University of Central Florida’s student-run Internet radio station Knightcast Radio may be on shaky ground following a recent vote by the school’s Student Senate. According to Central Florida Future, student government leadership “voted to remove Knightcast as a Student Government Association-affiliated agency.” The article goes on to explain that,
The DJ service that Knightcast provided for many campus events will be relocated under the Office of Student Involvement and will retain the name Knightcast, said vice president Jacob Kahn. He encourages the students involved in Knightcast to form a registered student organization, such as a radio club, to take the place of the live radio portion of the organization.
Kahn, who spoke in favor of the special act, said he voted to dissolve Knightcast as an agency because radio is an antiquated medium that no longer benefits the UCF community.
‘As a campus, we evolve and change, and things that we think are important 10 years ago aren’t going to be important now, and things that we think are important now may not be important 10 years from now, so we have to evolve as the campus culture evolves,’ Kahn said. ‘It’s the fact that people, if they want to listen to the radio for music … they’re going to listen to something like Pandora or one of those many other avenues as well.’
It’s chilling to see that student leadership views radio as an “antiquated medium,” and I’m sure that the 100+ members of Knightcast are displeased with this assumption. Currently, Knightcast operates an Internet radio station and provides live DJ services.
In other college radio news this week:
WZRD-FM and WRNC-LP License Renewals
A few college radio stations received word that their FCC licenses were renewed, including Northeastern Illinois University station WZRD-FM (Chicago, IL), and low power FM station WRNC-LP at Northland College (Ashland, WI). The completed license renewal is great news for WZRD-FM, whose renewal process took a bit longer after the FCC investigated issues with the station’s public file. While a low power station now, WRNC-LP is working to move its station to full power soon.
Best of the South Honors Student Media in the Southeastern United States
At its annual student journalism event, the Southeast Journalism Conference honored student media outlets and producers at its Best of the South awards. The Best College Radio Station 1st place winner is Southeastern Louisiana University station KSLU-FM in Hammond, Louisiana. University of Louisiana-Lafayette won first place for best college audio news program for a student-run newscast and its public radio station KRVS-FM won 2nd place in the “Best College Radio Station” category. The complete list of winners can be found here.
College Broadcasters Inc. (CBI) Announces Details about 2014 Student Production Awards
Student broadcasters are invited to submit materials to CBI’s annual Student Production Awards competition beginning on March 10. Student-produced college radio pieces can be sent to CBI for consideration up until May 9, 2014. Awards will be presented at CBI’s National Student Electronic Media Convention in Seattle in October, 2014.
Doane College Station Launches Czech Music Show
I love hearing about some of the incredible niche programming on college radio and this week the Wilber Republican put the spotlight on a new show on Doane College radio station KDNE in Crete, Nebraska. Ceske Muzika focuses on Czech music and airs on Saturdays from 9 to 11am.
The 25-year History of Impact 89
Impact 89 (WDBM-FM) at Michigan State University celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. According to City Pulse, “For 11 of those 25 years, the Impact won the award for College Radio Station and Program of the Year from Michigan Association of Broadcasters.”
LPFM Update: Wheaton College’s Petition for Reconsideration is Dismissed
This week, dismissed LPFM applicant Wheaton College was informed by the FCC that its Petition for Reconsideration was dismissed “as untimely.” The school was applying for the 96.5 FM signal in Norton, Massachusetts and its application was dismissed in early December, 2013 because the proposed transmitter site failed “to meet the minimum spacing requirements.” Wheaton then filed a Petition for Reconsideration, which was received by the FCC on January 29, 2014. In its petition, Wheaton states that “a typographical error caused the incorrect proposed transmitter geographical coordinates to be submitted” and asks to amend its application by “correcting the typographical error.”
In a brief letter dated February 24, the FCC refused to allow amendments to the application because the petition was filed 3 weeks after the deadline. I really feel for Wheaton College, particularly in light of the fact that its application was dismissed during a particularly hectic time of the year on campus. It was dismissed shortly before winter break (the last day of exams at Wheaton was December 14, 2013) and the school had 30 days to respond by the deadline of January 8, 2014. Within those 30 days were several holidays as well as some school closures due to inclement weather. Once again, this makes clear that the FCC means business with its deadlines. Any school that holds a license for a broadcast station or who is party to an application needs to remain vigilant about all FCC deadlines as it could mean the loss of a license.
According to Wheaton’s application, the school has had a campus radio station (WCCS) since 1975. The campus-only station started broadcasting on the Internet in 1999. The latest show schedule can be found here.
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