KSCR Facing Potential Budget Cuts from Student Government

I just heard that USC's student radio station KSCR is in danger of losing funding from their student government ($5,000, which is a portion of their overall budget) and that there's a Student Senate vote about this issue TONIGHT. According to an article in the Daily Trojan:

"The student-run independent radio station KSCR will lose all of its allocated funding ($5,000 in the 2008-09 year) as it becomes financially independent from USG, although it can still request money from the discretionary funding board.

'From the beginning our agreement with KSCR was that it would be an independent organization, not dependent on USG,' [incoming Treasurer Ashwin] Appiah said.

Over the last few years, USG has been cutting its funding of the station by nearly 50 percent each year, and when KSCR did not respond to budget inquiries from USG this year, the committee decided to cut its funding altogether."

From what I've heard, this attempt to completely cut off funding for the student radio station came without warning. Even though KSCR does mostly survive based on donations and underwriting, every little bit of cash is crucial for non-commercial stations. It's also a nice gesture for schools to show their support for student media by kicking in some funding for college radio.

If you're a student at USC or a KSCR listener and this issue is important to you, the Student Senate meeting is tonight at 7 pm in Doheney Library in Intellectual Commons at University of Southern California (USC).

Radio Tidbits: Student Media Overhaul, Bill Ayers on BC station, High School Radio, and 25th Anniversary of Boston College Radio DJ

Here's a round-up of some college radio-related stories in the news this week:

University of Utah Student Media Overhaul

An article in the Salt Lake City Tribune discusses a proposal to converge all student media at University of Utah (including campus radio station KUTE) and the campus newspaper's concerns about how this could limit their freedom.

"Proponents say reforming the way the university supports, funds and oversees student media will benefit the campus radio station, which has operated for years on a diminishing budget that has shrunk to $15,000, as well as some 20 other media outlets.

'We're going to have a consistent source of funding until we become financially viable, then money will be spread to other publications that need it,' said KUTE station manager Sean Halls. 'This will give us more freedom to get the word out and improve the quality of our service.'"

Bill Ayers on Student Radio, But Not on Campus

There was some controversy at Boston College last month after a planned lecture by Bill Ayers was canceled by the university. Ayers ended up chatting over the air on the campus radio station (WVBC, the cable and online-only sister station of WZBC-FM) this week, according to an article in the Boston Phoenix. That's pretty awesome that the station billed as a "training ground" for WZBC ended up with the interview. Nice job!

New High School Radio Station in Ft. Worth

According to an article on PegasusNews.com, high school students in Ft. Worth, Texas now have the opportunity to participate in student radio via a new radio training program. The "station" is currently on cable and will soon be heard online. The article states: "The district unveiled its student-run radio studio, the final piece of their Advanced Media Program (AMP), Tuesday at the district's Professional Development Center in Fort Worth."

It's always nice to hear about new radio stations starting up, especially at high schools!

Festivities for 25th Anniversary of DJ at WMBR

It's amazing how long some DJs have been doing college radio. In the San Francisco Bay Area, there are definitely some DJs who've been on the air since the 1980s at KUSF, KFJC, KSCU and KZSU. And, now, a DJ (Jon Bernhardt, who also plays theremin in the Lothars) at MIT's station WMBR is throwing a big bash to celebrate his 25 years on the air. According to a press release:

"WMBR disc jockey Jon Bernhardt will celebrate his 25th anniversary with the morning Breakfast of Champions radio program on Friday, June 26, from 8 - 10 a.m. To mark this auspicious occasion, he has convinced the bands that have been played the most on his program to perform at a pair of benefit concerts at two Boston area clubs. UK legend Bevis Frond will play in his only U.S. appearance on Sunday, June 21 at TT the Bear’s along with the Condo Fucks and Sleepyhead. Versus reunites to play Church with Rebecca Gates (The Spinanes) and more guests TBA, on Saturday, June 27. Proceeds will benefit WMBR. Tickets for both shows are on sale now.

On his June 26, 2009 anniversary program, Bernhardt plans to count down the 33 songs he's played the most over his 25 year career...Bernhardt spent 18 months typing all 25 years worth of playlists into a database, so that he could figure out which bands and songs he played the most. Many of those bands will be heard on the June 26 program, and some will probably be as much of a surprise to listeners as they were to Bernhardt himself."

I love the idea of tallying playlists to come up with the most-played songs. And it's quite the impressive lineup of bands who are playing for these anniversary shows.

Commercial Rock Station does Format Publicity Stunt as Kung Pao FM

This sounds more like an April Fool's joke to me, but word is that Virginia commercial rock station WXMM has changed format (as of 5pm Thursday) and is now playing Chinese music under the moniker Kung Pao FM. According to their website:

As we continue to ride the economic roller coaster, radio finds itself in an interesting, yet exciting period. In its existence. Radio has been a viable medium for over 80 years because of its ability to change to reflect the times and the ever-changing tastes and lifestyles of it’s audience. A new era has dawned for the industry and once again we must evaluate where we are and where we are going. With iPods and other music delivery services now available, Radio must continue to change to meet the times.

Earlier this year, Max Media undertook the most ambitious project that this industry has ever seen. With the help of Harris Research, the company launched an intensive research project. Hundreds of focus groups were hosted. Ten of thousands of phone interviews were conducted. A direct mail questionnaire was sent nationally to over 1.8 million radio listeners like you. And then the arduous project of looking at the numbers and seeing what they mean and where they point us began. And today, with Hampton Roads as its first market, 100.5 is poised to begin the next generation of terrestrial Radio formats. The research is in and the numbers are irrefutable. The large gaping formatic hole that has been all but ignored? Classic Chinese Hits. This is a very exciting time and we are both humbled and honored to be at the forefront of this new wave of music programming. So please welcome to 100.5, the first of what will soon be a worldwide musical revolution. The Classic Chinese Hits sound of Kung Pao 100.5. Let the music begin!

An article on HamptonRoads.com said that the station played nothing but traditional instrumental Chinese music on Friday. Sounds pretty awesome to me and I know that my 3-year-old daughter would love it. She's a huge fan of Chinese music (there's a ton of it at our public library), so this station would be her dream come true.

But, I'm less than optimistic about the real motives of the station based on their offensive branding (Kung Pao. really?). On the surface it's not a respectful approach to Chinese culture, so it is probably a stunt. Rumor has it that the station will become classic rock station "Beer 100.5." Yikes.

College Radio and Indie Music at BEA and IASPM Conferences

The BEA Convention is happening right now in Las Vegas, bringing together broadcast educators from all over the world. It looks like a mix of "how-to" sessions, a range of panels, academic paper presentations, and confabs with staff from various stations.

In scanning through the program, I see that there are a number of of college-radio specific topics and awards being presented. Candace Walton (University of South Dakota) is slated to present a paper called, "Integrating Ethics Into the Campus Radio Station." Another panel focuses on starting up and running an Internet radio station. A session with student media advisors included David Nelson (University of Central Oklahoma) presenting on "HD radio: College radio's influence on the adoption of HD radio" and Marjorie Yambor (Western Kentucky University) giving the paper "Nurturing the Nexus: Aligning Administrators, Professors, Managers, Staff Members...and College Radio."

Other sessions focus on radio broadly, including the panel "Radio's Demise Has Been Greatly Exaggerated," in which various panelists will discuss the current state of radio. One of the panelists, Madeline Bills (San Francisco State) will present "The Role of Community Radio." Tomorrow Eric C. Covil (Northwest Missouri State) will present, "Using Guerilla Radio to Teach Ethics at a Student Radio Station." On Saturday, Barbara Calabrese (Columbia College) is presenting "Ethics and Diversity: Practical Applications in College Radio." There's also an entire panel on leadership and college radio on Saturday.

Coming up in a few weeks, the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM) Conference will take place in San Diego. I'm not seeing any college radio-specific papers on the agenda, but there are some papers dealing with indie music, music formats, punk, hip hop, and a myriad of other genres. Wendy Fonarow will present "Arguing about the Boundaries: The Contesting Definitions of Indie Music." Additionally, there will be a paper on vinyl, "'Never Mind What's Been Selling, It's What You're Buying': Capital Exchange in Buying, Collecting, and Selling Vinyl Records." There are a bunch of really interesting-sounding papers related to technology (You Tube), Internet music criticism, and how subcultures like punk are facilitated online. Sounds like fun!

I can't make it to either of these conferences, so if you are, I'd love to hear some feedback about how things went and how radio and indie culture were represented.

College Radio in the Wall Street Journal

It's a rare day when college radio gets mentioned on the front page of the Wall Street Journal (thanks to my husband's eagle eyes this morning for catching it), and as you might guess, it's in the context of money. Today's article, "New Unrest on Campus as Donors Rebel," begins:

"Financially strapped colleges are angering their benefactors by selling school radio stations, auctioning Georgia O'Keeffe paintings and dipping into their endowments for purposes their donors may not have intended."

As the piece points out, in the current economic climate, many campuses are looking to cut things that many alums and donors hold near and dear, including radio stations. I really really hope this doesn't become a growing trend, as it saddens me when colleges give up student-run stations.

As recently seen when Texas Tech's student radio station KTXT was shut down without warning, when alums and fans get angry, they will come together and protest.

The Wall Street Journal article touches on the plight of St. Olaf College radio station WCAL (see my post from last year covering this), stating that the school, "...continues to fight a legal challenge by angry donors to WCAL, the college radio station the school sold five years ago." The former WCAL is now The Current, an "indie"-rock oriented public radio station in Minnesota.

To see the latest on the WCAL protests, visit the SaveWCAL website. And, to learn about what some of the former KTXT staffers are up to, visit The Llano Idea.

And, if you have a second, take some time to tell your college campus why you value student radio. I'd rather praise now than have to protest later.

College Radio Tidbits: Musical Gems from the Promo Pile, Ratings, and Public Radio Takeover of Jazz Station?

Here's a little recap of some random college radio-related tidbits from the web this week.

Forgotten College Radio Promo is Floor Pie's New Obsession

I love this story. While watching an episode of the Simpsons with a reference to a cheesy music demo tape, the author's husband dug through some old college radio promo tapes and found a gem from Ken DeFeudis called "Run for Cover Lover." Floor Pie writes:

"Mr. Black had been music director of his college radio station back in the day, a job whose benefits apparently included first dibs on midlife-crisis-guys’ demo tapes. We popped it into the tape player and . . . oh, how to describe it? Playful Casio keyboard chords, all two of them, bounced back and forth. And then, about a beat or two behind the electric drum from the get-go, in sailed the low, nasal, heavily Boston-accented goodness of Ken’s incomparable voice..."

Definitely keep reading Floor Pie's post to learn more about this forgotten musical genius and how he had a bit of a resurgence on the old WFMU show "Incorrect Music."


College Radio (KALX, KOHL) Gets Ratings Nod in Radio Waves Yesterday

I dug the fact that in Sunday's Radio Waves column, Ben Fong-Torres mentioned some college station ratings in his recap of the latest Arbitron scores. He writes,

"Now, what about a bunch of popular stations that just haven't been popular enough to reach the upper ranks and get written up? Like, say, the other NPR station, KALW? It's at 0.8, in 33rd place, along with KKGN (Green 960) and KKIQ. How about KPIG? Its local AM (1510) outlet emits a weak squeak, at 0.1, in the same pen as KRSH (the Crush in Santa Rosa), KALX (at Cal), KOHL (from Ohlone College in Fremont), and KTRB, the talk station (and, now, home of the Oakland A's)."

After reading this, I poked around and found that some other SF Bay Area college, high school, and community radio stations also appear in these ratings, including KKUP, KVHS, and KSJS.


Mt. Hood Community College Jazz Station May Come Under Control of Oregon Public Broadcasting

Mt. Hood Community College issued a press release stating that for budgetary reasons, they may switch control of their jazz station (and public radio affiliate) KMHD to Oregon Public Broadcasting. According to the press release:

"Under the proposal, MHCC would continue to own the station, while OPB would take over programming, operational and fundraising responsibilities. MHCC President John J. 'Ski' Sygielski said the board of education will give serious consideration at its April 8 meeting to this proposed partnership with OPB. A decision is expected at the May 13 board meeting."

Mt. Hood Community College also owns student radio station The Quarry and an article in The Advocate Online mentions that the student station may gain access to an HD channel if the proposal goes through.

Fusion HD3, KUSF, KFJC and WGRE Celebrate Anniversaries

Spring seems to be the time for celebration, as several college radio stations are hosting events this week to kick off their anniversary festivities.

Fusion HD 3 Celebrates 1 Year on the Air

According to a piece in the Herald Journal, Utah State University had the first president of NPR on hand to help celebrate student station Fusion HD 3's first year on the air. The online (and HD via Utah Public Radio's KUSR) station is staffed entirely by student volunteers.

KUSF's 32nd Birthday Party

KUSF, out of University of San Francisco is celebrating its 32nd birthday on Saturday, April 25th with live bands (Kelley Stoltz, Ty Segall, and I Love my Label) and KUSF DJs spinning at the Peacock Lounge in San Francisco. It's also a benefit for the station, with a suggested donation of $10 to $20 at the door.

KFJC Listener Appreciation Party (and 50th Anniversary)

My beloved station KFJC turns 50 this year and on Saturday, April 25th there will be a free "Listener Appreciation Party," featuring free bowling, live bands Death Sentence: PANDA! and The Slow Poisoner and KFJC DJs spinning. It happens this Saturday starting at 8pm at Redwood Lanes in Redwood City.

60th Birthday Party for DePauw's WGRE on April 29th

An article in the Greencastle Banner Graphic talks about DePauw University's (Indiana) award-winning college radio station WGRE-FM, which first began broadcasting 60 years ago and was the first 10-watt FM educational station in the nation. There will be a campus celebration on April 29th, with live music and birthday cake. According to the piece,

"The FCC granted...the university a license for a 10-watt FM educational station, the first in the nation. On April 28, 1949 WGRE began broadcasting across the airwaves. They were also the first radio station in Putnam County."