As we approach the end of 2019, it’s time for my semi-annual reflection on the year in college radio. As is often the case, the stories picked up most by the popular press focus on big news (like station launches, license sales, and budget crises), major milestones (like significant anniversaries), and quirky or feel-good stories about station personalities. But beyond those headlines, there are always a lot of fascinating tales of college radio stations embarking on innovative projects. I was happy to be able to visit a handful of San Diego-area college radio stations in 2019 to see for myself. Revisit those tours to Griffin Radio at Grossmont College, KCR at San Diego State University, SDS Radio at San Diego City College, and KSDT at University of California San Diego in my tour archives and on Radio Survivor podcast #202
It’s always a challenge to interpret a year’s worth of college radio news, as it often takes longer for trends to emerge. With that caveat, here are some of the themes that have jumped out at me throughout 2019. In the weeks to come, I’ll be taking an in-depth look back at the decade in college radio; where the changes are more pronounced.
College Radio Alums Rule the World…or at least the School
Does 2019 mark a key point in college radio history, in which we have college radio alumni serving as leaders in industry and academia? These thoughts crossed my mind while reading some of the coverage surrounding the arrival of Reed College’s new president, Audrey Bilger (full disclosure: I know Bilger, as she’s married to a long-time friend of my husband). Music and college radio are a big part of Bilger’s past and present and she mentioned her time at University of Virginia’s college radio station WTJU in press interviews this year. Portland Monthly even asked, “Is Reed College’s New President Too Cool to be a University Administrator?,” citing her college radio cred and humongous record collection, arguing that she is “probably, the first college president to own a bigger record collection than her school’s entire student body.”
In somewhat related news, we also learned this year that former White House counsel Don McGahn was on a 1980s college radio compilation.
New Stations and Station Revivals
One of the most encouraging signs of college radio’s continued health in 2019 is that students keep launching radio projects. In September, 2019, a student at Fordham was disappointed by the lack of radio opportunities at the Lincoln Center campus in New York City, so she started up Wavelengths to showcase student-produced radio. Billing itself as “Fordham Lincoln Center’s first student-run internet radio station,” Wavelengths can be found on Instagram and Spotify.
Other new stations in 2019 include the February debut of online radio station the Quake at Wilmington College and the launch of a student-run streaming radio station KTSU2- The Voice at Texas Southern University. A campus radio station was also established in Zimbabwe at Great Zimbabwe University this year as part of the “journalism training institution.”
Brown Student Radio (which has been off FM since 2011) was able to return to the terrestrial airwaves in 2019 thanks to its successful launch of a new LPFM radio station. Part of a three-way time-share with an arts organization (AS220) and a community radio group (Providence Community Radio), WBRU-LP is broadcasting in Providence, Rhode Island at 101.1 FM and online.
Streaming radio station WRCM at Manhattan College was revived in February. It marks the return of radio to the Bronx, New York campus after a four-year absence. Additionally, at Wiley College, KBWC-FM resumed operations after a 2-year break due to campus construction. Another revamp happened at Presbyterian College, where WPCX-LP returned to the airwaves in Clinton, South Carolina with renewed student interest.
In Montana, Montana State University’s KGLT-FM was also able to expand its broadcast range thanks to the addition of a translator.
It also warmed my heart that Rice University was able to purchase its original call letters, KTRU. Readers will recall that it continued to refer to itself as KTRU, even after its FM signal was sold off. Although it successfully snagged a low power FM signal (KBLT-LP), the KTRU call letters weren’t available until recently.
Rumored CMJ Relaunch in 2020
At the end of 2019, CMJ emerged from a long slumber on social media, announcing that it will return in 2020. Details are vague, but the new owners of the long-time college media brand plan to bring back CMJ’s radio charts, music events, and coverage of the college music scene. For decades, CMJ was a conduit between college radio stations and the music industry; with its weekly college radio airplay charts, annual conference/music festival/college radio confab in New York City, and reporting on new music releases.
Podcast and Audio Production Projects Expand
In 2019, we learned about quite a few interesting podcast projects at college radio stations. While some stations are adding stand-alone podcasts, like MargRock at WKNC, others are creating podcast versions of existing programs. Additionally, stations like WTJU are creating their own podcast networks as well as audio-drama podcasts. I’m also pleased to see collaborations, for example the news podcasts being undertaken by the Texas A&M-Commerce’s student newspaper and radio station KKOM.
A project that I found particularly fascinating is a student-run radio production club at Ithaca College. While the campus is home to two college radio stations, members of the new TNT Radio Productions club “believe there is a lack of diversity in audio content at the college,” according to a November, 2019 piece in The Ithacan. The group is “working to produce creative long–form audio stories” that run the gamut “from contemporary drama to experimental audio narratives that are not restricted to common formats like podcasting,” writes the Ithacan.
The fact that there’s increased desire for audio production opportunities on a college campus with two existing radio stations is a testament to the growing popularity of podcasting as well as audio drama. Speaking of audio drama, Arkansas Tech University’s communications and journalism department runs Arkansas Radio Theatre. Its production, Concealed Carrie, airs over KXRJ-FM.
And finally, with the boom in podcasting, some colleges are profiling the variety of podcasts both on campus and produced by students. Boston University is home to a few, some of which are affiliated with student radio station WTBU.
Big Anniversaries
Numerous college radio stations celebrated MAJOR anniversaries this year and it’s perhaps important to point out how special it is that so many college radio stations have persevered for decades. Despite the transitory nature of college radio stations, these institutions carry on with new leaders and new students. In the commercial radio world, it’s an increasing rarity for a station to exist for 40, 50, or 60 years under the same ownership; so kudos to college radio!
Some of the milestone anniversaries in 2019 include:
- 70th anniversary of radio at Kansas State University
- 70th anniversary of WGRE at DePauw University
- 60th anniversary for Foothill College’s KFJC-FM
- 50th anniversary for University of California, Irvine’s KUCI-FM
- 50th anniversary of WIUP-FM at Indiana University of Pennsylvania
- 50th anniversary at KCR at San Diego State University
- 50th anniversary at KTUH at University of Hawaii
- 50th anniversary for University of Auckland’s 95bFM
- 40th anniversary for University of Maryland’s WMUC
- 35th anniversary at WPAX-FM at Austin Peay State University
- 35th anniversary of Stockton State University’s WLFR
- 30th anniversary of Impact89FM at Michigan State University
- 30th anniversary of KRUX-FM at New Mexico State University
Stations Leaving AM and FM
College radio license sales are one of the bummer stories that I report on year after year. Thankfully 2019 didn’t see the flurry of big sales that we witnessed earlier in the decade. Nonetheless, it doesn’t make this year’s license sales any easier for fans, participants, and alumni who care about terrestrial broadcasting. I have to point out that the loss of AM or FM is not always mourned at college radio stations. In the most recent example, student participants at Denison College station WDUB expressed relief upon transitioning their station to an online-only operation that will be free from FCC-compliance concerns.
In 2019, one of the most-discussed college radio stations leaving FM was WUEV at Evansville College. This one really hurts for me, as I’d reported on WUEV’s impressive efforts in saving their station from a sale back in 2006. While students and alumni did their best to stop a sale this time around; WUEV’s FM license was ultimately sold to a religious radio group, with the sale approved last month.
Lehigh University’s student radio station WLVR-FM also left its 91.3 FM channel, but will stream online and broadcast on HD-2. This is part of a “partnership” with Lehigh Valley Public Media, in which public radio programming took over the station’s main channel as of November 1, 2019. Lehigh University will retain the license.
At Bucknell University, student radio station WVBU-FM transitioned to online-only status after the school made a deal with VIA Public Media. The FM license was sold to Northeastern Pennsylvania Educational Television Association in July, 2019 for $17,600. NPR programming now airs over the FM signal as of August, 2019.
At Trine University, WEAX-FM left the airwaves in July, 2019, with the station moving online. In a filing with the FCC, the university stated that it “no longer wishes to operate a radio station” and was “looking to sell the station.” In November, 2019, the FCC approved the assignment of the license to religious broadcaster Star Educational Media Network for a sale price of $40,000.
WIUV-FM at Castleton University in Castleton, Vermont, which had been on the air since 1976, also shut off its terrestrial broadcasts, turning its license back to the FCC in May, 2019. The license was subsequently cancelled.
University of Jamestown sold its station KJKR-FM to religious broadcaster Hi-Line Radio Fellowship in 2019, just seven years after the 4,000 watt radio station was launched on the North Dakota campus.
And in AM news, Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut shut down its professionally-run station WQUN in 2019. The station has been silent since May 31, 2019 and has FCC permission to remain off the air until June 2, 2020, citing “financial considerations and a reassessment of student needs” as reasons for not returning to the airwaves.
Student Fees Crisis in Canada
Throughout 2019 we’ve seen fallout from some policy changes in Canada threatening funding for campus media in Ontario. In March, 2019, we went in-depth on this topic for the Radio Survivor Podcast, speaking with Barry Rooke from the National Campus and Community Radio Association.
Because of an initiative allowing college students to opt out of various student fees, some stations have faced financial crises, including CJAM at University of Windsor (which cut staff), Laurentian University’s CKLU, where “funding from student fees dropped from $45,670 in 2018 to $3,000 in 2019.”
Late in the year, a piece in McMaster University’s student newspaper the Silhouette asks, “Did we choose student life?,’ pointing out:
September 2019 marked the first of possibly many registration periods in which students could opt-out of student union fees deemed non-essential. This change, instituted by the Government of Ontario in January 2019, is part of the widely criticised Student Choice Initiative. In the past, McMaster’s student union fees for all clubs and services have been mandatory. Non-essential fees range from a few dollars, like the $1 fee for Mac Farmstands or $2 for Horizons, to $13.72 for CFMU 93.3FM or $17.50 for Campus Events. As early as January, student groups have feared the worst and prepared for the inevitable cuts.
More College Radio News
License Sales
- FCC Approves Sale of University of Evansville Radio Station WUEV to Christian Broadcaster (Evansville Courier & Press)
Infrastructure
- Public Hearing on KIWR Operations and Audit Report on January 13 (Daily Non Pareil)
Programming
Music Industry and College Radio
Events
- Student Radio Conference Heads to Saltford (RadioToday)
- WSOU-FM Collects Record Amount During Annual Food Drive (New Jersey Stage)
- Morningside Students Prepare for 13-hour Bus Ride to Watch NAIA Championship (KTIV)
- Rape Culture Exhibit Closes Dec. 19 at LCCC (Alton Telegraph)
- The Swedish Student Scream and the Stories Behind it (The Local)
Alumni
- Beloved Local Media Couple Reflects over Careers (North Central PA)
- Tom Joyner Says Goodbye to Radio Show after 25 Years (Vibe)
- Jimmy Kimmel Has a New Favorite Crowd: Kids (New York Times)
