College Radio Ode by WNUR Adviser

As you might imagine, there are always mixed reactions when a trend article in the New York Times declares that college radio is cool. On Mediageek, there's a fantastic article today about just that: NY Times Discovers College Radio Doesn't Suck...er, no duh (love the title!)

Mediageek (aka Paul Riismandel) is a long-time college and community radio DJ and is currently the adviser for Northwestern University radio station WNUR (which I was lucky enough to visit last month for my ongoing series of radio station field trips). In his piece he gives a more in-depth perspective about why college radio is such a valuable cultural institution. He also reminds us how lucky we are to have thriving indie radio stations, especially in light of the death of so many college stations in recent years due to university greed, student apathy or frequency-hungry religious groups:

"Although it seems the bloodshed has slowed, during the 90s and early 00s there seemed to be quite a slate of student stations being reclaimed by college administrations in order to be repurposed into public radio stations or even sold off to the highest bidder (usually a church or christian broadcaster). It seems that things have now stabilized, and I hope that the remaining student-run stations are able to stay that way, although I fear the economic downturn again will make college-owned stations seem like tasty prospects for quick cash."

Paul also reminds us that college radio stations aren't solely the realm of students, that often non-student DJs are a vital part of a station's programming lineup (certainly the case at my station). This, in part, is one of the reasons that college radio provides an important community service. He states:

"It’s often overlooked that most college stations are also staffed by a percentage of community volunteers who bring in both community representation and a broader range of experience. While not the same as community radio, any community that has a student-run station should be thankful that this beacon of noncommercial integrity often comes as a partial or wholly-funded gift from the college or university that sponsors it.

Yes, it may esoteric, amateurish or occasionally sophomoric, but I also know that without college radio many a community would have no jazz, classical, bluegrass, blues or experimental music on its airwaves, in addition to the more youth-associated genres of indie rock, metal, rap, dance and electronic."

I couldn't agree more!

College Radio Story in New York Times

A few days ago the New York Times published an article, "In a Digital World, College Radio Perseveres," which discusses college radio's current role in the music landscape.

According to the article:

"...campus radio stations...for generations have served as a clubhouse for connoisseurs and a training ground for the music industry."

In discussing Troy, New York radio station WRPI (at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), the article makes an interesting (and surprising) point that student DJs may not even been avid radio listeners. The article states:

"But when WRPI’s student D.J.’s leave the studio, they said, they are unlikely to listen to the radio at all. 'Even when I’m in the car, I’m usually listening to my iPod and not that much to the station,' said Blair Neal, the music director."

The article goes on to argue that with decreased listenership, college radio stations may not have the same role in the music biz that they once did:

"In the age of blogs and MySpace, college radio might seem an anachronism, an analog remnant in a digital world. With young people listening to the radio less, student stations no longer enjoy the influence they had when they gave bands like R.E.M. and Nirvana an early boost to stardom."

Yet, the piece also makes the point that college radio may be more influential than people realize, arguing:

"But instead of clashing with the Internet, the 700 or so college stations around North America have persevered alongside it, settling into a role as the slower but more loyal foil to the fickle blogosphere. And thanks to the continued passion of their personnel, the stations remain surprisingly successful at promotion, according to many in the music industry, playing a bigger part in breaking new acts than is usually acknowledged."

The article goes on to point out that college radio stations are much more likely to have an online presence, stating:

"To reach new audiences, college and other noncommercial stations have taken the lead in Internet broadcasting: 60 percent have Web streams, compared with 36 percent for all stations, according to RadioTime, an online service. KALX at the University of California, Berkeley, one of the most influential college stations, averages about 60 listeners at a time for its stream, and often has more than 100, said Sandra Wasson, its general manager. But most stations have seen only a trickle."

I agree. And would add that college radio stations often do a much better job with technology in general. Their websites are typically more sophisticated than commercial radio websites and they are much more likely to have regularly updated blogs and pages on social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace.

Spinning Indie 50 State Tour: Stop 8 - West Virginia's WSHC

It's time for another stop on the Spinning Indie 50 State Tour. The goal of this project is to do interviews with college radio stations from each of the 50 states in order to highlight fascinating stations (and their tales) from all over the U.S.

The first seven virtual stops have been to stations in Arkansas, Wisconsin, Kansas, Louisiana, Alaska, North Dakota and Nevada.

For my 8th stop, today we visit Shepherd University station WSHC-FM. College radio station WSHC is located in Shepherdstown, West Virginia in the Shenandoah Valley. Their first official broadcast was in 1974, but student-produced radio experiments were happening on campus as early as the 1950s. The station has been broadcasting 24 hours a day for about 8 years, and started netcasting in 2005. WSHC emphasizes "alternative" music and DJs are given complete freedom to program their shows.

Thanks to WSHC's Assistant Manager Todd Cotgreave for talking to me about the station. In his interview he discusses the history of the station, WSHC's role in the local music scene (including plans to set up a recording studio), the station's continued use of vinyl and cassettes, and a tale about in-studio levitation during one of their public affairs shows.

Spinning Indie: What motivated you to get involved with college radio?

Todd: I grew up listening to WCDE in Elkins WV, a 100 watt college station. I thought that was the coolest station ever. They played and said whatever they felt like. It sounded so much better than all of the commercial stations.

Spinning Indie: I understand that WSHC has been around since 1974. Can you share with me some interesting bits of trivia from the station's history?

Todd: In the mid 1950's it was run over a wire to the "Rams Den" (the campus lounge). In 1974 we were given 10 watts at 88.5 and no budget at all. The first song broadcast was "Blackwater" by the Doobie Brothers. In the early 80's the FCC told us to boost power or move to the commercial side of the radio. Because there was no budget we were bumped to 93.7. In the late 80's a new College President came to town and wanted to be able to hear the station at his house one mile away. In 1991 we went to our current status of 950 watts at 89.7. We began ...internet broadcasting within the last couple of years.

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

Todd: We focus on being eclectic and well out of the mainstream path. You can listen to other stations for top 40. We want you to hear what a small educated town has to offer.

Spinning Indie: What's the music scene like in Shepherdstown and the surrounding areas and how is your station involved with local music?

Todd: [There is a] strong local music scene with lots of diversity. WSHC has been promoting local artists for years and in the next year will be spotlighting more locals and setting up concerts for them. We are also setting up a recording studio to help up and coming locals make albums. We feel it is very important to be as involved as possible with local music, including the Shepherd University music department.

Spinning Indie: Are DJs required to play anything in particular? Is there anything they aren't allowed to play?

Todd: Try not to play anything with curse words in it. Everything else goes. From Abba and Disney songs to the latest hip hop tracks. Our automated system plays the eclectic mix we are known for. The DJ's have no regulation on their content.

Production Studio Before Remodel
(image from WSHC website)

Spinning Indie: I can see that you add digital and CD releases. How about vinyl? cassettes? What format of music gets played the most?

Todd: Well there has been a strong movement recently towards digital media, but we still have cart machines, reel to reel and turntables. Vinyl has always been a strong source here at WSHC. One of our shows, called "Vinyl Tap" (airs Mondays between 8-10pm), plays nothing but vinyl. We almost had a show called "Tape Worm" for cassette enthusiasts.

Lindsay Guild, host of "Vinyl Tap" on Monday nights 8-10pm
(Image provided by Todd Cotgreave)

Spinning Indie: What's one of the weirdest records in your library?

Todd: Well we don't have just one weird one. We have always asked small labels, independents, and locals to submit music so.... the better question is... "what is the most normal record?" Which is probably something like "King Missile."

Spinning Indie: What's the longest running show at the station?

Todd: Hard to say, we have many shows that have been running for years. I think it could be the "Old School" show DJ'ed by Direct Connection (Airs Thursday night from 8-10). He plays all sorts of stuff, mostly from the 50's to the 80's and features WV's only weekly surf report.

Spinning Indie: Are there any shows that stand out as being unique to WSHC?

Todd: We have so many unique shows. "Inner Views" hosted by Doug Herrick (Fri 5-6 pm) is a talk show that deals with conspiracy theories and government scandals and once had a man in the station that could levitate objects. Radio really doesn't get any better than in-studio levitation.

Spinning Indie: Are the majority of your DJs students? Do you have community DJs at the station?

Todd: We have a good mix of locals and students, about 60% students.

Spinning Indie: Do you listen to other college radio stations? Which stations do you love?

Todd: We can't really pick any up where we are but 89.7 out of Towson, MD [WTMD] does a great job.


Stick around...next week the Spinning Indie 50 State Tour journeys to Kentucky.

College Radio Tidbits - Socialite DJ, WRTC's Support of Student Musicians, and Student Government Radio in Texas

A few bits of college radio news:

Socialite College Radio DJ
I guess if you're in the public eye, then you can't just go and do a college radio show without someone making note of it. According to a post on Guest of a Guest, NYC socialite Annabelle Dexter-Jones hosts a show called "the Summit" on the Bard College Radio station WXBC.

Trinity College Radio Station Enhances Webcast and Promotes Student Music
An article in the Trinity Tripod discusses enhancements to the Trinity College radio station WRTC-FM in Hartford, Connecticut. According to the piece, the station has added podcasts, improved their webcast and is working more closely with campus music organizations in order to present work by students.

Texas Station will Host Student Senators in 2009
Starting in Spring 2009, Texas State University station KTSW-FM (San Marcos, Texas) will begin airing a show that will feature Q&A sessions with members of student government. According to an article in the University Star, "The show will address student government meeting topics and relevant issues presented by university students."

Montco Radio Profiled on CMJ Staff Blog

Yesterday the CMJ Staff Blog featured an interview with Aaron Henry, Music Director of Montgomery County Community College station Montco Radio (Blue Bell, Pennsylvania). In the interview, Aaron discusses the challenges of attracting student volunteers, how they've managed to get more exposure on campus for the Internet-only station, and their use of outdoor broadcasts. According to the article:

CMJ: As in internet-only station, how are you received by the campus and student body? How do you get their attention?

Aaron Henry: When I first came to Montgomery County Community College, we were the least respected and one of the least visible student clubs on campus. The station was a bit disorganized and undisciplined. But eventually we started promoting among students through the internet via MySpace and Facebook. Then Student Activities allowed us to broadcast in the cafeteria, which was huge! Now they have plans in the near future to expand our broadcast to the communications building and the bookstore. And this semester we printed t-shirts for more visibility on and off campus.

WBGU Profile on CMJ Staff Blog

CMJ has an ongoing series of "industry profiles" in their magazine and on their Staff Blog. One of the most recent interviews was with a few of the music directors of Bowling Green State University radio station WBGU (one of my former haunts). In the interview, specialty MDs Andrew Balcerzak and Brian Scavo talk about their take on the "RPM/IGE" genre, their philosophy about charting, and some of their guidelines for adding new music to the Ohio station. According to the interview:

CMJ: Explain IGE.

Andrew Balcerzak: IGE is a term which stands for “industrial gothic experimental,” and it was an additional music department which I founded back in 2002. But it had no proper CMJ chart, and most of that stuff really just charted to RPM because it was electronic in nature. Some of the gothic rock stuff… it’s more rock. So I was beholden to the RPM director at the time. And at the time the RPM director was not very interested in really working with us. A few years went by and the two departments were formally merged.

They also discuss their extensive "weekly airplay report."

Andrew: ...Now with Brian on board it’s disgustingly fleshed out. I mean we just sent out our weekly airplay report, and it’s twenty pages long!

CMJ: What kind of response have you got to your report?

AB: Two responses: “Jesus Christ, this is so long, I’m never going to read this all” and “Holy crap, I want to bind this is leather, sit by the fireside and read it…” We’re really big on…what’s the word I’m looking for Brian, responsibility? Fairness? Following the rules?

College Radio Tidbits - KAOS in HD, Prof-Student Team Show, KCRW's New MD, College Radio Novel, Bye Bye Radio Tower

Just catching up on some college radio news from the past week or so:


Evergreen State Station KAOS Gets Grant to go HD
An article today talks about Evergreen State College's community radio station KAOS and its plans to add HD programming due to a $78,000+ grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Kind of cool, but I wonder if there are any strings attached...


Professor, Student Team Radio Show at KSUU
At Southern Utah University radio station KSUU there's a team radio show about movies hosted by a student and a professor. According to an article this week, quoting show host Angie Smith:

"'A lot of the time, as faculty members, the people that work on campus don't get to do some of the fun things like go on the radio,' she said. 'They don't have as many opportunities to do that, so that was a way for me to give a fun outlet for [Professor Kevin](Stein), because he's always wanted to do radio.'"

KCRW's New MD Jason Bentley Profiled
KCRW's Jason Bentley began his new gig as Music Director this week for the Santa Monica College public radio station. An article in the LA Times profiles Bentley and talks about his lengthy history at the station, which began with him as a phone volunteer in 1988. He's been on the air for 16 years, most recently hosting the night-time show "Metropolis." This week he took over as host for "Morning Becomes Eclectic." According to the piece:

"College radio stints at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and Loyola Marymount helped give birth to his appreciation for world music and electronica...While all the cool kids who were DJ-ing wanted to play punk and hip-hop, Bentley was laying down Peter Gabriel and Youssou N'Dour, imitating such KCRW predecessor-role models as Tom Schnabel. By 1992, he was on-air himself."

Reflections on a Torn-Down Radio Tower at Boston University
An old radio tower was recently torn down at Boston University, marking the end of an era according to this blog post.

College Radio Novel
In the course of writing this blog I've run across a few writer blogs where there's been mention of a "work-in-progress" related to college radio. Wouldn't it be fun to see one of these projects happen? This time, blogger Amanda writes about her college radio-themed novel No Radio Nothing in Trunk written back in high school.