In early August, Princeton Review released the latest edition of its annual college rankings guide, The Best 385 Colleges: 2020 Edition. While the lists it compiles of the best party schools and the most beautiful campuses may garner the most headlines; its annual “Best College Radio Station” list has been drawing me in for years. Since 2008, I’ve been combing through these rankings, which are often a source of pride for college radio stations.
The 20 colleges on this year’s list are once again an interesting mix of schools, from large universities with multiple radio stations to tiny liberal arts colleges with online-only stations, and even a school with a fairly new low power FM station. Many of these stations are new to me and I was also intrigued to see a school from outside the United States for the first time in all the years that I’ve been reporting on the rankings. As I’ve noticed before, the northeast is over-represented and the west coast is under-represented. Of note, no schools from California are on the 2020 list, while seven schools from New York made the cut.
Best = Popular
As a reminder, although the Princeton Review describes its college radio results as “Best College Radio Station,” the title doesn’t tell the whole story. Here’s the skinny:
1. Results are based on student surveys
2. Surveys were conducted at 385 colleges
3. Students are asked to judge the popularity, not the quality, of an unspecified campus radio station at their own college
4. Radio stations are not named in the survey or in the resulting rankings
5. Only schools surveyed can make it into the rankings, so college radio stations at schools that are not surveyed by Princeton Review won’t appear on the list
A number of colleges appearing on the “Best College Radio Station” list have multiple radio stations, including student-run stations, large public radio stations, and everything in between. It makes sense that students would indicate that their school’s radio station is “popular” if they are on a campus with a high profile professional radio station and/or with several radio stations.
Digging into Methodology
As was the case for the 2019 edition, the 2020 college radio results are based on three years worth of survey data. Around 140,000 students were surveyed at 385 colleges, representing approximately 364 students per campus. Survey results for this edition are culled from responses given during the 2018-2019, 2017-18, and 2016-17 academic years. The survey asks: “How much do you agree or disagree with the following statements at your school?” and among the list of statements is: “College Radio Station is popular.” Respondents are given the following options: Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neither Agree or Disagree, Agree or Strongly Agree.
How Similar is this Year’s List to Prior Lists?
For the 2020 Princeton Review list of “Best College Radio Stations,” 12 of the 20 schools were on the 2019 list. Of the eight that were not on the 2019 list, four have appeared before. The other four schools (University of South Florida, McGill University, Louisiana State University, and Drury University) have not shown up in the 13 years that I’ve been tracking. This year’s mix of stations is less familiar to me. Whereas last year I’d visited college radio stations at 8 of the 20 schools on the overall list; I’ve only been to 4 of the 20 stations on the 2020 list. This is also the first time that I’ve seen a school from Canada on the list (McGill University).
The complete list for the 2020 edition is listed below (for comparison, here are the lists from the 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009 and 2008 editions of Princeton Review).
2020 Princeton Review’s Best College Radio Stations
(aka Most Popular College Radio Stations)
Note: I’ve added station names and call signs as the Princeton Review only lists school names. Schools in bold were not on the list last year.
1. Emerson College (WERS 88.9FM and WECB, Boston, MA)
- Learn more on my WECB tour, which was Station Field Trip #1
2. St. Bonaventure University (WSBU-88.3 FM, St. Bonaventure, NY)
3. University of South Florida (WUSF 89.7 FM and Bulls Radio online/89.7 HD3/on campus 1620AM, Tampa, FL)
4. Arizona State University (KASC 1330 AM, Tempe, AZ)
5. Manhattanville College (WMVL, Purchase, NY)
6. Syracuse University (WAER 88.3 FM, WERW, WJPZ 89.1 FM, Syracuse, NY)
7. Ithaca College (WICB 91.7 FM and VIC Radio, Ithaca, New York)
8. Reed College (KRRC, Portland, OR)
- Learn more on my KRRC tour, which was Station Field Trip #44
9. McGill University (CKUT 90.3 FM, Montreal, Canada)
10. Washington State University (KZUU 90.7 FM, KUGR and Northwest Public Radio, Pullman, WA) – Most recently appeared on 2018 list
11. Louisiana State University (KLSU 91.1 FM, Baton Rouge, LA)
12. Providence College (WDOM 91.3 FM, Providence, RI)
13. Columbia University (WKCR 89.9 FM, New York, NY)
- Learn more on my WKCR tour, which was Station Field Trip #141 and was also featured on Podcast #136
14. Hofstra University (WRHU 88.7 FM, Hempstead, New York)
15. University of Puget Sound (KUPS 90.1 FM, Tacoma, Washington) –
Most recently appeared on 2018 list
16. Seton Hall University (WSOU 89.5 FM, South Orange, NJ) – Most recently appeared on 2014 list
17. Denison University (WDUB 91.1 FM, Granville, OH) – Most recently appeared on 2018 list
18. Truman State University (KTRM 88.7 FM, Kirksville, MO)
19. Fordham University (WFUV 90.7 FM, Bronx, NY)
- Learn more on my WFUV tour, which was Station Field Trip #139
20. Drury University (KDRU-LP 98.1 FM, Springfield, MO)
Learn More about College Radio
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