LPFM, college and community stations are great, but because of low power many of them are also hard to hear, especially inside your house or office. Based on an inquiry from one of our Patreon supporters, we dedicate this episode to helping you improve your reception. Broadcaster and radio reviewer extraordinaire Jay Allen, the man […]
Archive | College Radio
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College Radio Watch: WBRU May Sell License and more News
We learned this week that Brown University’s long-time commercial radio station WBRU may be up for sale. According to the Providence Journal: In a letter sent to WBRU alumni [March 2]…, general manager and Brown University student Kishanee Haththotuwegama said the station’s nine-member board of directors had passed a resolution to begin seeking a buyer. […]
Radio Station Visit #122 – WYBF at Cabrini University
My trip to Cabrini University’s college radio station WYBF was a long-time coming. Located on Philadelphia’s main line in Radnor, Pennsylvania, WYBF has shared an FM channel with WXVU at nearby Villanova University since 1991. I’d known of this time-share arrangement for many years and my own alma mater station WHRC had even made attempts […]
College Radio Watch: College Radio Symposium at University of Virginia and More News
On March 17, I’ll be speaking at the WTJU/WXTJ-hosted symposium “College Radio: Then, Now, and Next” at the University of Virginia. Specifically, I’ll touch on the history of college radio as well as the state of college radio today. I’m excited to connect with friends, colleagues, and representatives from other college radio stations and am […]
College Radio Watch: WSOU Burrito, Praise for College Radio from Social Distortion Founder and More News
On the podcast this week, we talked about the uncertainty at CMJ and pontificated on why charts can be useful to radio stations and the music industry, including record labels, promoters and bands. I was thinking about those connections as I read musician Mike Ness’ statements about the importance of college radio in a Boulder […]
Podcast #82 – Busting Myths & Counting Charts
Conventional wisdom says young people don’t listen to the radio. Jennifer Waits talks to two college broadcasters from KUOZ-LP at the University of the Ozarks who bust that myth. She also takes us on a tour of a new community LPFM, KPSQ-LP, located in a hotel in Fayetteville, AR. But first, Paul and Jennifer discuss […]
College Radio Watch: What’s up with CMJ Charts and More News
For at least the past year there have been more regular grumblings about the status of CMJ and this week Pitchfork is reporting that, “For the second week in a row, CMJ has not published its weekly college radio charts, calling into question the fate of an institution that has tracked the music played by college stations around […]
Podcast #81 – To Thrive in 2017 Put the Community in Community Radio
Sally Kane, the CEO of The National Federation of Community Broadcasters, joins the podcast to discuss the threats and opportunities for community radio in the current political environment. In the months, since the election of Trump, the NFCB has received a lot of questions from community radio stations about how to respond and what comes […]
audio: DJ “Gary Indiana” on WQAX-FM (“Quacks”), February 1981
Continuing my excavation of digitally archived college/community radio programs, I have found this nugget on the Internet Archives: a recording of WQAX-FM DJ “Gary Indiana” hosting a music show, circa February 1981. WQAX (aka, “Quacks” 100.3 FM) broadcast to Bloomington, Indiana as a cable station for two decades, from 1973 through 1993. The signal offered a […]
College Radio Watch: Pitchfork asks “Does College Radio Even Matter Anymore?” and More News
Earlier this week, Pitchfork published a long-form piece with the provocative title, Does College Radio Even Matter Anymore? The sub-head continues the theme, adding, “How left-of-the-dial stalwarts are fighting to stay alive.” Click-bait for college radio fans and practitioners, the article is actually more nuanced than its alarmist descriptors suggest. (more…)