Circle, MT

May 2008

In October of 2007, we filed an application with the FCC to move forward on a construction permit to officially upgrade and start a fully-powered non-commercial radio station in the area. Since that time, after some interesting twists and turns we are waiting on the FCC for approval of our license. After filing, somehow the application was dismissed by the FCC, then reinstated, then accepted for filing, then filed. Once an application is filed, there is a very high chance that it will be accepted. All we have to do now is wait on the FCC to go through the paperwork and approve the license. This is easier said than done because the FCC has thousands of licenses to go through and they are not known for their speed in getting these things done.
In the meantime, we are still plugging along. We have been broadcasting games for the public as well as having students broadcast live various programming every day through a class at the school. We have automated programming that goes out every day as well and the students are learning to run that, too.
As much as we are doing, we still have much to do to get the station ready for our future vision for this area. If our broadcast application is approved, we will boost our power significantly so as to reach more people in the area. We are going to need to buy a lot more equipment. The FCC will require that we have certain net assets and equipment for our radio station after they grant us the license. We will have some time to do this, but it is in our best interest to begin getting all of that ready now so it doesn’t hit us all at once. Here are some of our needs with estimated costs afterwards.
Equipment: Upgraded main transmitter ($3000-$4000), studio equipment ($2000), sports broadcasting equipment ($1500),
Annual costs: Music licensing fees ($750/year), Purchasing of new music ($250), maintenance and repairs ($100), internet live sports feeds ($250)
I’m sure there are other unforeseen costs I didn’t include, but this gives a rough idea of where we are at. My best guess right now based on these figures and unforeseen costs is that we are needing to raise somewhere between $8000-$10,000 dollars for this station. We won’t need it all at once. But there is a need for probably around $2000 within the next year, not including future equipment we will need to purchase.
I am including some pictures of the students running the station to show how what we have so far is being utilized.

Jerrod
This has been a pretty big step started by Horizons in a county with the only media coverage being the Circle Banner, that was featured on Jay Leno’s Tonight Show headlines with their tagline “Today’s News- Next Thursday.”

radio guys

radio interview

A GREAT result of the Horizons process and community meetings was the creation of the Redwater Community Foundation (RCF). The RCF formed a partnership with the Montana Community Foundation ( http://www.mtcf.org/ ). This partnership created a local community foundation that will make available to the community (the entire area of McCone County) a permanent method of making available some funding for local needs and projects. It also makes available the opportunity for those that are willing to donate a way to permanently give to the community to help meet its needs.

The Foundation has been active and has as of 4/1/08 raised: $20,000.00

And has Given:
$3,000 - Brockway Fire Truck
$1,000 - Multi-purpose building at the Fair grounds
$750.00 - New ambulance
$250.00 - Playground equipment at Prairie Elk School

The RCF has also receive a grant from Montana Community Foundation in the amount of $15,000
to build the concrete foundation for the new Multi-Purpose building at the Fair Grounds.

The RCF has generated a number of nice short stories in the local Newspaper and has been a wonderful asset right from the beginning.

The local area Chamber of Commerce has worked with the group to develop a web page:
http://www.circle-montana.com/foundation.html

When Circle was going through the Horizons program and LeadershipPlenty, one of the activities was writing a postcard to someone in the community that had made a difference. Peggy Iba picked up the local postcards at Chapin Drug. The postcards were so old, they were in black and white with the Baldwin School still standing. It was torn down in the late 1970s. Eldon Moos and Julie Howard spearheaded the project to get new postcards for Circle to encourage tourism. They were taken by Eldons daughter via plane in June of 2005. Have you ever seen Circle so GREEN?

The postcards were popular, especially for class reunions. Now they are a collector’s item as the elevator and Chapin Drug have since burned down.

Congratulations Circle and the surrounding area of McCone County! The local foundation that is a permanent fund and that provides the best possible benefits to donors that want to help leave a legacy for the entire Redwater River drainage area, just reached its first milestone. The funds to be raised had to be a minimum of $25,000 to make the fund permanent and to allow for annual donations to be made from the earnings into the community. The Redwater Community Foundation, with everyones help, is just at $30,000. This is great.
The RCF has a web site at: http://www.circle-montana.com/foundation.html

The Circle web site: http://www.circle-montana.com/index.html