What are the best college radio stations? That’s an impossible question to answer, but each year Princeton Review publishes a list based on student surveys about station “popularity” taken at hundreds of college campuses. I’ve been monitoring these lists for nearly 20 years and am always intrigued by how the collection of schools shuffles from year to year. Back in August 2024, Princeton Review released its latest college guide, The Best 390 Colleges – 2025 edition, which include its rankings for “Best College Radio Station.”
University of South Florida is #1, Yet Has No Student Radio Station
Notably, the number one, “most popular” college radio station according to Princeton Review, is the one at University of South Florida, which appears to no longer have a student radio station. However, the campus is home to public radio station WUSF, which perhaps is why the school’s station garners such recognition from students. University of South Florida’s former college radio station, Bulls Radio, launched in 1988 and used to broadcast on campus over AM, as well as on an HD channel and online. Although Bulls Radio is described on the school student government’s website as having a “constant stream of unique programming,” the stream is no longer available on Tune In and a Wikipedia entry indicates that “in 2019 Bulls Radio was rebranded to Bulls Media.” The Bulls Media website has details about numerous services, including podcasting studios and production facilities, but no mention of a radio station. Regardless, University of South Florida has topped the Princeton Review’s most popular college radio station list in 2025 and 2024, was #2 on the 2023 list, and #1 on the 2021 list (released in August 2020). The first time that I saw the school hit the list was on the 2020 list, where it placed at #3. Curiously, that list was released in August 2019, just as the station was likely closing up shop.
East Coast Dominates
Once again, the Princeton Review 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 (with 183,000+ students) and the tiniest is Bennington College (797 undergraduates). I am also pleased to have visited college radio stations at 6 out of the 25 schools on the list.
The East Coast still dominates, although there’s a growing proportion of the list from the midwest and the western part of Pennsylvania. The south and southwest are barely present, with huge states like California and Texas not represented at all. The breakdown is as follows: 15 from the northeast (4 from New York, 3 from New Jersey, 3 from Massachusetts, 2 from Vermont, 2 from Pennsylvania, and 1 from Maine). From the Midwest, the 5 schools hail from Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Michigan, and Ohio. On the west coast, only 3 schools are represented (2 from Washington and 1 from Oregon). The sole school from the South is in Florida. And the only college from the Southwest is in 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 scoop:
1. Results are based on student surveys
2. Surveys were conducted at 390 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
According to Princeton Review, “We tallied the rankings lists in the current edition of The Best 390 Colleges (published August 2024) based on the data from our surveys of 168,000 students at the 390 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 2025 Princeton Review list of “Best College Radio Stations,” 20 of the 25 schools were on the 2024 list. Illinois Institute of Technology and Allegheny College are brand new entrants, not having appeared during the 17+ years that I’ve been tracking Princeton Review lists. The other three schools that did not appear last year include Carleton College (last appeared on 2023 list), Saint Michael’s College (last appeared on 2022 list) and DePauw University (last appeared on 2022 list).
Those that fell off the list this year were Macalester College, Sarah Lawrence College, Fordham University, Roanoke College, and Providence College.
The complete list for the 2025 edition is listed below. For comparison, here are the lists from the 2024, 2023, 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.
2025 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 2024 edition
1. University of South Florida (WUSF 89.7 FM and formerly Bulls Radio – now Bulls Media, Tampa, FL)
2. Reed College (KRRC, Portland, OR)
- Learn more on my KRRC tour: Station Field Trip
3. Emerson College (WERS 88.9FM and WECB, Boston, MA)
- Learn more on my WECB tour: Station Field Trip
4. Arizona State University (Blaze Radio – formerly known as KASC 1330 AM, Tempe, AZ)
5. Dickinson College (WDCV 88.3 FM, Carlisle, PA)
6. Illinois Institute of Technology (WIIT 88.9 FM, Chicago, IL)
- Learn more on my WIIT tour: Station Field Trip #142
7. University of Puget Sound (KUPS 90.1 FM, Tacoma, Washington)
8. Skidmore College (WSPN 91.1 FM, Saratoga Springs, NY)
9. Rider University (107.7 FM The Bronc, Lawrenceville, NJ)
10. Wellesley College (WZLY 91.5 FM, Wellesley, MA)
11. Bowdoin College (WBOR 91.1 FM, Brunswick, ME)
- Learn more on my WBOR tour: Station Field Trip #174
12. Hofstra University (WRHU 88.7 FM, Hempstead, New York)
13. Carleton College (KRLX 88.1 FM, Northfield, Minnesota)
- Learn more on my KRLX tour: Station Field Trip #92
14. Ithaca College (WICB 91.7 FM and VIC Radio, Ithaca, New York)
15. Denison University (Doobie Radio, Granville, OH)
16. Hillsdale College (WRFH-LP 101.7 FM, Hillsdale, MI)
17. Mount Holyoke College (WMHC 91.5 FM, South Hadley, MA)
18. Bennington College (B-Rad, Bennington, VT)
19. Princeton University (WPRB 103.3 FM, Princeton, NJ)
- Read my WPRB tour: Station Field Trip #100!
20. Saint Michael’s College (WWPV-LP 92.5 FM, Colchester, Vermont)
21. DePauw University (WGRE 91.5 FM, Greencastle, Indiana)
22. Allegheny College (WARC 90.3 FM, Meadville, Pennsylvania)
23. Washington State University (KZUU 90.7 FM, KUGR and Northwest Public Radio, Pullman, WA)
24. Seton Hall University (WSOU 89.5 FM, South Orange, NJ)
25. Hamilton College (WHCL 88.7 FM, Clinton, NY)
Learn More about College Radio
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