Happy New Year! With many colleges still on winter break, things are fairly quiet on the college radio news front.
A Visit to College Radio Station KDVS
Still catching up on my radio station travels from 2018, on last week’s podcast/radio show I was happy to feature my visit to the University of California, Davis college radio station KDVS. General Manager Jacob Engel gave me the grand tour and you can hear a bit of my interview with him on the episode.
College Radio Memories from WECB
My colleague Paul also shared an interesting college radio tidbit in his recent piece about podcaster Jason Scott. Paul writes, “In ‘The Radio Radio Episode’ Scott reflects on his college radio days at Emerson College, where he DJ’d – and got fired from – student-run WECB, and filled in on the more professional WERS.” Since WECB was my first written college radio tour, I was certainly intrigued!
Recapping NFCB Summit in Santa Rosa and GRC Portland
Additionally, a piece that I wrote about two community radio conferences appears in a recent issue of Radio World. College radio participants (including representatives from KZSC, KPSU and WPRB) were on the scene at both events (Grassroots Radio Conference and National Federation of Community Broadcasters’ Regional Summit) and many sessions were quite relevant to those involved with student radio.
Quinnipiac University to Shutter AM Station WQUN
The year begins with news that Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut plans to shut down its radio station WQUN 1220 AM on June 30, 2019. According to the New Haven Register,
In a letter to colleagues last week, QU official Lynn Bushnell said the station would cease operations June 30 in order to ‘shift resources to more closely match the ever-changing needs and interests of our students, and to better prepare them for future employment opportunities.'”
The piece further explained that “when WQUN first went on the air in 1997, it was used as a training ground where students would learn skills to use in the radio industry,” but that student interest has diminished. WQUN will end broadcasts on May 31.
A professionally-run station, WQUN offered student internships, including opportunities to work behind-the-scenes during sports broadcasts. Although the university has only run the station for 22 years, the history of 1220 AM dates back to 1962, when WDEE began broadcasting. The station changed call letters, formats and owners numerous times over the years, with a particularly interesting period in the 1970s, when it was briefly known as Woman Radio (WOMN). There’s no word yet on what the next phase of 1220 AM will bring.
More College Radio News
Station and Staff Profiles
- Department Spotlight: Orchard Radio (The Washtenaw Voice)
- Music Director of the Month: Erin Wolfe of WMSE (NACC)
Events and Programming
- WSOU Donates more than 900 Pounds of Food to Food Bank (WSOU)
- Western Campus Radio Celebrates First All-Female Hockey Broadcast (The London Free Press)
- Temple-Drexel Game a Family Affair (KYW)
- DJ Training Available at WMPG (Biddeford Journal Tribune)
Music and Turntables
- KCSU Live in Studio: Volume 1 (Scene Magazine)
- Radio’s Wheels of Steel are Coming Back: The Technics SL-1200 Mk VII (Radio Survivor)
History
- St. Olaf Tinkerer Went on to Radio, Military Breakthroughs (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
Shut-downs
- Quinnipiac University to Close Down WQUN-AM Radio (New Haven Register)
Funding
- MEDCO Grant to Fund Wiley College Radio (Marshall News Messenger)
Station Alumni
- Knicks Voice Mike Breen’s Dream Began in Basement Radio Station (New York Post)
- Quirky Radio Personality T.J. Trout Heads to Conservative Station (Albuquerque Journal)
