“This semester is our last semester in our current radio station, so we would love the opportunity to show off our wacky and wonderful space,” emailed WAMH-FM station manager Finley Liu in response to my request for a tour. With the clock ticking before the planned move, I was especially eager to visit the longtime […]
During lunchtime on a Thursday in early March, University of Massachusetts Amherst’s college radio station WMUA was buzzing with activity. Tables in the lobby were full of students working on laptops, eating and socializing, while the station’s two main studios (one for the 91.1 FM signal and another for streaming station WMUAx) were occupied by […]
“We desperately need this station! With every other campus on the air, it is a crying shame…After all, with a name like WNEC, what would seem more natural!” (The Westerner, 11/5/1969) In 1969, a columnist for the Western New England College student newspaper, The Westerner, noted the irony of the college not having a radio […]
Every college campus is an adventure, requiring advance planning on my part so that I am able to navigate as quickly as possible to radio stations that are often in hidden-away locations. Before my visit to Hampshire College radio station Yurt Radio, its staff advocate John Bruner emailed specific directions. In light of the recent […]
“CiTR is in fact a Nardwuar cult,” joked CiTR Vice President Dani Larose in a message to me after my visit to the University of British Columbia (UBC) campus and community radio station in Vancouver. It’s not surprising that CiTR’s most famous and perhaps quirkiest show host might lure people to the station. Journalist and […]
Treasure hunt is the best way to describe the whirlwind afternoon that I spent at campus and community radio station CJSF 90.1 FM at Simon Fraser University (SFU) in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada in June 2025. Every inch of the station tells a story. Guided by Music Coordinator Connor Ashton and Programming Coordinator Jesse Wentzloff, […]
On a Sunday drive from Vancouver to Abbotsford, British Columbia last June, Aaron Levy narrated the landscape, pointing out locations used during the filming of various series (including some of my personal favorites: Riverdale and Bates Motel) in British Columbia. CIVL 101.7 FM, where he serves as Executive Director, had its star turn in 2024, […]
“Keep Nanaimo Weird” reads a piece of artwork on the wall of CHLY 101. 7 FM, a campus and community radio station in Nanaimo, British Columbia in Canada. Affiliated with Vancouver Island University (formerly known as Malaspina College) “through its purpose and membership,” the station is located off-campus in Nanaimo’s historic downtown. Situated next to […]
Underground is more than a metaphor for countless college radio stations which may play edgier music but are also housed beneath the earth. I’ve seen many basement digs in my travels, but none quite like the subterranean space occupied by University of Victoria’s campus and community radio station CFUV 101.9 FM in Victoria, British Columbia […]
It’s no surprise that the home of one of the oldest still-operating college radio stations, WESU 88.1 FM at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, is full of typical student radio artifacts. The walls are plastered with band stickers, posters and flyers. And most rooms contain shelves of CDs, vinyl records and cassettes. In fact, there’s […]
