It’s time for another (extremely belated) best college radio station list! Back in August, 2022, Princeton Review published its latest college guide (The Best 388 Colleges, 2023 edition), which includes a ranking of schools with the “Best College Radio Stations.” This marks the return of this annual list, which is based on student surveys about the popularity of their home school’s radio station. The last time this list was included in the guide was two years prior, in the 2021 edition. Last year, due to COVID, that list was replaced with a list of 28 unranked “Great Radio Stations” (read about that here).
I’ve been scrutinizing every last detail of these “best” lists since 2008, and it’s interesting to see that once again, Princeton Review is mixing things up with a revamped list of 25 schools (vs. 20 in the past).
The 2023 list of the 25 colleges with the “best radio stations” has 13 out of 20 of the schools from the 2021 list. The biggest surprise to me is that list stalwart, St. Bonaventure, is not on this year’s list. The school has been a staple of the list in the time I’ve been tracking (since 2008), and has was often in the top 5, including at #1. But its departure also made room for a bunch of schools that have not been list regulars.
Once again, the list is a mix, including large universities with multiple radio stations as well as small liberal arts colleges with online-only stations. The biggest school on the list is Arizona State (around 65,000 students) and the tiniest is Bennington College (around 770 students). I am also pleased to have visited college radio stations at 6 out of the 25 schools on the list.
Although the longer list allows for more of a geographic mix, the East Coast still dominates. The Northeast continues to take up half the list, with 13 schools from this region (5 from New York, 2 from New Jersey, 2 from Boston, and 1 each from Vermont, Rhode Island, Maine, and Pennsylvania). On the west coast, only 3 schools are represented (2 from Washington, 1 from Oregon and 1 from California). From the Midwest, the 4 schools hail from Minnesota (2!), Michigan, and Ohio. Three schools from the South include one each from Tennessee, Virginia, and Florida. And the sole college from the Southwest is from Arizona.
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 388 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
Although I did not receive a response from Princeton Review about this edition’s methodology for the college radio question; more general information is available about this latest survey. According to Princeton Review, “We tallied the rankings lists in the current edition, The Best 388 Colleges (published August 2022), based on the data from our surveys of 160,000 students at the 388 schools in the book.”
The site says that the “Best College Radio Station” list is compiled “based on students’ answers to the survey question, ‘How popular is the college radio station?,” but in recent years, the question was phrased a little differently. For the 2021 edition’s list, the survey asked, “How much do you agree or disagree with the following statements at your school?” Among the list of statements was: “College Radio Station is popular.” Respondents were 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 2023 Princeton Review list of “Best College Radio Stations,” 13 of the 25 schools were on the 2021 list (which was only 20 schools). Of the twelve that were not on the 2021 list, Northeastern University, Pace University, Bennington College, Macalester College, Roanoke College, Bowdoin College, Princeton University (ironically!), Dickinson College, Hillsdale College, and Hamilton College all appear for this first time since I’ve been tracking (since 2008). It’s great to see these 10 schools getting some added attention for their radio stations!
The complete list for the 2023 edition is listed below. For comparison, here are the lists from the 2022 (different format- had “Great College Radio Station” list), 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009 and 2008 editions of Princeton Review.
2023 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 previous “best” list for the 2021 edition
1. Arizona State University (KASC 1330 AM, Tempe, AZ)
2. University of South Florida (WUSF 89.7 FM and Bulls Radio online/89.7 HD3/on campus 1620AM, Tampa, FL)
3. Ithaca College (WICB 91.7 FM and VIC Radio, Ithaca, New York)
4. Emerson College (WERS 88.9FM and WECB, Boston, MA)
- Learn more on my WECB tour: Station Field Trip #1
5. Northeastern University (WRBB 104.9 FM, Boston, MA)
- Learn more on my WRBB tour: Station Field Trip #61
6. Reed College (KRRC, Portland, OR)
- Learn more on my KRRC tour: Station Field Trip #44
7. Pace University (WPUB Radio, New York, NY)
8. University of Puget Sound (KUPS 90.1 FM, Tacoma, Washington)
9. Denison University (Doobie Radio, Granville, OH)
10. Bennington College (B-Rad, Bennington, VT)
11. Seton Hall University (WSOU 89.5 FM, South Orange, NJ)
12. Macalester College (WMCN 91.7 FM, St. Paul, MN)
- Learn more on my WMCN tour: Station Field Trip #95
13. Washington State University (KZUU 90.7 FM, KUGR and Northwest Public Radio, Pullman, WA)
14. Roanoke College (WRKE-LP, 100.3 FM, Salem, VA)
15. Providence College (WDOM 91.3 FM, Providence, RI)
16. Chapman University (Chapman Radio, Orange, CA)
17. Hofstra University (WRHU 88.7 FM, Hempstead, New York)
18. Bowdoin College (WBOR 91.1 FM, Brunswick, ME)
19. University of the South (The Sewanee Fog, Sewanee, TN) – note that the university gave up the station’s FM license for WUTS 91.3 FM in December, 2019. The station continues as online-only.
20. Syracuse University (WAER 88.3 FM, WERW, WJPZ 89.1 FM, Syracuse, NY)
21. Princeton University (WPRB 103.3 FM, Princeton, NJ)
- Read my WPRB tour: Station Field Trip #100!
22. Dickinson College (WDCV 88.3 FM, Carlisle, PA)
23. Carleton College (KRLX 88.1 FM, Northfield, MN)
- See my KRLX tour: Station Field Trip #92
24. Hillsdale College (WRFH-LP 101.7 FM, Hillsdale, MI)
25. Hamilton College (WHCL 88.7 FM, Clinton, NY)
Learn More about College Radio
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