Spinning Indie 50 State Tour: Stop 12- California's KSCR

Welcome back to the Spinning Indie 50 State Tour, in which I investigate stations from all over the United States.

This virtual tour of radio stations has so far included stops in 11 states, including Arkansas, Wisconsin, Kansas, Louisiana, Alaska, North Dakota, Nevada, West Virginia, Kentucky, Minnesota, and Montana.

As you can see by the list, for the most part I've been taking my Spinning Indie 50 State Tour to smaller towns outside of the media glare of big cities and the coasts. But, since I'm attempting to virtually travel to all 50 states, it was only a matter of time before I made it to a big coastal city. As a Californian, I was a bit daunted by the prospect of selecting one station from this massive state to profile for the "tour," but was intrigued by the tale of the University of Southern California (USC) station KSCR, so decided to take the trek a bit closer to home.

When I was at the CMJ Music Marathon in New York City this October, I got to also meet a bunch of folks from KSCR (you can read their take on the CMJ fest on their blog); so was even more excited to feature the station.

KSCR "Family Band" at CMJ Artist Lounge, October 2009

KSCR is a student-run radio station in Los Angeles that began as a carrier current station at USC in 1975 and eventually had stints on cable and on FM. By 1998 they were webcasting, which continues today along with an AM broadcast over 1560 AM in Los Angeles. The station is devoted to independent music, billing itself as "revolutionary radio."

Thanks so much to KSCR's Public Relations Director Kat B., Music Director Emilie Brailey, and General Manager Zak Wolf for taking the time to fill me in about their station. On to the interview:

Spinning Indie: I understand that KSCR will celebrate its 35th anniversary in 2010. Can you tell me a little bit about the station's history?

Zak Wolf, General Manager: KSCR can trace its roots back to 1946 when USC decided that a radio station would provide the University and its students with an unprecedented media format for that period in history. By the mid-1970s, however, that radio station, KUSC, had switched to an all-classical format and students were only permitted to be interns.

In 1975, 13 dedicated and diverse undergrads decided to start their own radio station. Since then, the face of KSCR changed frequently. We've had all sorts of formats and many different means of broadcasting, from AM 530, to a public access cable TV channel to a pirated FM signal at 104.7.

In 1998 the FCC began to crack down on unauthorized radio signals. While driving up the I-110 en-route to shut down a Silverlake radio station that happened to use the same frequency as KSCR, the FCC happened caught us broadcasting on the 104.7 stream and shut it down. KSCR thus adopted a webcasting signal, one of the first stations to do so, and switched to 1560 AM.

Since then, we've struggled to get funding both externally via sponsorships and PSAs, and internally from the University Student Government. This hasn't stopped us from being a strong radio presence among the USC student body and the Los Angeles area. We broadcast 24 hrs a day at 160 kbps stream and locally at 1560 am, dedicated at least 12 hours each day to live DJs, Newscasters or Sports talk shows.

Every Friday we bring a band in to play a set live over the air and we hold an interview afterwards. We continue to release our annual publication "Bandwidth" and we put on some of the best free concerts around. We plan to build on KSCR's history of amazing in-studio performances and concert performances, which include (in reverse order of appearance): Tom
Brosseau, Crystal Antlers, Mika Miko, Happy Hollows, Avi Buffalo, Daedelus, Busdriver, Gangi, Army Navy, The Dodos, Thee Oh Sees, Abe Vigoda, No Age, Mirah, Ghostland Observatory, My Chemical Romance, Minus the Bear, and (in the early nineties) No Doubt, Biggie Smalls, Gang Starr, DJ Shadow, J5, WuTang Clan, Mos Def & Talib Kweli, Busta Rhymes, and Common.

On October 17th we look[ed] to build on this list with our first show of the fall semester featuring Nosaj Thing, Rainbow Arabia, and Ras G.

Spinning Indie: How will you celebrate the station's anniversary? What do you guys do to preserve the station's history?

Zak Wolf: In 2010 KSCR will commemorate its 35 year anniversary with the move to the new Campus Center. This will be a turning point for KSCR, as the station will have state of the art equipment and a central location on campus, exponentially raising awareness of KSCR among the student body.

We've established an Alumni association called KSCRfriends, who have pledged to raise $1 million for KSCR. They hold monthly conference calls, accept donations year round and meet annually every homecoming to reinvigorate the efforts and meet the fresh faces of the KSCR staff, which, as KSCR is completely student run, change significantly each year.

Every so often KSCR will update its DJ manual and its online wiki or "documentation project" with the new history of the station. There will be a new update before the move to the campus center.

KSCR was up for the 2009 mtvU College Radio Woodie
Image courtesy KSCR Facebook Page

Spinning Indie: You're on AM and online right now, but KSCR used to be carrier current and low power FM. How powerful is your over-the-air signal (how far away can it be heard) and do you think many of your listeners are tuning in via AM radio?

Kat B., Public Relations Director: I’ll be frank here — our AM signal sucks. It's supposed to cover all of campus, but it doesn't. We’re working on reclaiming our FM presence, though. (Fingers crossed.)

Zak Wolf: KSCR's bread and butter is our online stream, but our AM broadcast reaches approximately 1 mile around campus. KSCR 1560 AM goes out via a 10 watt signal, which, if turned up, would be vulnerable to FCC restrictions and licensing. Right now, because we are located at an educational institution and do not broadcast outside our range, we do not need an FCC license.

My guess is that very few listen through the radio waves in comparison to our online broadcast simply due to issues of fidelity and range. We hope to garner enough listeners and support from our student body and the USC administration to apply for an FM signal; however, in Los Angeles this is an expensive and exhausting task, currently beyond the capabilities of an all-volunteer undergraduate staff with a relatively small bank account.

Spinning Indie: You must be thrilled about your new studio space in the campus center (coming in 2010). How did all of that come about?

Zak: We are supremely excited. Student Activities and Campus Affairs, with the help of our alumni network, previous KSCR staffs, and the amazing Brandon Operchuck, our faculty adviser and director of performance venues at USC, have joined forces and funds to build us our new facility. Michael L. Jackson, Vice President of Student Affairs, has been a strong supporter of KSCR as well, and has helped with the inclusion of KSCR in this amazing new Campus Center. We fall under the umbrella of a much larger project, and we're enjoying the shade.

Kat: It’s really hard for me to be excited about the new studio since this is my last year at USC! I’m so jealous of all the underclassmen involved with KSCR; they really don’t know what’s coming to them. The space is going to be absolutely amazing. I’ll have to visit — a lot.

2009-2010 KSCR Staff Photo
Courtesy KSCR

Spinning Indie: I know that various alums have helped to set up a group (Friends of KSCR) charged with raising funds in order to ensure the station's future. I'm not sure I've heard of similar efforts at college radio stations. Why do you think station alums are so passionate about preserving KSCR?

Zak: KSCR is unique because it was started as 100% student-run and has remained that way. USC initially didn't want to give students their own station, but the efforts of the original 13 set the bar for the next 35 years of KSCR staffers.

Everyone at KSCR has the opportunity to become part of a family. We're all volunteering our time to make something that we believe has the potential to truly be great. We feed off each others' excitement daily. Our motivation is entirely our own. Our facilities are entirely our own. It's a feeling of belonging and commitment so above and beyond any cynical critique or monetary consideration that no one ever wants to leave.

Every member of KSCR puts so much of their time, efforts and self into the station that the rewards are ineffably satisfying. Plus, our programming is totally original, our music is amazing and unique, we put on the best events, and we give students unprecedented opportunities and experiences in broadcast journalism, music industry, and even leadership. Who wouldn't want to see a place like that continue?

Spinning Indie: Can you tell me about your online music database. Is it primarily for DJs to use?

Zak: Our online database essentially keeps track of all the music that KSCR has. It's used by DJs to create playlists and log their tracks. The logging of songs played is mandatory as we report our charts to CMJ and are required to keep track of every song we play on the air. It also allows us to send song information to the front page of our website and through the m3u stream. Our music department uses reviews, recommended tracks and RIYLs to expose DJs to music they might not have encountered before, and in that sense it’s a very informative tool.

Emilie Brailey, Music Director: The online music database is open to everyone. I think it was started in order to feed the robot but now it’s a handy back up system in case albums go missing (like the fucker who stole the Shins… you can’t keep us down mother fucker, you can’t keep us down!)

Spinning Indie: What is the revolutionary robot?

Emilie: The revolutionary robot is our mascot. He’s a big friendly dancing machine! In reality, the robot is our iTunes, it’s what makes KSCR a 24 hr programming station. When there isn’t a show, the iTunes is playing, stocked with music that only staff or select DJs have added that is of KSCR quality.

Zak: The revolutionary robot is the KSCR mascot. It got its name from our slogan "Revolutionary Radio," meant to highlight our unique programming and alternative music. We have a robot costume we like to bring out at promotional events, and we use robot imagery on a lot of our promotional materials.

"Revolutionary Robot" also references a program that we are looking to re-instate on our new server, which was called "the robot" and operated like a high-tech iTunes shuffle and sent track information to the kscr.org front page mimicking a DJ's logged tracks. Now, we have our music department hand pick a huge amount of cohesive music for our "Studio A" iTunes, which we place on party shuffle. We then use KungTunes to send that information out over our stream. The new robot that we're looking to program on our recently purchased server will hopefully be able to do the same as the old with maybe a few more updates.

Flyer from Recent KSCR event
Image courtesy KSCR Facebook Page

Spinning Indie: Are most students aware of KSCR? Do you have to be a student to be a DJ? What role does it play on campus?

Zak: We're always looking to raise the profile of KSCR amongst our students. We flyer, and table often, in addition to giving out our information at USC's orientation sessions and constant online promotion.

Only USC students can be a DJ. We provide a service you really can't get anywhere on our off campus. Anyone can have their own show, anyone can listen. It's awesome.

Kat: KSCR’s presence at USC has increased tremendously since I started here in the fall of 2006. Now, when we have informational meetings for our station interns, the room is often packed to the brim with students eager to become a part of the station. I think our increased visibility has a lot to do with our recent focus on effective marketing and promotion; we recently got a Twitter account, redid our other social networking sites and are currently in the process of redesigning the KSCR website — all very significant methods that can increase awareness of a campus radio station.

We recently changed our constitution so that USC alumni — mainly alumni of KSCR — could come back and have a timeslot for a show. It’s been really awesome to see some familiar faces back in the studio. Otherwise, the rest of our DJs are USC students, and we’d really like to keep it that way.

While USC has its own Concert Committee to bring live shows to campus, KSCR has really filled the niche in bringing independent music to USC; our concerts — and the music we play — really don't cater to the majority of students who will camp out on the quad to see someone like the Fray perform. That being said, we’ve had the opportunity to expose many students to the wide variety of artists in the local independent scenes.

We did our first outdoor music festival on campus this past spring and has bands such as Mika Miko, Crystal Antlers, Avi Buffalo and the Happy Hollows perform — it was a huge success. We’ve also brought No Age into the studio for interviews, had KSCR alum Daedelus do a benefit show for the station and we’re working on sponsoring our first off-campus show for the end of the year. If there’s something we’re really good at, it’s live events.

Julianna Barwick live at KSCR
Photo Courtesy KSCR Facebook Page

Spinning Indie: I know that Los Angeles is a huge market with lots of college radio stations. How does KSCR play a role in the broader community and music scene surrounding the campus?

Zak: KSCR is all about its content. Our DJs are dedicated to their shows. Our sports department is relentless about theirs and the USC games. We make sure we have the best non-top 40, independent music around. We distribute our magazine all around LA. We have a whole section of our "New Wall" of CDs devoted to LA artists and bands. Our Live Show brings in a different local act each week to play in Studio B over the airwaves. And, of course, our free concerts on the USC campus bring in the best local talent for USC students and anyone in Los Angeles who wants to attend.

Emilie: Up until now KSCR has not been huge outside of USC, but I think that it has been blossoming in the last few years. I think every year the staff becomes more and more aware of the potential and our fan base has really grown. I know of many people all around the monstrous LA area who are not only familiar with KSCR now, but also come to shows we put on. I’m not sure about other college radio stations and we don’t seem to be competing with them yet (if we are I am unaware).

Spinning Indie: What's the overall music philosophy of the station?

Emilie: Music philosophy: this is college radio. “College Radio” has almost become a genre in itself. My philosophy is that KSCR should have only the best; no-crap policy. Although we give some bands a chance that may not have had one otherwise, we really stick to what we think is the best quality.

Zak: We love any genre of music, except we won't play top 40 artists. Our goal is to provide music that you won't hear on mainstream radio especially since KCRW is NPR most of the time, KXLU doesn't have the strongest of signals and Indie 103.1 is all but dead.

KSCR is original programming 100% of the time. We spin mostly indie/alternative, but we also have parts of our library devoted to electronica, hip hop, jazz, world music, punk and loud rock.

Photo courtesy KSCR Facebook Page

Spinning Indie: Are there any specific rules about the music that gets added to your station? Are DJs required to play anything in particular? Is there anything they aren't allowed to play?

Emilie: There are indeed some rules to adding. KSCR is truly college radio, so we do not add nor are DJs supposed to play anything that is Top 40 or overtly popular. Sometimes DJs play older popular music (Beatles, Bob Marley) and we still add stuff that’s considered pretty popular (the new Neil Young album, for example) but for the most part it’s an indie sound on all levels.

Nothing of bad sound quality, obviously, is added, and nothing that sounds too pop (even it’s an obscure band) is added too often.

Of course, the new stuff added is usually a blanket style, but the intricacies change depending on the music director. I’m really into indie singer songwriter mystical spacey shit (Bon Iver makes me jazz in my pants) so I add a lot more of those kind of bands than a music director who is more into other styles.

As stated, DJs are not allowed to play popular music/Top 40. With that said, our DJs are really free to play mostly whatever they want. They usually become a college radio DJ because they are into college radio music, so there aren’t many issues. They are required to play four new adds per hour (I add on average 7-15 albums a week) while supplementing their show with one
‘other’ genre per hour (a genre they don’t normally play). This allows new music to always be on the airwaves and keeps all shows pretty eclectic.

Zak: ...we encourage DJs to use our music library and database, and to play music that isn't popular now and was never popular before. In other words, if you're a KSCR DJ and you want to play the Beatles, play a B-side from the white album or an obscure version of one of their hits.

Kat: Absolutely not! The great thing about KSCR is that it brings together so many students with the broadest of music tastes; we add and play just about everything from your general college indie rock to world music to metal to jazz. If it sounds good and we like it, chances are it’ll get added. (Having cool cover art doesn’t hurt, either!)

There’s just one rule — and I think we may have upset some interns at our most recent KSCR information meeting by saying this — but KSCR’s primary goal is to function as an alternative to the slush of Los Angeles FM radio, and as such, we try not to play anything you’d find on a Top 40 station.

We try to encourage DJs to go for the deep cuts, the unreleased material, the tiny little band trying to make it big...

Spinning Indie: Do you add and play vinyl? mp3s? cassettes?

Emilie: We play vinyl, mp3s, CDs, any kind of aux you can muster (computer, iPod, iPod-esque creatures), but so far no cassettes that I know of and adds are mostly in the form of physical CD.

[But in my opinion it’s okay. I may be desecrating generations and skinny jean wearing hipsters, but cassettes were short lived and unnecessary. The sound quality is not like that of other mediums. So go KSCR for not having them!]

Zak: We have an old closet of hip hop and electronica vinyl, and we occasionally get vinyl submissions, but KSCR is a mostly CD based radio station. We do, however, encourage DJs to bring their own vinyl. We have a turntable in our main studio and two turntables with a mixer that is hooked up to our board in what we call "studio b." MP3s are usually burned to disc and we can play cassette, but we don't have it in our library.

Kat: I remember there used to be a cassette player when I first started at KSCR! I wonder where that went…

Most of our database is made up of CDs, but DJs often bring in their iPods or their own vinyl to play over the air, too. I think, before I graduate this spring, I need to do an all-vinyl show; I’m long overdue.


Spinnining Indie: Is there anything else you want to share about KSCR or college radio in general?

Zak: College radio knows what's up. Listen to us online at kscr.org!

Kat: Independent radio rules! I’ve met some wonderful people during my time at KSCR and made some lifelong friends in the process. I’m truly going to miss the station when I graduate this year.

College Radio Woodie Awarded to KUPS

mtvU just announced their 2009 winner for the annual College Radio Woodie Award. After many rounds of voting, KUPS from University of Puget Sound (Tacoma, Washington) was selected by popular vote. According to the article on the MTV website, over 3.1 million votes were cast.

New York DJ Matt Pinfield of WRXP (hey...I just saw him a few weeks ago!) actually showed up at KUPS on Friday to present the staff with their award and there's a great picture of that on the Weekly Volcano's Spew Blog.

The official mtvU Woodies Awards Ceremony takes place tomorrow in New York City and will be broadcast on various MTV outlets on December 4th. Although I've been focusing on their college radio award, the Woodies also include awards for best artists, videos, etc.

Congratulations to KUPS. It's awesome to see a station win this award that hasn't been on the top of some of the other recent college radio award lists and I appreciate that voters helped to mix things up a bit.

Take a look at my previous posts (I was a little OCD in terms of tracking the Woodies this year) about the 2009 College Radio Woodies to find out about the nomination process that began with more than 300 stations and was narrowed down to 100, then 50, then 25, and finally culled to five finalists.

mtvU College Radio Finalists Announced

We're now down to 5 finalists in mtvU's contest for the "College Radio Woodie" award. I've been following the ins and outs of the nomination process since it began back in August and am actually kind of intrigued to see which stations got the most votes. It's interesting to note than none of these stations were even in the Top 20 list last year for the Woodies. In that respect, it's kind of cool to see that things are getting mixed up a bit and that the winner this year will be a station that wasn't previously recognized.

One can vote among these 5 finalists through November 9th. The winner will be announced online on November 18th and will be celebrated in a ceremony to air on MTV on December 4th. Here are the finalists:


Coyote Radio (California State University, San Bernardino, CA)
KUPS (University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, WA)
KCOU (University of Missouri)
WCRD (Ball State University, Muncie, IN)
WPTS (University of Pittsburgh, PA)

mtvU College Radio Woodie Award Update

I'm starting to wonder if I'm the only person who's been scrutinizing the nomination process for mtvU's College Radio Woodie Awards this year.

Today I checked back on their website just to verify the deadlines for the various rounds within "Round 2" of their complex voting schema and noticed that the rules page had recently been changed (it's now dated October 2nd).

Previously they had planned to have 5 rounds of voting within Round 2. Last year they broke those rounds down by region, so that in the final 5th round one was voting for a winner from regional finalists from the West, Midwest, Northeast and South. This year, however, the regional aspect of the competition was hard to get a handle on from the very beginning; as finalists haven't been evenly dispersed across the regions.

For this year, round 2 has recently been simplified, with the current round of voting (September 29th to October 26th) determining the final nominees out of the 25 stations still vying for the award and the last round (October 26th to November 9th) electing a winning station. This change in the rules seems like a good move to me, especially since I never felt like the 2009 competition was an even playing field when examined regionally.

However, changing the rules mid-way through is another red flag on a long, strange path to the College Radio Woodie Award ceremony on November 18th. I still don't know how many nominees will be announced on October 26th and it's also unclear how many times one is allowed to vote. As you read through various station testimonials, it's seems like many believe that people can vote as often as they'd like.

Again I'm left with the feeling that this contest is a disorganized mess and that the final results should be viewed with skepticism.

Ultimately, though, I suppose these college radio awards are better than no college radio awards at all. At least mtvU is acknowledging and applauding college radio stations all over the country. For that I can't complain. It's also comforting to see the displays of college radio pride all over the Woodies comment board, as folks from various stations post their passionate testimonials. And that is really what it's all about: supporting the stations that we love.

mtvU College Radio Woodie Nominees Whittled Down to Top 25

mtvU has just released the list of the 25 finalists for the College Radio Woodie Award. As I've discussed in previous posts, this list of "top" college radio stations is based on nominations and online voting that's been taking place over the course of the past month or so on RateMyProfessors.com.

Many of my faves were never nominated, so I will be eternally bitter. I'm also really surprised that none of the amazing San Francisco Bay Area stations made the top 25. I am happy to see that several stations featured on Spinning Indie made the cut, including my most recent "50 State Tour" stop of KBGA and my second station stop on the tour: WSUM.

According to the rules listed on the Woodies website, the next round of voting (which is now open) will serve to select the first "nominee" for the final round. It's unclear what that means exactly. Perhaps the college radio station with the most votes will be a finalist? Or if it's like last year there will be regional winners every week.

It's interesting to note that this list of 25 finalists is quite different from the top 20 stations nominated for a Woodie in 2008. I'm guessing that the procedure for voting must have changed, leading to a new crop of stations taking the lead. If nothing else, that's refreshing to see a variety of stations getting some exposure.

In case you're having trouble reading the list of nominees on the Woodies website (the station names are kind of obscured by a radio tower graphic), here's the complete list:

mtvU College Radio Woodie- 25 Finalists for 2009

West (6 finalists)

Coyote Radio (California State University, San Bernardino, CA)
KBGA (University of Montana, Missoula, MT)
KSCR (University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA)
KSSU (Sacramento State University, Sacramento, CA)
KUCI (University of California, Irvine, CA)
KUPS (University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, WA)

Midwest (9 finalists)

90FM (aka WWSP) (University of Wisconsin-Steven's Point)
KCOU (University of Missouri)
KRUI (University of Iowa)
KUOM (University of Minnesota)
WCRD (Ball State University, Muncie, IN)
WIUX (Indiana University, Bloomington, IN)
WMUR (Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI)
WONB (Ohio Northern University, Ada, OH)
WSUM (University of Wisconsin, Madison)

South (4 finalists)

WASU (Appalachian State University, Boone, NC)
WRGW (George Washington University, Washington, DC)
WRVU (Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN)
WVFS (Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL)

Northeast (6 finalists)

WICB (Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY)
WKPS (Penn State, University Park, PA)
WPTS (University of Pittsburgh, PA)
WRHU (Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY)
WRSU (Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ)
WTBU (Boston University, MA)

No offense to any of the nominated stations, but I have had a number of issues with the whole voting process for this award. See my post on Radio Survivor for a detailed look at why I think this particular contest has been so flawed. And if you really love one of the stations listed, take the time to vote.

This just in: After taking a careful look at the Top 50 nominees, I've found that the Top 25 nominees includes a station, WMUR, that did not appear on either the Top 100 or Top 50 lists.

How is that possible? And I wonder if it's related to the fact that similarly named WNUR popped up on the Top 50 list without being in the Top 100. It's all very questionable since nominations are supposed to be closed at this point.

College Radio Tidbits: Titan Radio Recuiting DJs, Secret Station in Maryland, and WIUX's Woodie Nomination

Many college campuses are in the early weeks of fall semester, so recruitment is in full-swing at many college radio stations. A few recent articles profiling campus stations have been helping to get the word out about volunteer opportunities for student DJs.

Titan Radio at California State University, Fullerton

According to a piece in the Daily Titan, the student-run Internet radio station at Cal State Fullerton, Titan Radio, has been around since 2001:

"The student-run, non-profit operation is a torrent of divergent, alternative programming you won’t find on your FM dial...

'We have a wide selection of stuff but there’s an order to it,' Chadwick Vargas, Titan Radio’s promotions director, said. 'Where else would you find a disco-cooking or exercise show but college radio? We are open to pretty much anything.'

Vargas, who has been with the station since January 2008, has his own show called 'Asian Persuasion.' It highlights Asian and Pacific Islander artists both locally and nationwide."

Campus-Only Online Radio XFSR at Frostburg State

Another article describes the opportunities that students at Frostburg State (Maryland) have to get involved with radio by joining up with campus public radio station WFWM's student broadcasting project XFSR Intranet Radio. I had no idea that there were campus-only Intranet stations. I wonder why they are keeping such a low profile?

WIUX is Psyched about mtvU Woodie Competition

A profile of Indiana University LP-FM radio station WIUX rattles off a list of recent accolades, including a spot in mtvU's top 50 college radio stations listing in the College Radio Woodie Award competition. According to the article:

"The nomination for the mtvU award could open up a lot of doors for the station by gaining the support of people interested in working with the best of the best, [DJ Madeline] Dowling said, as well as catch the attention of employers.

'We have the highest level of interest from students this year,' [General Manager Ryan] Patena said. 'We had over 200 applicants for 120 to 150 time slots. We have a completely full 24-hour-a-day live DJ schedule for the first time in the past few years.'"

mtvU Woodie Awards-Down to 50 College Radio Stations

OK. The plot thickens for me on the mtvU Woodie Awards and their contest for the best college radio station. I've already ranted more than enough, but today's listing of the latest top 50 stations gives me more reason to be confused.

I was under the impression that no new stations were being nominated/added to the list; but in this week's top 50 list I see two stations that I didn't notice in the Top 100 list last week. Weird, huh?

Fabulous Northwestern University station WNUR is now amongst the 12 midwest stations in the running. Similarly, WVUA (University of Alabama) made an appearance this week in the list of 11 stations from the south. The northeast still dominates with 16 stations vying for the Woodie, while the west coast has 11.

Stay tuned. I'll be checking my list to see if the top 25 stations seem to be on the up and up. Results of the top 25 should be announced September 29th.

Oh, yeah, go WBGU!

mtvU's College Radio Woodies - Time to Vote for Top 50

It looks like mtvU has selected its first round of finalists for their College Radio Woodie Award. Right now you can vote among the top 100 college radio stations (based on earlier rounds of nominations and voting) in order to narrow that list down to 50. Voting on this round ends September 15th.

So far they've got 19 stations from the midwest (yipee WBGU!), 25 from the west, 27 from the south and 29 from the northeast.

Did your favorite station make the cut? Unfortunately some really cool stations were never nominated (or nominated past the deadline) so didn't get the chance... Sorry KSPC and KFJC (to name a few). Kind of a bummer that the nomination period took place at the tail end of summer when many of us were on vacation or summer break.

Last Chance to Nominate Stations for mtvU's College Radio Woodie Award

Round one of voting for the best college radio station in mtvU's annual award show the Woodie Awards is drawing to a close on September 8th. For all of us college radio junkies, that means that we have one last chance to make sure our favorite college radio station is 1) in the running and 2) is getting enough votes to make it to round two.

A quick check of the current nominees (apparently over 300 stations) revealed that my current station KFJC was not on the list and that many of the listed stations in California had factual errors (KDVS was described as being at UC Merced rather than UC Davis, University of San Francisco station KUSF was described as being at UC Santa Cruz, KUCR was described at being at UC Santa Barbara, etc. etc.).

This complete lack of fact-checking definitely casts some doubt on the "contest" for me. It seems likely that some voters may just vote for their school (vs. a station name or call letters) and when the school name and station name don't match it muddies the whole voting process.

If your station isn't listed there's still time to use Twitter to nominate it and galvanize staff and listeners to vote. If it is listed, you might want to double check the listing for accuracy.

The first round of voting ends on September 8th and will cull down the list of stations to the top 100. So this will be your only chance to nominate stations that aren't listed.

Between September 8th and 15th voting will take place to narrow the list down to the top 50 college radio stations.

From September 15th to 29th visitors can vote in order to narrow the list down to the top 25 stations.

After these initial rounds of voting (are you still with me), there will be five more rounds. If it's like last year, the first four rounds will focus on voting for regional winners (West, Midwest, Northeast, South). The fifth round will select the overall winner from those 4 regional finalists. That winner will be announced November 18, 2009 at the Woodie Awards. To see the complete list of when voting will happen for each round, check out the rules page.

The college radio portion of the Woodies began last year and the 2008 winner, WICB (Ithaca College, New York), was chosen from a list of 20 finalists.

By the way, the contest page also includes a link to the top 50 stations so far. I'm happy to report that one former station of mine has made this list, WBGU at Bowling Green State University. However, a lot of really awesome stations are NOT on this list.

I am a big fan of mtvU and think that they do a lot of cool things, but this early round of voting (hosted on RateMyProfessors.com) for the Woodies seems to be a real mess. Hopefully things will get cleared up in the rounds to come.

Ithaca College Station WICB Wins MTVu "Woodie" Award

Apparently the votes are in and, according to the All Things Park blog, Ithaca College (New York) radio station WICB has won the first mtvU "Woodie" award for "Best College Radio Station."

The voting for this award took place over a number of weeks, during which time regional winners were selected from an initial list of 20 college radio stations. The final list of nominees were the 4 radio stations that earned the most votes during separate weeks of regional voting:

KSSU (Sacramento State)
WICB-FM (Ithaca College)
WEGL-FM (Auburn University)
WGRE-FM (DePauw University)

See my earlier post about the original list of 20 nominated stations.

mtvU will be airing their official Woodie Awards 2008 ceremony on November 19th. According to a post on MTVu on October 23:

"Acting as vanguards of emerging music, four college stations including KSSU, Sacramento State University; WICB, Ithaca College; WEGL, Auburn University; and WGRE, DePauw University; moved on to the final round of competition in hopes of bringing home the inaugural Best Campus Radio Station Woodie Award. Lauded for championing artists before they achieve mainstream success, these student-run radio stations were first chosen based off accolades from CMJ College Radio Awards, Princeton Review Nominations, and independent questionnaires completed by a cross-section of record labels. After four weeks of voting, college students have hoisted these musical pioneers into the final round of battle, with final voting beginning today."

mtvU College Radio Channel Features Rotating Trio of Campus Stations

Well, clearly I'm not the target market for this, since I'm only now discovering that mtvU (the on-campus TV network and website) has been featuring and streaming selections from a variety of different college radio stations for 3 years!

According to mtvU's description of mtvU College Radio ("somewhere under the radar"):

"Think of mtvU College Radio as the strainer that separates the delicious noodles from that dirty Ramen water. It's a place where the best new music from the underground (and not so underground) is served up hot by three of the country's top college stations. None of that top 40 filler. Not only will it hip you up and keep you happy, it'll microwave your popcorn. Let's go."

Currently the featured stations in the "Enjoy the Summer" edition are KCSU-FM (Colorado State University), Radio X-FM (Nova Southeastern University, Ft. Lauderdale, FL), and WMUC-FM (University of Maryland, College Park, MD). The mtvU website includes descriptions of each station, along with some "tops" lists of favorite tracks, albums, etc.

There's also a streaming station on the website called mtvU College Radio. You can jump from track to track and I didn't hear any DJ commentary, so it would seem that perhaps the 3 selected stations have a hand in contributing tracks to the playlist, but that their stations are not actually streamed on the website.

The college radio feature on mtvU began in the summer of 2005, when mtvU started to promote a collection of college radio stations on their website. According to a 2005 article in the Drexel student newspaper, The Triangle:


"The inspiration for streaming excellent college radio stations came from MTVU's desire to increase the value of the relationship that it has with its affiliate colleges, according to Senior Director of Marketing for MTVU Lori Raimondo. 'We are all about college and we are a music network, so it just made perfect sense to partner with college radio stations,' said Raimondo."


The September 2005 article discussed Drexel University station WKDU's appearance on MTVu:


"WKDU is among the second group of radio stations recognized by MTVU. The practice of streaming college radio stations began early this summer. Every month, a new group of stations will be available at the MTVU Web site.

Radio stations must meet certain criteria in order to be under consideration for the nationwide exposure that this recognition grants. First, the college that the station serves must be affiliated with MTVU. The station must also be programmed by students for a predominate student audience. Out of that pool of possible stations, MTVU selects a few of the best.

'Our whole goal is to serve [the] college audience,' Raimondo said. MTVU hopes to provide a local feel and to present students with music that might be popular locally but relatively unknown elsewhere. 'This is a way to provide students with another way to hear music being played at colleges other than their own.'"


It's hard to tell how this whole program has evolved and how often the list of stations changes. On mtvU you can go back in time a bit to see the most recent stations that have been featured (by the way, many are also nominees for this year's mtvU College Radio Woodie Award). The stations below are grouped by the edition that they appeared on, although I'm not sure when each edition was featured.

mtvU College Radio Featured Stations:

Fourth Edition: Knoxville (and elsewhere) Rocks!

WUTK-FM (University of Tennessee-Knoxville, TN)
WSOU-FM (Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ)
KCOU-FM (University of Missouri-Columbia, MO)

Fifth Edition: School's Out For Summer

WVPH-FM "The Core" (Rutgers University & Piscataway High School, NJ)
KDWG-FM (University of Montana-Western, Dillon, MT)
WMTS-FM (Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN)

Sixth Edition: The Thirteenth Floor Edition
(be sure to view each station's short promo video, where staff members/DJs talk about their shows in this edition)

WCRD-FM (Ball State University, Muncie, IN)
WZND-FM (Illinois State University, Normal, IL)
WPIR (Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY)

Happy New Year! (7th edition?)

WRGP-Radiate FM (Florida International University, Miami, FL)
WSOU-FM (Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ)
WXYC-FM (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)

MTVu Woodie Awards for Best Campus Radio Station

Last week, MTV's college-themed arm MTVu announced nominees for their 2008 Woodie Awards, which will take place in NYC November 12th and will air on MTVu on November 19th, 2008. Voting in a variety of categories (best music on campus, best video, etc.) happens through November 7th.

They've included a category for best college radio station. According to their press release (via ReadJunk.com):


"For the first time ever, mtvU is honoring 20 pioneering college campus radio stations committed to bringing students the latest indie and emerging music. Lauded for championing artists before they achieve mainstream success, these student-run radio stations represent the new music vanguard long since abandoned by traditional FM radio. The top stations were chosen based off accolades from CMJ College Radio Awards, Princeton Review Nominations, and independent questionnaires completed by a cross-section of record labels. One station will bring home the inaugural Woodie for Best Campus Radio Station, as voted on by their peers."


The 20 nominated stations for the Radio Woodie (Best Campus Radio Station) are meant to be "For the station out there breaking the latest, emerging music, acting as pioneers in the industry."

Nominees for 2008 Radio Woodie – (Best Campus Radio Station)

KALX-FM (University of California, Berkeley, CA)
KZSC-FM (University of California, Santa Cruz, CA)
KSSU (Sacramento State University, CA)
KZSU-FM (Stanford University, CA)
KCSU-FM, (Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO)

WSOU-FM (Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ)
WERS-FM (Emerson University, Boston, MA)
WICB-FM (Ithaca University, Ithaca, NY)
WBSR-FM (Brown University, Providence, RI)
WUSB-FM (Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY)

WUTK-FM (University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN)
WRAS-FM (Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA)
WEGL-FM (Auburn University, Auburn, AL)
WWVU-FM (West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV)
WXYC-FM (University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, NC)

KSLU (St. Louis University, St. Louis, MO)
KUOM-FM/AM aka Radio K (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN)
WGRE-FM (DePauw University, Greencastle, IN)
WDBM-FM (Michigan State, East Lansing, MI)
WITR-FM (Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY)

From what I can gather, each week until the awards there will be a vote for best station among a list of 5 (organized geographically). Each week's winner will move on to the finals.

Voting for West Coast stations ended September 28th and you have until October 6th to vote for your favorite college radio station in the Northeast (WSOU, WERS, WICB, WBSR, or WUSB). Voting continues each week for the remaining stations.

There's also a very active "comments" section on the nominee page, so you can share your opinion or read what others have to say about the stations up for the award.

As with all awards lists, this one is very subjective and a lot of excellent stations were not recognized. Is your favorite station in the running? If not, who do you think should have been on the list?