It’s a testament to the staying power of college radio, that student media organization Intercollegiate Broadcasting System, aka IBS, is hosting its 80th annual national convention in New York City. Taking place on Friday, March 6 and Saturday, March 7, the conference is packed with sessions of interest to high school and college radio participants. On this week’s Radio Survivor show, I speak a bit about the history of IBS, which got its start as an organization for campus-only carrier current radio stations in the 1940s.
Also on the podcast, we discuss accolades for a recent episode about a college radio preservation project and dig deeper into several college radio stories that I shared in last week’s column.
Finally, a piece in University of Virginia’s alumni magazine, Virginia, eloquently captures how college radio culture at WTJU (see my tour) helped germinate a cluster of indie rock projects, including Pavement and Silver Jews:
While some music scenes develop around a certain club or, in more recent decades, message boards and social media, WTJU 91.1, UVA’s free-form radio station, was the soil from which Ectoslavia and its offshoots sprouted. Malkmus, Berman, Nastanovich and McNew were all DJs during their time at UVA, as was visual artist Steve Keene (whose paintings would go on to help define the style of Pavement and Silver Jews) and Thomas Frank (Col ’87), a future founding editor of The Baffler, where some of Berman’s earliest poems would be published. ‘We took it for granted at the time,’ Malkmus says, ‘but it’s funny to see now how all the tendrils of the station have reached all of these unexpected places.’
WTJU alumnus Steve Keene is of particular interest to me, as I’ve spotted his paintings at a handful of radio stations. While not as common a sight as a Leo Blais sign, I get a thrill whenever I run across one of his pieces.
More College Radio News
Profiles of Stations, Programs, Staff
- March MD of the Month: Micole Johnson, WCSF, University of St. Francis (NACC Charts)
- Great Teachers Excel as Educators – Listeners and Mentors, Too (UK Now, University of Kentucky)
- Meeting Lasell: Matt Berentsen (The 1851 Chronicle)
Infrastructure
- Student Media Back in the Heart of Campus (East Tennessean)
- Culp Reopens after Long-Awaited Renovations (East Tennessean)
Events
- Trio to Represent Amarillo College at South by Southwest (The Amarillo Pioneer)
- Students Spend FIVE Hours on Trams in Metrolink Challenge Attempt (Manchester Evening News)
College Radio and Music Culture
- Testing Grounds for Indie Greatness (Virginia Magazine, University of Virginia)
- Industry Interview with Ryan Carey, Jeff McClusky & Associates (NACC Charts)
Alumni
- Personnel News: RailCats and Chukars Hire College Radio Alums (Ballpark Digest)
- Writing the Art World: KUCI Alumna (UC Irvine School of Humanities)
- Joe Mangin, Host of Liquid Metal and Octane (CBT News)
- Emmer and Boyle Form Biparisan Congressional Broadcasters Caucus (Ripon Advantage)
- Spotify’s Christie Driver-Snell: “I Focus on Supporting Underground Music and Creating Playlists for Niche Sounds” (Mixmag)
