Welcome to a super-sized college radio news round-up, covering more than a month’s worth of college radio news. Before launching into this massive list of stories, I have to comment on a fascinating, hyperbolic quote about college radio history.
An AP News story in the Washington Post recounts nominees for the Songwriters Hall of Fame, stating:
R.E.M. shook up the music world with its experimental, edgy sound and then earned multiplatinum success and a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The group got its start in Athens, Georgia, coming out of the region’s flourishing indie-rock scene. The band was credited for helping launch college radio with songs such as ‘Radio Free Europe.’
Who knew that R.E.M. helped launch college radio? While it has become a bit of a 1980s college radio cliche to talk about bands like R.E.M. that got their start over the college radio airwaves; this moment was by no means the “launch” of college radio. As Radio Survivor readers know, college radio dates back to at least the 1920s.
Certainly the 1980s are heralded as a strong period of college radio’s influence on the music industry, which is perhaps what this odd phrasing (“helping launch college radio”) is alluding to. Or it could also have been referencing the birth of “alternative” and “college rock” as music genres. The mainstreaming of “alternative” led to changes in the airsound of commercial radio stations, which starting playing bands that used to live on the left side of the dial on college radio.
College Radio in the Movies
Speaking of the 1980s, for those of you interested in films that portray college radio DJs, I just learned of another one. Girls Nite Out is a 1982 slasher film that has recurring scenes and themes related to a college radio DJ.
More College Radio News
Station Profiles
- WSLC is about More than Just Streaming this Year (Sarah Lawrence Phoenix)
- College Radio Station Juice FM Cork Returns (RadioToday)
- Left of the Dial: College Radio’s Enduring Impact on North Carolina Music (CLTure)
- Music Notes: A Weekly Column by the SOCC (The Catalyst, Colorado College)
- Radio Station Visit 162: KSDT at UC San Diego (Radio Survivor)
- Rebel Radio: Foothill’s KFJC has outlasted the boom and bust of commercial FM radio—and keeps on going, like a ‘Louie, Louie’ marathon (Metro)
- Get On-Air Experience with Radio Bux (The Centurion)
- WRCM Returns to “Airwaves” at Manhattan College (The Quadrangle)
Infrastructure
- WPGU Goes Back on Air after Flooding Damage (The Daily Illini)
- Lehigh and Lehigh Valley Public Media Announce Radio Partnership (Lehigh University)
- WLVR-FM Partners with Lehigh Valley Public Media (The Brown and White)
- There’s a New NPR Station in Town (Lehigh Valley Live)
- West Virginia Wesleyan $11 Million Gift to School of Business and Radio Station (WV MetroNews)
- Big Week for Goshen Media Department (South Bend Tribune)
- Community Broadcasters: Changemakers (Radio World)
Profiles of DJs and Staff + Impact of Station on Students
- October MD of the Month: Sydney Rock, WPRK Winter Park (NACC Chart)
- October Genre DJ of the Month: Gary Lowe, WUNH Portsmouth (NACC Chart)
- WESS Radio Students Prepare for Successful Future (The Stroud Courier)
- KTCU Co-Managers Put ‘College Twist’ on the Radio (TCU 360)
- DJ’s Dream: New Algorithm Helps Blend Music Seamlessly (Technology Networks)
- Lizanecz’s Plans for his Presidency (The Bates Student)
College Radio in Art and Popular Culture
- The Best Fantasy Audio Dramas: Fiction Podcasts with a Touch of Magic (Vox)
- Ree Morton’s Contemporaries: Feminist Video Art at the Tang (The Skidmore News)
- Five ’80s Slasher Flicks for October, including Girls Nite Out (The Pacific Northwest Inlander)
Events
- WMUH’s Radio Riff-off (The Muhlenberg Weekly)
- WMUL-FM’s Car Bash Drums up Homecoming Spirit (Herald-Dispatch)
- WPMD’s Broadcasting Club Heads to Washington, D.C. (Talon Marks)
- WKDU’s 16th Electronic Music Marathon (The Triangle, Drexel University)
- Jams on the Quad Invites Students to Kick Back and Enjoy the Music (AIC Yellow Jacket)
- Seton Hall Students Attend Nation’s Largest Radio Convention (Seton Hall University)
- Reveling in Reverb: KFJC Concert Celebrates Rich History of Bay Area Surf Music (Mountain View Voice)
- Wired FM Broadcasts Live from the Record Room (I Love Limerick)
- Snite Museum, WVFI Duet for ‘Art on the Aux’ (The Observer)
Anniversaries/History
- Happy 60th to College Radio Station KFJC (Radio Survivor)
- KFJC Turns 60 (San Jose Mercury News)
- KFJC 60th Anniversary Open House (Metro)
- NMSU Student Radio Station KRUX Celebrates 30 Years (NMSU Round Up)
- Stockton University’s WLFR Celebrates 35 Years as a Community Radio Station (Atlantic City Weekly)
- Stockton’s WLFR Radio Station Celebrates 35 Years of Music, Memories and More (Press of Atlantic City)
- ISU Celebrates 90-Years of Radio at the School (WTHI-TV)
- Campus Radio Station WIUP Marks 50th Year (Indiana Gazette)
- The History of Radio K on Campus (The Wake)
- This Day in History: First Internet Radio Broadcast over WXYC (Orange County Breeze)
College Radio Day
- Celebrating College Radio Day at WRMU (UMU Dynamo)
- Campus Station WETS Celebrates World College Radio Day (East Tennessean)
- Morningside College on the Air for World College Radio Day (KMEG)
- Happy College Radio Day 2019 (Radio Survivor)
- KLSU to Host College Radio Day event at Tin Roof Brewing (LSU Reveille)
- SFA Students Celebrate College Radio Day on Air (KICKS 105)
- 2019 World College Radio Day: Radio Univers to Represent Ghana in 24-Hour Global Marathon (Ghana Web)
- College Radio Day: ‘Hear it First on the Wolf Internet Radio’ (Times-Georgian – subscription required)
- Listen Up: It’s World College Radio Day (1010 WINS)
- Amarillo College Celebrating World College Radio Day (KAMR)
- World College Radio Day Unites Nearly 500 College Radio Stations Around the World (PR Newswire)
- UW Oshkosh’s WRST Marks College Radio Day (University of Wisconsin Oshkosh)
- College Radio Day Approaches (Radio World)
College Radio and Music Culture
- How Has Harvard Cultivated Hip-Hop? (Harvard Magazine)
- City Winery’s Michael Dorf Looks Back at his Ups and Downs in the Music Business (The Washington Post)
Programming
- Auburn Mayoral Candidates Featured in TV/Radio Debate (Auburn Pub)
- A Raging Culture War against Free Speech on Campus (Colorado Politics)
- Michael Dorf Reflects on Syndicated College Radio Series “Live at the Knitting Factory” (Thrive Global)
- College Radio, Eh? WHPK Playlist (The Beachwood Reporter)
Alumni
- Is Reed College’s New President Too Cool to be a University Administrator? (Portland Monthly)
- Getting to Know High Energy Gambling Personality Nick Kostos (The Big Lead)
- The Voice of the T is a College Radio Alum (The Heights)
- Chuck D Receives Woody Guthrie Prize (Newsday)
- Dovid Nissan Roetter Starts King David Network (The Jewish News)
- Murph and Mac Act Like There’s No Tomorrow (Barrett Sports Media)
- Nationally Syndicated Radio Host Rick Burgess (Alabama NewsCenter)
- By Day, Neurologist; By Night, DJ at Xray (Neurology Today)
- Anchor/Reporter Joel Feick Stepping Down after 35 Years (WEYI)
- Calgary Broadcaster Gord Gillies Retires (Global News)
Awards and Accolades
- WZND Continues Award-winning Streak (Illinois State)
- Hofstra University’s WRHU Named College Radio Station of the Year with Marconi Award (New Hyde Park, NY Patch)
- WRHU Earns Marconi 3-Peat (The Hofstra Chronicle)
- Ennes Educational Trust Scholarship Recipients Announced (Radio World)
