Local educator and podcast host launches community internet-radio station
Brad Allard of "Mr. Allard's Neighborhood" launches "Community Radio TX" to connect community members and local businesses
It’s time for the community of Burleson and the surrounding area to have a trusted source of information and news.
That’s why Brad Allard, a retired Burleson ISD teacher and Hill College professor and host of the podcast “Mr. Allard’s Neighborhood,” launched an independent internet-radio station “Community Radio TX” in January.
“We don’t have a newspaper, we don’t have an over-the-air radio station,” Allard said. “A lot of people say it’s difficult to advertise, market and find out what’s going on because we don’t have that source of local information. They get most of their news about what goes on in this area from Facebook, which is sometimes accurate and sometimes not.”
Allard will provide Community Radio TX listeners–on the TuneIn, Audacy and Live365 apps–with news and information about what’s going on in the area that he gathers from taking over the Municipal Matters of BTX Facebook group. Allard has taken over administrating Municipal Matters since the original admin Sarah Carlson is moving, which Allard thinks is unfortunate for Burleson.
Along with relaying info found in Municipal Matters on the station, Allard plays his community podcast, “Mr. Allard’s Neighborhood,” which already provides listeners with information about the community through interviews with local leaders and business owners.
Allard also wants to play more podcasts besides his own on the station.
Besides podcasts and the First Baptist church service, Allard plays 60s and 80s music for listeners.
Allard doesn’t want to just play the same 60s and 80s music he hears on other radio stations though.
“Sometimes I turn on some of the other stations that play what I’m playing, and it’s like I could tell you I could bet my house mortgage it’s going to be either Tom Petty or Fleetwood Mac or Pink Floyd, which I used to like when I heard it the first thousand times,” Allard said.
Another way Community Radio TX differs from other stations is that, because it’s internet radio, it doesn’t have to be listened to within a certain range.
“If you’re taking a four-hour drive somewhere and you just want to put music on and not think, you’re not going to have to be changing the station because you get my show, you put it on TuneIn or Live365 and can just let it roll,” Allard said.
Community Radio TX is also a tool for local businesses and organizations to advertise.
“It’s meant also to be a marketing tool for small businesses that are having to compete with these chains,” Allard said. “I like some of these chains fine, but they’ve got a lot larger budgets than a mom-and-pop restaurant or a boutique of some sort.”
Another way Community Radio TX differs from other stations is in its advertising experience. Allard didn’t want to create the same experience he’s had listening to talk radio where commercials make up 20 minutes out of an hour of listening.
Community Radio TX’s ads are each one-to-two minutes long and are played two-to-three times per day.
Wanting to advertise for local businesses is part of what made Allard want to start Community Radio TX.
In a networking group Allard’s in, he’s heard local-business owners talk about how difficult it can be to market without social media which can be costly.
Allard thought he could help with this by creating a community radio station where these businesses could advertise to an engaged local audience. He was apprehensive though because of his previous attempt at running a local radio station.
Allard always wanted to be in radio and tried running an internet station about three years ago, but it “totally failed,” he said.
“I thought because I have such good taste, everybody’s going to want to listen to my playlist, and of course it failed because it really wasn’t about the listener and it was more about me,” Allard said.
Allard was inspired to give radio another try by a quote he heard at a networking event. The quote was about entrepreneurial acts starting with acts of courage.
“I drive by businesses here all the time, and these guys–these men and women in this town–took the act of courage to say ‘I want to start a boutique, a restaurant, boot store, fill in the blank,’” Allard said. He thought he could take a similar act of courage.
Now that Allard’s taken that act of courage and launched Community Radio TX, he wants to make it a go-to source of local information and a go-to marketing tool for local businesses.
“My hope is that when people think about getting local information or business opportunities or ads or [info on] what’s going on in their communities, that [Community Radio TX] is one of the first things they think of,” Allard said.
Allard doesn’t just want the station to be Burleson’s go-to source though. He wants it to serve most of Johnson County.
For Community Radio TX to become that go-to source, it needs support both from listeners and sponsors.
Allard said sponsoring the station is affordable as is, but he also offers a 50%-off discount on sponsorships to businesses that sponsor the Mr. Allard’s Neighborhood podcast.
As for getting listeners, Allard understands that while he sees Community Radio TX as something that can become known to and listened to by many community members, right now he’s asking people to “alter their listening habits.”
“A lot of people listen to podcasts. They listen to Dan Bongino and talk shows like that or sports talk, or they put it on some of these country-western stations that are around like The Ranch and all that,” Allard said. “That’s all great, but I’ve got to try to squeeze in there somehow.”
If Allard can get people to change their listening habits to tune in to Community Radio TX for local information, the community could become more informed and its local businesses could thrive.