I’ve been out and about, visiting radio stations this week while on my summer vacation. Unfortunately, summer is not the best time to try to connect with college radio stations, as quite a few of them are empty over the seasonal break. I try my best to reach people at college radio stations, sometimes exhibiting stalker-like enthusiasm and it’s even more challenging in the dead of July. Thanks to those who responded to my emails and showed me around their stations in Colorado. Stay glued to Radio Survivor in the weeks to come to learn about some of the stations that I was able to visit.
Looking Back at the State of Educational Radio in 1967
Also this week, I ran across a 1980s reprint of a 1967 report about educational radio. At the time, educational radio encompassed mostly school-owned stations that aired some type of educational programming. That programming included public affairs, community affairs, news, general education, in-school broadcasts, agricultural information, and cultural enrichment, according to the study. It’s a fascinating look at a nearly 50 year old report about the 346 educational radio stations in the United States at the time. The Hidden Medium: A Status Report on Educational Radio in the United States begins:
The oldest of the electronic media, going back in service to experimental beginnings as station 9xm in the year 1919, educational radio, almost a half century later, remains virtually unknown as a communications force in its own right. Overshadowed first by commercial radio, then by television, it has suffered long neglect arising from disinterest and apathy among the educational administrators who control much of its fortunes. As a result, it lacks cohesion as a medium, its purposes are varied and often confused, and it struggles for the beginnings of recognition as a potentially valuable national resource. Yet somehow it manages not only to survive and fill its traditional cultural role, but to move forward, innovate, experiment.”
A Glimpse at College Radio Circa 1995
I was recently bequeathed a 1995 handbook from the now defunct college radio organization, National Association of College Broadcasters (NACB), which existed from 1988 to 1998. I’d hoped to find a way to scan it so that others could share in the wealth of its content, but was happy to find this week that someone has already posted a PDF. It’s chock full of information, ranging from fundraising tips to information on how to start a station, to technical details about studios and transmission methods, including carrier current and cable FM. Some information is obviously out of date, but there’s plenty of valuable information as well as a goldmine of college radio history within its 278 pages. I’m always trying to track down college radio stations, so I also appreciated the state-by-state list of NACB member stations.
United States College Radio News Round-up
Radio Free Los Angeles: KXLU Liberates Listeners from the Status Quo (the Argonaut)
Blugold Radio at UW-Eau Claire Gives Indie Rock a Voice in the Valley (VolumeOne)
Pitchfork Radio Teams with WSUM in Madison (The Daily Cardinal)
At the Mic and Outside the Box: EMCC Revives the Old-Time Radio Serial (The Dispatch)
Tiny Mix Tapes Reviews Documentary about Former “Freak College Radio Club” WFMU (Tiny Mix Tapes)
International College Radio News
Advice for “Best Journalistic Programming” Award (Student Radio Association)
Advice for “Best Entertainment Programme” Award (Student Radio Association)
A look at Community Radio at Delhi University and Other Nearby Campuses (Hindustan Times)
National Award for Radio Macfast (The Hindu)
Valley View University DJ Reflects Back on How He Got into Campus Radio in Ghana (Graphic Online)
Radio Stars: New Generation of On-Air Personalities from Memorial University (Memorial University of Newfoundland)
