In this week’s College Radio Survivor, I look at two new potential LPFM stations on college campuses and recap some college radio news from the past few weeks.
On Wednesday the FCC started granting new LPFM applications and in the mix of the first 107 grantees, there was one potential college radio station: York Technical College in Rock Hill, South Carolina. According to its application, York Technical College has a radio and television production program that is currently more focused on television. The application states that the addition of a low power FM radio station “will allow the college to add course work specific to radio broadcasting.” Additionally, the station will be used to broadcast important information to the college and to the surrounding community.
Yesterday, the LPFM application for Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland was also granted. According to its application, “The College’s station will be almost entirely student run, with students managing almost all aspects of its operation, from programming through to management.” Proposed programming includes radio theater, remote broadcasts (sports, concerts, lectures, etc.), music, and local news. 
I’m sure we’ll be seeing more applications granted to college groups in the weeks to come, as there are probably around 100 LPFM hopefuls from colleges and universities.
In other recent college radio news, Stanford University radio station KZSU 90.1 FM will be presenting its 12th Day of Noise on Saturday, February 8th. Live bands will be performing live over the air for 24 hours of experimental music and noise.
At many college radio stations, there are long-time DJs who have been broadcasting for decades. The Pomona College Magazine profiles John Stout aka “The Boss Guy in Claremont,” who has hosted a show on KSPC 88.7 FM since 1983. Veteran DJs are also a staple at 40+ year old WCBN-FM at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, which received a nice write-up this week.
After reading an article about two night-time DJs at University of California, Irvine station KUCI-FM, I was reminded that I need to get cracking on my field trip report from that fair station (I was there in the fall for the UC Radio conference). However, I could never capture the fly-on-the-wall portrait that the author paints of two very different DJs meeting for the first time during a shift change. The eclectic mix of people and musical tastes at KUCI is probably something that many college radio DJs can relate to.
It was pretty awesome to read a music critic lauding college radio in a piece in Chicago Now, citing the great music on WESN 88.1 FM in Bloomington, Illinois. Another pop culture scribe (from USA Today) listed Middle Tennessee State University station WMTS 88.3 FM as one of her top highlights from holiday break with her family.
A few weeks ago I posted some links to a number of short college radio documentaries. I can came across a longer-form (60 minutes) documentary, Where the DJs Roam, about Montana State University’s freeform radio station KGLT. You can view a short trailer and purchase the DVD here.
A blues show at Whitman College station KWCW 90.5 FM has attracted the attention of the international blues community and the show will now be heard on “a web based network of streamed blues shows that markets both to United States and international listeners.”
Kennedy-King College in Chicago is doing an innovative program with the Chicago Police Department. Teens in the program are learning radio skills and are getting training opportunities at college radio station WKKC. The 7th District Youth Anti-Violence Media Program “introduces teens to the ins and outs of radio production, and gives them a chance to get on the air.”
I love running across old radio lore, including word that the inventor of the term “screw the pooch” used to be a college radio DJ (at Yale’s WYBC) named Candied Yam Jackson.
If you are super organized and are planning to attend the CMJ Music Marathon in New York City next fall, there are some major discounts on passes until Monday at midnight. Artists are invited to submit T-shirt designs to Louisiana State University station KLSU by January 24. The winning design will adorn the station’s fundraiser T-shirt.
We cover the culture of college radio every Friday in our College Radio Survivor feature.
