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Are all “College Radio” Station Sales Part of a Broader Trend
I’m a stickler for definitions and tend to think about college radio as a specific category of radio station that includes substantial student involvement. For that reason, I’m careful to distinguish between college-based stations and college radio stations. Unfortunately stations at colleges often get lumped into the same category, which can create confusion when talking about broader trends in the industry, including radio station license sales.
Although I’ve written and spoken about various college radio station license sales over the past decade or so, I’m cautious to not report on these stories as part of a major trend or decline in college radio. As part of that effort, when there is news of a station sale, I work hard to not feed into a common industry refrain that “yet another” college is selling its license. Whereas other types of radio station licenses may get sold and bought with regularity, news reports rarely state that “yet another station is being sold.” In part, I want to encourage folks to look beyond the headlines.
Let’s interrogate the circumstances of these sales, particularly when the “college” stations in question aren’t always student operations. I worry that stories about college’s selling radio licenses are interpreted on the surface as student-oriented “college radio station” sales, leading the general public to also think that college radio is dwindling. It’s much more complicated than that, since there are many types of radio stations on campuses (public radio, religious radio, student-run stations, lab-oriented training stations and more) and not all of them even broadcast over FM or AM.
A few recent college-owned license sales are for stations largely airing syndicated national programming from a religious or public radio broadcaster. That’s the case with the latest instance at Corban University in Oregon.
All Access reports “CORBAN UNIVERSITY is the latest college to bail on FM radio, selling Contemporary Christian KWBX/SALEM, OR to EDUCATIONAL MEDIA FOUNDATION for $90,000. KWBX is already an affiliate of EMF’s AIR1 network.”
Digging further, it turns out that from the very beginning KWBX has been an AIR1 affiliate, playing Christian music and programming. In an interesting twist, however, the station briefly aired Corban University sports as part of its initial agreement with Air1. Back in 2011, a Hillop News profile of the station recounted its nearly 8-year-run at that point:
One of the purposes of having a radio station was to train students to broadcast Christian programming, but with students off campus for four months of the year during the summer, an essentially student-run radio station just wasn’t possible. With no infrastructure, the endeavor might have stopped there. But [Mike] Allegre was determined to see it through. He had heard that Air 1 was looking for a place to establish a station in Salem, so he decided to pursue that path.
San Diego College Radio Tours on the Podcast
On this week’s podcast, I share a travel report from my journey to San Diego for the National Federation of Community Broadcasters conference. I reveal highlights from my presentation on the “Past, Present and Future of Community Radio” panel and also give a preview of my soon-to-be published San Diego college radio station tours.
More College Radio News
Infrastructure
- KMSU Welcomes New General Manager (Mankato Free Press)
Station Sales, Sale Attempts
- Corban University to Sell KWBX, Already an Air1 Affiliate, to EMF (All Access)
- Was Threat Against UNLV Part of a Power Play by Regents? (Las Vegas Sun)
- UAA Campus Radio Station Looks for New Funding Sources (KTVA)
Events
- Edinburgh Napier Student Radio Station Bringing Jazz and Blues to Airwaves (Edinburgh Evening News)
- Radio Workshop Organised by Noida College (Times of India)
- Open Transmission Celebrates Indie Radio (LA Weekly)
History/Anniversaries
- WUSB Provides Non-Commercial Radio to Long Island for 42 Years (Stony Brook University News)
Awards and Accolades
Alumni
- L.A. Foster Blends DJ Background, International Influences to Create “Sad Dance Music” (Canada.com)
- On the Air with William Dickerson ’69 (SUNY Cortland)
- Global Dance Sensation DJ Yaeji is Coming for Her Debut Bangkok Show (Bangkok Post)
