is very important for you to get a good and spacious place to site your office as this will be one of the criterias to be in place before the licensing agency (Nigeria Broadcasting Corporation) gives you license to operate your Radio station. Because they will need to inspect some facilities in place and if they are not up to the required standard, the license may not be granted.

A good location as implied above means it must have accessible road, neat environment, spacious compound and good water supply.

Find A Suitable Name For Your Radio Station

It is very good to find a trendy, catchy and easy to memorize name that listeners will be able to remember and easier to pronounce.

Open A Corporate Bank Account

Operate Bank Account is essential because financial transactions involving corporate institutions are majorly electronic and requires dealing with large amount of money, so it is advisable to do so as it will be used in transacting business in the name of the company as a legal entity.

You can go to any bank to open a corporate account and follow the requirements needed, the name used will be the name of your Radio station and will be used in getting the license.

Get A Transmitter And Other Broadcasting Equipments And Install Them

Acquiring a transmitted is a major broadcast equipment need to be used in broadcasting on a radio station, it is a device that turns electrical signals into waves that makes it travel over long distance on a certain frequency. There are various types of transmitters but the one you want to acquire will depend on your target listeners and your budgeted capital.

Transmitters varies from 15 watts to 1 Kilowatts and its capacity is determined by how far the signals can travel, it is also very good to use antenna in amplifying the distance of signal travel as it must be kept away from other device to avoid interference, it is also needed to purchase coaxial cables to transfer energy from the transmitter to the antenna so as to boost the signal travel.

Get A Good Industrial Power Generator/Inverter

Before starting a radio station, you need to get an alternative power supply due to the epileptic power supply in the country. Just like other businesses, a radio station need to run on generator or inverter to power the studio, air conditioners, transmitters, computer system, audio systems and other broadcasting equipment. You can purchase huge industrial power generating set like Mikano, CAT, JMG brands etc that has high power output.

Get Audio Processors

To improve and optimize the quality of the sounds to come out of your radio station you need to purchase high quality audio processors, also an interface panel remote control is needed to input signals into the transmitter.

Get Mixers And Other Studio And Office Equipments

You need to get a high quality and good mixers which will enable the Disc Jockey (DJ) to control different aspects of broadcasts like song mixing, musical call in programs etc.

You also need the following; power surge, broadcasting softwares, telephones, racks, automation software, office furnitures, connectors, hi-tech headphones, microphones, computer system etc.

Register Your FM Radio Station

It is very important to get license from the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) as they are the agency in charge of registering business in Nigeria, after registering your business with them it then makes it a legal entity distinct from its owner.

Moreover, your radio station must be registered with CAC before forwarding your application to the NBC (Nigeria Broadcasting Commission).

Get License From NBC (Nigeria Broadcasting Commission)

Before you can broadcast anything on your radio station, you must get a license from the NBC as they are the only commission authorized by the Federal Government to regulate broadcast activities and issue licenses as contained in the Act 55 of 1999 Constitution.

You need to make an application to the President of Nigeria through the Minister of Information and it is received, the applicants will be required to pay Fifty Thousand Naira (N50,000) for the NBC forms.

Upon receipt of the application forms, the applicant is expected to fill the form accurately and must be returned alongside the company Certificate of Incorporation, Memorandum and Articles of Association, the radio station engineering design, feasibility study, banker’s reference license etc.

When license is issued to the applicant, he or she is made to know that the broadcast license is valid for only five (5) years subject to subsequent renewal, the cost of license in each state according to the commercial sophistication of the state, such states are Abuja, Lagos and Port-Harcourt as they are the most expensive cities with license fee.

The cost of broadcast license in Abuja, Lagos and Port-Harcourt is Twenty Million Naira (N20,000,000) while other states cost Fifteen Million Naira (N15,000,000). The cost of broadcast license renewal in Lagos, Abuja and Port-Harcourt is Five Million Naira (N5,000,000) while other states  is Four Million Naira (N4,000,000) valid for five (5) years.

The application for license renewal is expected to be made six (6) months before the expiration of current license. The license is very paramount as any radio station broadcasting without license will be shut down by the NBC.

Employ Workers

You need to employ staffs that will handle the day-to-day running of your radio station, the workers needed include the following;

Disc Jockey (DJ)

Journalist

Security Men

Marketers

Sound Engineer

Electrical Engineer

Mechanical Engineer

Script Manager

Secretary

Receptionist

Production managers

Accountants etc.

Before you start full broadcasting, you will be required to do a test transmission for 3-6 months duration before normal transmission will occur, during these period you need to pay your staffs.

Profitability

The major means of making money in a radio station is through commercial advertisements.

With all the above tips and ideas in place, you are on your way to starting your dream radio station, start broadcasting now and impact the world.

Feel free to use the comment box in case you have any questions, suggestions or enquiries to make. Goodluck.