Health is focus of Internet radio station based in St. Petersburg

ST. PETERSBURG — A new Internet-based health, wellness and education radio station is up and running.

LifeImprovementRadio.com, operated by Remmel Media Group, will cover topics that affect people's everyday lives, said chiropractor Dr. Kyle Remmel, who has been practicing in St. Petersburg for 33 years. Listeners will interact with the show hosts or guests by calling in or through live chat.

"Anything that has to do with wellness or helps people enhance or improve their lives is what we're looking to target," said station director Neal Desch, who is responsible for programming.

LifeImprovementRadio.com will initially feature 10 shows from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and two rebroadcasts throughout the day. The station will broadcast two doors down from the Remmel Wellness Center at 6416 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. N.

Remmel practiced under just his name until about 21/2 years ago when he changed the name and emphasis of the practice to Remmel Wellness Center, focusing on an integrated approach to health and wellness. In addition to chiropractic care, the clinic offers neurological relief therapy, physical therapy, massage, and weight loss and mental health counseling with the cooperation of other medical professionals, including mental health counselor Jamie Armstrong.

"I have long believed that part of the role of being a physician is to be a teacher," Remmel said.

Laurie Puckett, marketing coordinator, explains what led up to the show: "When we were looking for creative ideas to market our clinic but also promote wellness in the community, we went on Neal's (Desch) show, on a different radio station, and we really liked the opportunity it gave us to interact with people who weren't our patients to promote health, education and wellness. We thought that it would fit our business model and our objectives if we could make that more readily available than being an occasional guest on somebody else's show."

The station's creative committee includes Remmel, son Erik Remmel, who is the center's practice coordinator, Desch, Puckett and Al Keck, a former local TV sports anchor who is consulting on audio quality and other aspects of announcing in the studio.

Keck is open to hosting a segment down the road. "I love the concept and ideas," he said. "It's a great service for people. I think it's where broadcasting and marketing is going. They're on the cutting edge here."

Remmel Wellness Center is subsidizing the startup costs, but Life Improvement Radio is a for-profit enterprise. Show hosts pay for hosting a radio show. Remmel Media Group hopes to also make money on advertising, which would cycle on the air and appear on the website banners.

"We did a lot of research to see what was out there," Erik Remmel said. "We realized that there were only about three other radio stations in the landscape, but not really doing the type of things we want to do, something similar, but ours is a broader vision covering a combination of topics that affect people mentally, emotionally, physically, financially, etc. We met with Neal Desch after we had interacted on the another radio show, and developed a concept.

"We strive to do everything possible to help our patients get better, through treatments and therapies, and also through education and continuing education so that they can continue to improve after they leave us or just kind of think differently about health and wellness when they're speaking to other providers," he added.

Desch, who has a doctorate in behavioral counseling and human development, is ecstatic about the potential in online broadcasting. "The No. 1 purchased items are computers," he said. "Radio is so limited with geography. The Internet has leveled the playing field. You can go all over the world with it."

The station expects to have an audience of about 1,000 within three months. Listeners will also experience live streaming video, and a live chat room to interact with the shows' guest or host. Archived content and best of shows will be accessible. Podcasts for mobile applications too.

Call (727) 329-9167 or visit LifeImprovementRadio.com to get in on the discussion.