My 95.9FM is owned 100% by a non profit organization called Ohana Broadcasters Corporation. The station operates under the call letters of KXRG-LP where the LP stands for Low Power. By FCC law, we may only broadcast at no more than 100 watts of power.
The Beginning
We started the non profit when the new class of FM service called Low Power FM was created by the FCC in 1999. This gave us an opportunity to begin a dance radio station in Hawaii for under $50,000 instead of the normal $500,000+ which is what it would cost for a full power station. This effort began in 1999. In 2006, we were granted a temporary broadcast license of 16 months for 12 hours a day from 2pm to 2am where we went under the moniker of Energy 101 on the frequency of 101.1. At the end of the 16 months, we were forced off the air by a full power station KORL-FM who moved from Maui to Oahu and took our frequency of 101.1. This left us with no other available channel due to a law passed by congress prohibiting LPFM’s from operating within 3 clicks of any other station on the FM dial.
The Battle for the Airwaves
After eleven years of an unbelievable amount of waivers, legal work with the FCC, and wrangling for a frequency since our original application with the FCC, we were granted a full time Special Temporary Authority to broadcast on 95.9 in a very full Honolulu FM dial. Our STA is renewable and will continue until the FCC adopts as a legal rule making that stations who are encroached upon such as ours may operate on second adjacent channels since third adjacent channels are prohibited by congress. There is currently a bill before congress to remove the third adjacent channel restriction. Nonetheless, we are the only LPFM to have ever existed on Oahu and most likely the only one that ever will due to the lack of available frequencies.
Today and Our Future
We exist solely on whatever future donations are made to the station and hopefully there will be enough to sustain this one of a kind, new radio station in Honolulu. The type of broadcast license that we have is similar to that of NPR, or PBS. It is non-commercial and non-profit and can only be sponsored by listeners or businesses who want to support dance music and our programming on the radio in Hawaii or to reach our unique audience through underwriting.
Since we are a non profit organization, all revenues and donations that are received must go directly back into the organization to pay for the costs to maintain and operate the station. We have no shareholders and no one can own the non-profit organization or the station itself. We can have no commercials on the air. We can, however, give acknowledgements to businesses or individuals for their donations and for underwriting the station for an hour, a day, a week, etc. Our website is not under the same restrictions as the broadcast. This is why we can offer any kind of banners and links back to any businesses or websites that we feel may be of interest to our listeners. Businesses, clubs, organizations, and event promoters should click here for extremely affordable opportunities on sponsoring the station.
If you want to volunteer and help our station in a variety of creative ways visit our volunteer page. If you want to support our effort, please make a donation right now by visiting our donation page here.
If you are a business who would like to reach our loyal audience of listeners that no other station attracts, email us today at info@my959.com and we will get back to you right away to discuss how we can get your business in front of thousands of loyal My 95.9 FM listeners through our broadcast over the airwaves in Honolulu, through our global online stream, or through our website. Mahalo in advance for your generous support and for supporting dance radio in the islands!
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