KRRC Image from Reed Magazine

Reed College’s tiny radio station KRRC struggled to be heard over the Portland, Oregon airwaves and now its terrestrial days may be over. Last week paperwork was filed to transfer the class D license for KRRC to Common Frequency, a non-profit devoted to community and grassroots radio. There’s a silver lining to this story, as the donation of this license to Common Frequency may actually save a tiny slice of the terrestrial dial in Portland since Reed had initially planned to simply dispose of the license.

Late last year KRRC’s license holder (The Reed Institute) turned the KRRC 97.9FM class D license back to the FCC. According to FCC records, the license was cancelled and the call sign was deleted on November 29, 2011 “per Licensee’s request.” Terrestrial broadcasts ceased on November 30, 2011 and the station moved to an online-only format. A story back in October in Reed’s student publication, The Quest, delves further into KRRC’s move off FM and stated that finances were a big factor. In response to that news, a number of concerned alumni began talking about fundraising options for KRRC back in December. Reed’s Director of Student Activities and KRRC advisor Kristin Holmberg explained that the move off FM was precipitated by KRRC losing its frequency to a commercial radio group. She said,

“Two years ago, we learned that a Cumulus station had bought our frequency.  Since we were getting bumped, we spent a long time looking for a new frequency in town.  Our dial was full and bigger stations wouldn’t consent to let us settle between them.  It was clear that we would eventually have to shut down.

In the meantime, student interest in radio was lagging.  It’s hard to have a totally student run station without a professional station manager involved.  It’s also expensive to run a broadcast station.

There had already been some student interest in going to a web broadcast format.  It’s much easier to operate and doesn’t require adherence to a large number of very technical FCC regulations. We wouldn’t have to pay lawyers to help us navigate the system as well. When we laid out all the issues, it was a pretty easy decision for the students to tell me they wanted to drop our FCC license.”

Although this sounded quite definitive at the time, Reed had a change of heart. Over the winter break, a Petition for Reconsideration was filed with the FCC by the Reed Institute. The FCC granted the Petition for Reconsideration on January 25, 2012 and the license was reinstated on the same day. On February 2, an application for the assignment of license to Common Frequency was accepted for filing by the FCC. Today, the FCC accepted for filing the Reed Institute’s request to take KRRC silent “while searching for possible channel relocation” in light of Cumulus’ plans to move commercial station KNRQ onto KRRC’s frequency.

According to Common Frequency’s Program and Technical Director Todd Urick,

“Recently KRRC’s frequency was reallocated by the FCC to a commercial broadcaster moving into Portland.  Because Reed had a secondary-service ‘Class D’ low power radio license–a type of campus broadcast license phased-out by the FCC in the late 70s–it needed to yield to any commercial broadcaster wanting to use that channel.  In the absence of any other open radio channels in Portland–coupled with broadcast coverage limited to campus (8 watts) and persistent legal and engineering expenses associated with the channel–Reed has discontinued broadcasting to concentrate on online streaming.”

In similar cases, other universities have simply turned their class D licenses back in to the FCC, as was the case with both the Paul Smith’s College station WPSA and the Central College station KCUI back in December, 2011. With the scarcity of available frequencies on the terrestrial dial, it’s always surprising and sad to me to hear of potentially usable licenses being turned back to the FCC. With that in mind, Urick explained that Common Frequency was interested in helping to preserve Reed College’s channel for community use in Portland. He explained that,

“Common Frequency…has agreed to pursue any ditch attempts to invest engineering and legal resources to search for possible solutions for the defunct radio channel.  The central Portland area has no viable open channels primarily due to the proliferation of licensed translators, translator applications, and commercial stations changing their communities of license into the Portland market.  For the slim possibility that any option is found for purchasing a translator or moving the channel outside of central Portland, Common Frequency intends to provide that channel back to the local community for student and community usage.”

Regarding the transfer of the license to Common Frequency, Holmberg added,”It seems like a nice thing for us to do since we weren’t using it.” She said that the online-only station is still a work in progress, saying, “…we’re not up and running yet! But hope to be soon!” Urick also told me that he’s spoken with Reed students about various options for resuming terrestrial broadcasts on campus.

With a history dating back to 1955, student radio at Reed has existed in a number of forms, with various call sign changes and frequency changes over the years. Some amazing photos documenting the station’s past, including a picture of alumnus Dr. Demento, can be found in a Reed digital archive.

USF Students Protesting at January 18, 2012 Protest at Entercom (Photo: Steve Rhodes)

January 18, 2012 marked the one year anniversary of the sudden shutdown of University of San Francisco’s (USF) college radio station KUSF.

Back in 2011, the hopeful buyers (Classical Public Radio Network aka CPRN) probably didn’t anticipate that 12 months later the sale would still be awaiting FCC approval.

Save KUSF volunteers continue to fight the proposed sale and were out in force on January 18 at a protest outside the headquarters for commercial radio conglomerate Entercom.

Upstairs, the formerly commercial KDFC was still broadcasting from Entercom’s studios, although under different ownership (CPRN) and on the non-commercial side of the dial using rented airspace from KUSF 90.3 FM and utilizing the one CPRN-owned station: KDFC 89.9 FM (which had the call letters KNDL before it was purchased by CPRN in 2011). KDFC was also marking its own one year anniversary of becoming listener-supported by facilitating the move of the KUSF transmitter from USF to Sausalito and by kicking off its first on-air fundraiser.

Behind the scenes, USF and CPRN were also quietly updating their asset purchase agreement in order to extend the official “Closing Date” for the KUSF sale for another six months from January 12, 2012 to July 12, 2012. Additionally, owing to the length of time that has elapsed since the original agreement, this recent amendment also contains a provision that “in consideration of the extension of the time for Closing under the Agreement,” CPRN was to pay USF $100,000 by January 31, 2012.

In his one year anniversary update on KDFC.com, KDFC’s President Bill Lueth shared the news of the transmitter move, saying,

“The signal for 90.3 has been moved from the University of San Francisco campus (the current license holder of the signal) to a hill above Sausalito. The signal is in a testing phase. This will improve coverage from Northern Marin to SFO, and along the same latitudes in the East Bay on the west side of the hills from El Cerrito to Oakland, and possibly further south. Line of site constraints and building penetration issues may cause continued reception problems in some areas, but generally this new antenna location should be a vast improvement for many in the coverage area of this signal. We continue to look for solutions for improved coverage for areas still not covered by our current signals. Thanks for your patience and support.”

According to CPRN’s Managing Director Brenda Barnes, since they’ve been busy with the fundraiser, they haven’t yet had an opportunity to fully assess how the transmitter move has affected coverage. She also explained to me that the January 19th-27th on-air pledge drive was only occurring over CPRN-owned 89.9 FM, saying, “We are fundraising only on KDFC and the webstream, not on the stations we do not yet own (KUSF and the Los Gatos translator).” With increased FCC scrutiny of the deal to purchase KUSF, CPRN/KDFC is clearly taking care to comply with FCC regulations related to third-party fundraising. When I spoke with Barnes last week it was in the middle of the fundraiser and Barnes was enthusiastic about how it was going, saying, “The first membership drive on KDFC is going very well and we remain determined to preserve classical radio for the Bay Area.”

The week prior, at the Save KUSF protest at Entercom, Barnes actually spent nearly an hour chatting with KUSF supporters. She explained, “I was not at the protest but a few members of the Friends of KUSF came up to the station and we talked there for awhile, then building security came and asked us to leave.  We then went outside and talked more.  We talked for about an hour and I found it very helpful.  I offered to talk again anytime and to help them with fundraising.”

Audio from that conversation between Barnes and various Save KUSF representatives can be heard on the San Francisco Bay Independent Media Center website. During the discussion Barnes says repeatedly that she supports community and college radio. Early on she tells Save KUSF’s Irwin Swirnoff, “I believe in what you’re doing and I’m not an enemy by any stretch of the imagination.” She acknowledged that University of Southern California (USC, which is 90% owner of CPRN) was providing funding for the purchase of KUSF and pointed out that USC is interested in having a a “tangible presence” in the San Francisco Bay Area in order to connect with alumni and potential students.

Old KUSF Studio. January 2012

Swirnoff grilled Barnes about the details surrounding USF’s alleged “premature” transfer of control of KUSF, pointing out that the studio was destroyed and that KUSF’s chief operator Michael Bloch seemed to not understand where KUSF was broadcasting from.

Swirnoff also said that Bloch had “stepped down” and Barnes added that, “Michael is going on sabbatical.” Sources at USF tell me that the new Chief Operator of KUSF-FM, as of January 23, is USF Associate Dean for Sciences Chris Brooks. Unlike Bloch, Brooks has some radio experience, having been a DJ and Production Director at college radio station WCBN while he was a graduate student at University of Michigan. I tried to reach both Bloch and Brooks and had not received a response at press time.

During her conversation with Swirnoff and other Save KUSF supporters, Barnes also pointed out that she knew that there would be protests against the KUSF sale and that she’d been upfront with USF about that. She repeated that she wished that they didn’t have to compete for the airwaves, but was also clear that CPRN had the right to purchase a station that was for sale, saying, “USF owns the station. It’s their station…and they had a right to sell it…”

In probably the most revealing part of the conversation, Barnes shared some information about CPRN’s attempt to purchase KUSF several years ago. She explained that she had encouraged KUSF General Manager Steve Runyon to work on KUSF’s relationship with USF in order to prevent the station from being sold in the future. According to Barnes, “There was a process before this…5 years ago…we were the ones that tried to buy it…I sat down myself with the university and said…this is a long-standing service…this is not going to be an easy endeavor to sell the station and you’ve got to really…be sure that this is what you want to do.”

Former KUSF Space in Phelan Hall. January 2012

Ultimately USF decided to not sell KUSF at the time and news of the thwarted sale was leaked to local press. According to a December, 2006 article in the SF Weekly, “The story was first reported back in October by Radio Alice personality Hooman, who claimed on the air that he had heard from a reliable source that University of San Francisco President Rev. Stephen Privett was angling to sell the station to a public radio interest.” After the sale fell through Barnes said,

“I sat down with [KUSF General Manager] Steve Runyon… and I said you have an opportunity here to do something different and to forge a different relationship with the university so that this doesn’t happen again, but you’ve got to do something different…obviously they’re not feeling solid about the station…It’s their station. They own it. You don’t own it…you have an opportunity…So I sat down with Steve and I tried really hard to talk to him and say you really have to do something different here. You dodged a bullet. This station’s important. You’ve been here a long time. You need to do something different. So I just want you to know, that I really tried and I did have that conversation with him. And I really encouraged him to try to lobby, pull everyone together and forge a different relationship with the university so it wouldn’t happen again.”

When I spoke with Runyon today, he told me that when Barnes stopped by KUSF five years ago she’d been impressed with the station. He added, “She told me that we were a treasure that the university should support.” Runyon said that Barnes told him that she’d passed along that advice to Father Privett as well. Additionally, Runyon explained that they did “take to heart” improving the station’s relationship with the college and pointed out that Barnes doesn’t know the details of what they did and didn’t do to forge those ties. He said, “I’ve always been really proud of the stuff we did [at KUSF].” He cited the station’s commitment to “social justice programming,” its range of shows in different languages, and its connection to the city of San Francisco. He went on to explain that both students and faculty were active participants at the station over the years. He did add, however, that “morale was never the same” after the rumored sale five years ago.

Barnes said that after several years elapsed, KUSF was back on the market. She said, “Then when the station came on the market again a year ago, a year and half ago or whatever…the university had decided this time…they were done, that other relationship hadn’t been forged…and so, what do you do…it’s not like I haven’t tried…haven’t respected it…when push comes to shove, the university has the right to sell it…it’s now in the FCC’s hands…we’ll have to see how it turns out.”

As has been the case at other stations, the ins and outs of preventing a station sale are complex. As we can see with KUSF, the fight to save the station has been years in the making and in many ways this serves as a cautionary tale to other stations that have seen warning signs like KUSF did.

USF Media Studies Professor Dorothy Kidd has been a vocal opponent of the KUSF sale and in reflecting back on 2011 she said, “What I learned this year is how valuable KUSF had been for students, the San Francisco community and especially for musicians, music-lovers and artists of all kinds. Even more so, it renewed my love and support for radio, a commons resource that is still really needed by local communities, students, educators and citizens across the U.S.”

While USF officials await news from the FCC about the KUSF sale, the future of the promised-for online-only student radio station remains in limbo. The old KUSF studios were dismantled months ago and Phelan Hall construction is proceeding to make way for student housing. A few weeks back an old piece of KUSF equipment even showed up on eBay. The two remaining KUSF.org staff members have been moved across campus to a small office and a proper broadcasting studio has yet to be built.

USF students interested in volunteering and gaining experience at a campus radio station are left with few options other than shuttling across town to KUSF in Exile, which is being operated by former KUSF volunteers. Kidd said, “There is no operating KUSF right now. Many students are disappointed as are faculty and staff. I continue to hope that we can learn from this crisis and build a better service for students, the university and the city.”

Swirnoff said that he remains energized about the fight to save the frequency. He said, “I feel really excited about the continued commitment from the community.” Swirnoff also said that the combination of both legal efforts and public protests have been effective methods to raise awareness about the situation at KUSF. He is optimistic about the future actions of the FCC, saying, “I have hope that public hearings could happen.”

WPSA Turns Back License to FCC

Over the winter holidays, Paul Smith’s College in The Adirondack Park in New York sent a letter to the FCC asking that its class D FM license for college radio station WPSA be cancelled.

The December 12, 2011 letter was accepted by the FCC on December 20, 2011 and the 98.3 FM license was deleted. Back in October, 2011, WPSA was granted a request for the station to go silent. This cancellation follows a series of forfeiture orders due to WPSA’s late renewal of its FCC license in 2006.

In 2007 it was issued a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture in the amount of $7,000 for failure to renew its license on time and for “unauthorized operation of the Station” after its license had expired. WPSA never ended up paying the $7,000 fine and in correspondence with the FCC in April 2011, it was instead assessed a reduced fine of $250. This reduced amount was in part due to the elapsed time since the original forfeiture order and in part due to the station’s class D status. According to the letter, “We note that the Station is a Class D station. Given the Commission’s recent precedent assessing forfeitures in the amount of $250 against a licensee of a Class D FM station for violating Section 301 of the Act, we will reduce the forfeiture amount sua sponte from $4,000 (the amount set forth in the NAL for the Section 301 violation) to $250.”

Back in 1999, WPSA had its license cancelled for the first time by the FCC and the call sign was deleted. Interestingly, two years later, the school filed a Petition for Reconsideration and managed to have the license reinstated in 2001.

WPSA Poster from 1993 (Source: WPSA Facebook Group/Joel Rodgers)

I couldn’t find much information about the station’s history, but alumni have shared reminiscences dating back to at least the 1970s. As a class D station operating at no more than 10 watts, it’s doubtful that WPSA had much of a presence beyond campus.

When I spoke with Jill Susice, the Coordinator for Student Activities at Paul Smith’s College, she told me that WPSA ceased its FM broadcasting at the end of the fall semester 2011. She also explained that its antenna only covered a 2 mile radius, which was “basically just the campus.” Susice added that they are working on bringing the station back as an online-only student radio station “hopefully by the end of the year or early next semester.” She explained that students were involved with the decision to give up the FM license, saying, “Students were involved in the decision and there wasn’t the interest in the radio station to continue.  No one was listening and wanting to participate in it.  The trend is that the students are on-line versus on the airways.”

KICK FM May Get Booted off FM for Training Students

Word came out today that Canadian campus radio station KICK-FM (CKIC-FM) has heard from the regulatory agency Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) that it is in danger of losing its FM license if it continues to provide radio training to students.

The Winnipeg-based station is located at Red River College and is owned by the non-profit Cre-Comm Radio Inc. The rumor is that this signals a bigger move by the CRTC in which they will be moving all instructional campus radio stations off of terrestrial radio. According to KICK-FM, “Even though the policy suggests the CRTC encourages Instructional Campus stations to continue using their stations to teach, it was made perfectly clear to us today that that is no longer the case. We were told that if we intend to train students, our current license, which expires Dec. 31, will NOT be renewed.” A post on KICK-FM’s Facebook page today stated:

“…today the CRTC informed KICK-FM that, under the new campus radio policy, we will no longer be allowed to train students for a career in radio. As you may know, our raison d’etre is training students from Red River College’s Creative Communications program.

So, what does this mean? It is doubtful that RRC will want to continue funding a radio station that does not work within its educational department. Therefore, it seems unlikely at this point in time that KICK-FM will remain on-air.

There is a possibility of moving the educational radio station to an internet-only feed. We will keep you posted.

It must be stressed here how disappointing this news is to us. I’m sure those students who are keen on pursuing a radio career with our assistance, and those in the local music community who we’ve steadfastly supported for the past 8 years, will share in our disappointment.”

KICK-FM added that, “the new policy is for the station to offer access only to community volunteers. RRC funds the station, but only does so because we help train students.” This is apparently related to CRTC’s revised campus radio station policy, which was released in 2010. The policy doesn’t explicitly require campus instructional stations to go off-air, so this news today is surprising. Based on my reading of the rules it would seem that KICK-FM should be able to request a change in its license status to a campus-based community station. Here are the relevant sections of the revised CRTC policy on campus stations:

“The Commission notes that there are currently only a few undertakings licensed as campus instructional stations. They are distinct within the campus and community radio sector as they operate with close ties to the administration of their respective post-secondary institutions and are often used as tools to attract students.

The Commission has not licensed a new instructional station since 2007. The Commission further notes that instructional stations are meant to train future commercial broadcasters. In the Commission’s view, such training could just as easily be provided through closed-circuit, carrier current or Internet-based broadcasting using much of the same studio equipment. Broadcasting schools that do not currently have a licensed station could therefore offer such training.

As a result, the Commission considers that it is not necessary to maintain a distinction between campus instructional and community-based campus stations. The Commission will not licence campus instructional stations in the future and will instead licence all such stations as campus stations in accordance with this policy.

All campus radio stations provide training to volunteers. The Commission notes the specific role that stations currently licensed as campus instructional play in training broadcasters who will work for commercial radio stations. The Commission encourages these stations to pursue this goal within the new campus station framework, or through alternative means of broadcasting (e.g. the Internet, closed circuit or carrier current).

At their next licence renewal, existing campus instructional stations will have the opportunity to request conditions of licence specific to their circumstances within the campus radio licensing structure.”

At Red River College, students in the Creative Communications program have had access to coursework in broadcasting, which has been augmented by the ability to work at campus radio station KICK-FM.

iHeartRadio Joins Forces with College Stations

Corporate commercial radio behemoth Clear Channel and fiercely independent college radio might not seem like the most logical of partners, but they are joining forces on iHeartRadio. Last fall I’d heard that Clear Channel was planning to incorporate college radio stations into its iHeartRadio tool and today they confirmed that rumor by announcing that they will be adding 14 college radio stations to iHeartRadio later this month. This is part of their overall strategy to broaden the scope of their digital radio service beyond just Clear Channel-owned stations. It also comes on the heels of their announcement on Friday that the two college-owned public radio stations, KCRW (Santa Monica College) and KUSC (the classical radio network owned by University of Southern California), would also be added to iHeartRadio.

iHeartRadio’s expansion heated up last fall when they added custom stations. By October they had announced plans to add Christian radio conglomerate K-LOVE as well as Spanish language programming from Univision. According to John Hogan, President and CEO of Clear Channel,

“Bringing college radio stations to iHeartRadio is a great source of local and independent programming that offers our users a more diverse listening experience and also provides listeners new opportunities for music, news and sports exposure and discovery…Many of our top on-air personalities started their radio careers at college radio stations and we are glad to give back by providing these great college stations with an industry-leading national distribution platform — iHeartRadio.”

Clear Channel plans to add additional college radio stations to iHeartRadio, but is launching the college radio category with the following 14 stations:

1.  Appalachian State’s WASU

2.  Connecticut College’s WCNI

3.  Dartmouth College’s WFRD

4.  Denison University’s WDUB

5.  DePaul University’s Radio DePaul

6.  Emerson College’s WERS

7.  Flagler College’s WFCF

8.  Green River College’s KGRG

9.  Ithaca College’s WICB

10.  Rice University’s Rice Radio (KTRU)

11.  Seton Hall University’s WSOU

12.  Stanford University’s KZSU

13.  Temple University’s WHIP

14.  College of Wooster’s WCWS

It’s an interesting range of stations, from the metal-oriented WSOU to the eclectic KZSU to the slicker adult alternative station WERS. Even KTRU (aka Rice Radio) is getting a chance at a broader audience after losing its FM frequency last year. I will be curious to hear feedback from the college radio community about these deals, as it’s unclear to me if stations will be viewed as selling out or if they will be heralded for savvy marketing. Who knows, as iHeartRadio expands into more content areas, it may just be viewed as an innocuous listening tool ala iTunes. iHeartRadio can be heard online, via mobile applications, and in some automobiles.

KUSF Anniversary Protest

Radio Survivor readers are familiar with the twists and turns related to the January 18, 2011 shutdown of University of San Francisco’s college radio station KUSF and the resulting year of protests. On that date, at 10am, music turned to static as the KUSF transmitter was shut down in preparation for transferring control of the station to the formerly commercial classical station KDFC.

By the end of the day on January 18, 2011, KDFC could be heard not only on its original frequency of 102.1 FM (owned by Entercom), but also on KUSF’s 90.3 FM. This simulcast was short-lived, as a secret deal had set the wheels in motion for Entercom to offload KDFC’s brand to the resurrected non-commercial entity of Classical Public Radio Network. KDFC would soon leave its commercial 102.1 FM home (much to the dismay of classical music fans throughout the San Francisco Bay Area) and shift its broadcast to the less powerful 90.3 FM out of San Francisco. Classical Public Radio Network is renting airspace from University of San Francisco and still hopes to purchase the 90.3 FM frequency. Currently the FCC is still investigating the proposed license transfer.

In a nod to Entercom’s role in this deal, Save KUSF will be hosting a protest tomorrow at Entercom headquarters in San Francisco (201 Third Street at Howard) from 10am to 11am to mark the one year anniversary of the shutdown. An after-party, which will include guest speakers and KUSF in Exile DJs, will take place from 7 to 10pm at WIX Lounge (3169 22nd Street, between Capp and Mission in San Francisco).

KCUI gets deleted

Just before winter break, college radio station KCUI officially ended its life as an FM station when its license holder, Central College, turned its class D FM license back in to the FCC. Although it was a tiny station at just 10 watts out of Pella, Iowa, it had been a fixture at the private liberal arts college since at least 1976 (when it was licensed for 10 watts at 89.1 FM).

According to FCC records, KCUI is now listed as a deleted station, with its “license cancelled and call sign deleted” by request of the license holder on December 6, 2011. The license was not set to expire until February 2013. It’s unclear what the current state of the station is on campus. KCUI’s website isn’t up-to-date, as the most recent schedule posted on the site is from 2005.

Ironically, in June 2005 KCUI had its license cancelled and call sign deleted (for the first time) by the FCC due to the fact that Central College had neglected to file a license renewal in October 2004. Central College filed a Petition for Reconsideration in 2006 and that petition was granted in January 2007. The call sign was then restored in 2007, following Central College’s belated license renewal. At the time they were also issued a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture in the amount of $7,000 for “failing to timely file a license renewal application for the Station” and for “engaging in unauthorized operation of the Station after its authorization had expired.”

Station alumni reported in April 2011 that there were rumors that Central College would be taking KCUI off the terrestrial airwaves due to the expense of running the station. Former KCUI Advisor Bonnie Dahlke said, “The station itself had few listeners and the broadcast area was less than 1 mile surrounding campus.  It was not a large operation.  It was no surprise that a decision was made to scrap it and focus on other areas.” Dahlke told me that when she was the advisor for the station between 2004 and 2006, there were only a handful of DJs. According to Dahlke, it was a challenge for students to maintain the station over the years. She said,

“At the time there were 3 senior students managing the station and maybe 5 DJs or so.  When those seniors graduated, there really wasn’t much interest amongst remaining students in leading the charge so I cobbled together a student contact or two to try to keep things going. It’s definitely not an advisor’s job at a college/university to keep a student-run initiative going and I had no expertise in media.

In 2006, the communication studies department took it back…They had several adjunct faculty advise it over the years who I have no doubt had interest and expertise but didn’t have enough time to spend chasing after student managers reminding them all the things they should be doing to keep the station going.

Meanwhile, the communication studies department was moving in a different strategic direction overall–more focused on rhetoric and theory-based curriculum than media.  When faced with budget and staffing cuts, schools of all sorts have had to make decisions regarding what they will and will not focus on.  For Central, media was left behind as there are many other colleges/universities in the area that have more to offer in those areas. Rather than trying to keep up with the Jones’, I think it was a matter of prioritizing other areas in which the school could be stronger than competitors.”

I attempted to speak with someone from Central College’s Communication Studies Department, but was unable to reach anyone prior to publication. Hopefully after the new semester begins, we will learn more about future plans for KCUI.

ON AIR sign at the old Pirate Cat Radio (Photo: J. Waits)

The FCC released a list today, updating its statistics on the total number of licensed broadcast stations in the United States.

Based on this list, there are more radio stations today (14,952) then there were a few months ago.

The number of AM stations, FM commercial stations, and FM educational stations all increased since the end of September, 2011. The only categories in which there was a drop in the number of radio stations were FM translators/boosters and Low Power FM.

By the end of December, 2011, there were 87 more radio stations in the United States than there were at the end of September. FM educational stations (college radio, high school radio, public radio, community radio, and religious broadcasters) picked up the most stations and increased by 72. By the end of the year there were 10 fewer LPFM stations and 114 fewer FM translators/boosters.

As of December 31, 2011:

AM Stations:                         4,766 (up from 4,763 in Sept. 2011)
FM Commercial Stations:      6,542 (up from 6,530 in Sept. 2011)
FM Educational Stations:       3,644 (up from 3,572 in Sept. 2011)
Total Radio Stations:        14,952 (up from 14,865 in Sept 2011)

Not included in Total Radio Stations:

FM Translators and Boosters:   6,099 (down from 6,113 in Sept 2011)
Low power FM:                            838 (down from 848 in Sept 2011)

Radio Sound Only Sign at KZSC (Photo: J. Waits)

Happy 2012.

Over the past few weeks, Matthew, Paul and I have written up our obligatory “year-end” pieces, summarizing some of the big radio trends from 2011.

I covered college radio in my article, 2011: The Year that College Radio Fought Back, Paul wrote about some of the technological changes in music in his piece, 2011: The Year Radio Entered the Cloud, and Matthew covered Internet radio and social networking in 2011: The Year that Internet Radio Went Social.

All three of these topics were covered throughout the year on Radio Survivor, but there were some additional stories that proved to be compelling for readers. The biggest radio story of the year in terms of traffic was about Family Radio and its founder Harold Camping. In fact, the majority of our top ten stories were about Harold Camping’s role in predicting Judgment Day and the end of the world (May 21 and October 21, respectively). Additionally, one of the top search terms bringing people to Radio Survivor was “Harold Camping.” Recent changes at KGO also drew in a lot of readers and even though these changes took place within the past few weeks of 2011, “KGO” jumped to 2nd place in terms of search terms bringing people to Radio Survivor. Others came to the site looking for information on the following topics: Pandora Alternative, Zune, KUSF, Spotify, Opie and Anthony salary, Lynn Samuels, and Randy Michaels.

Here are the Most Read Stories of 2011 on Radio Survivor:

1. Family Radio Counts Down to Judgment Day on May 21

2. Harold Camping to Issue Statement Today on Non-Rapture

3. Harold Camping Explains that Judgment Day was Spiritual

4. KGO Cuts Talk Shows, Angers Many San Francisco Listeners

5. Microsoft Cancels Zune HD, Leaving One Last Portable HD Radio on the Market

6. Family Radio’s Harold Camping Speaks, End of World “Probably” on October 21

7. Harold Camping Issues Vague Apology, Says World Will End Without Warning

8. My Kindle Fire is an Internet Radio

9. Behind the Scenes at Family Radio as May 21st Judgment Day Approaches

10. Talk Radio Lovers Facebook and Tweet Pain over KGO Host Bloodbath

2011 Year-End Review for College Radio

The champagne is chilling in the ‘fridge, marking the end of another year. As I look back on the events of 2011, it’s been a rough year for college radio.

But, at the same time, 2011 will go down in history for its worldwide protests. Time recently named “the protestor” as its person of the year and Occupy protests have captivated the world (see Chris Stroffolino’s piece about the potential connections between the Occupy and Save KUSF movements). College radio fans upset about the loss of their stations also embraced the power of protest in 2011, putting up an impressive fight against both universities and radio consolidation.

As the year began, Rice University station KTRU was already in the midst of fighting the pending sale of its frequency to University of Houston. And then, during winter break, University of San Francisco (USF) shut down its beloved radio station KUSF without warning on January 18. By the end of the day, the sounds of formerly commercial station KDFC were being piped out of 90.3FM and KUSF fans began to organize under the mantle of Save KUSF. A serious protest effort began in earnest and station allies rallied at USF, at San Francisco’s City Hall, and at Entercom headquarters to express their displeasure with the deal.

The series of transactions leading to KUSF’s demise included commercial radio conglomerate Entercom offloading classical brand KDFC to Classical Public Radio Network (CPRN) in order to create a rock super station on KDFC’s former frequency (102.1 FM). Then, CPRN made an offer on the KUSF frequency  (90.3 FM) and on religious station KNDL’s frequency (89.9 FM) in Napa County. The KNDL sale went through without controversy and CPRN changed its call letters to KDFC. The KUSF sale, however, has faced scrutiny not only from college radio supporters, but also from the FCC.

College radio fans across the country rallied to express their support for KUSF by participating in a live multi-cast a month after the shut-down on Feburary 18th.  Former KUSF DJs took the stage at Amoeba Music in San Francisco and their sets could be heard live on 15 college and community radio stations all over the country, as stations gave up their own airwaves in order to bring attention to the plight of KUSF.

A few months later, after KTRU lost its fight to save its frequency from being sold to University of Houston, another nationwide protest took place. College Broadcasters, Inc. organized a national minute of silence on April 28, to mark KTRU’s final moments on the terrestrial dial. It was a powerful piece of activism and I couldn’t help but feel the impact of the loss of college radio stations when I scanned my radio dial in San Francisco and heard silence on a few of my favorite college radio stations.

In June, Vanderbilt University station WRVU became the next casualty added to the list of fallen terrestrial college radio stations. Although the sell-off of the station had been rumored since 2010, it came as a shock when a CMJ reporter revealed that the station’s call letters had been changed on June 1. A day after this news leaked, the owners of WRVU admitted that they were planning to sell the FM license to Nashville Public Radio. Later that day, WRVU DJs were locked out of the studio and the station’s broadcast was set to automation. Music from Classical 91.1 soon began airing over WRVU’s old frequency. The organization WRVU Friends and Family has been working to fight the proposed station sale ever since. Paperwork has yet to be submitted to the FCC regarding this transaction, so the tactics of WRVU supporters have been a bit different than those of Save KUSF. Rather than filing Petitions to Deny with the FCC (which can’t be done until the FCC has paperwork for the sale), WRVU Friends and Family are focused right now on fundraising and publicity.

Back at KUSF, protests, publicity and fundraising have also been the focus of activities this year. However, since paperwork related to the pending sale was filed with the FCC, numerous legal filings have been a big part of the effort to save the station. Following these legal filings from KUSF supporters, the FCC sent an unprecedented letter of inquiry to CPRN and USF in June, asking for the parties involved with the proposed sale of KUSF to provide a wide range of documents regarding both the station sale and the agreement allowing CPRN to utilize KUSF’s airwaves in advance of the sale’s approval by the FCC.

Nearly a year after the shut down of KUSF, the FCC still has not made a decision about the pending sale. The KUSF studio was dismantled in May and its former home in Phelan Hall became a construction zone. Although USF stated in January 2011 that KUSF was transitioning to an “online only format,” that promise hasn’t been fully realized following the destruction of the studio in May. Former KUSF DJs teamed up with WFMU and are broadcasting from an off-campus location under the moniker of KUSF in Exile.

In addition to the woes at KTRU, KUSF, and WRVU, several other college radio stations left the FM dial this year. Brown Student Radio (BSR) lost its part-time lease of 88.1 FM in Providence, Rhode Island in August when the frequency’s owner, the Wheeler School, decided to lease its entire broadcast day to Rhode Island Public Radio. This also meant that Wheeler School students lost their access to the terrestrial dial, as their station was taken online-only. Also in Providence, Bryant University took its student station WJMF off 88.7 FM in order to forge a partnership with public radio station WGBH out of Boston. As part of a revenue-sharing deal, WGBH is airing its classical station WCRB over the old WJMF frequency. Student radio at Bryant is continuing online and over an HD channel.

Another station, WXLV, at Lehigh Carbon Community College, is also rumored to be at risk. Although a rally was held in May and a Facebook group was established to help save the station from a possible sell-off, it’s unclear if there are ongoing efforts to preserve the frequency as a college radio station. An article in The Morning Call back in May stated that the university was considering a station sale and that a few parties were interested in purchasing the license. Interestingly, there are some familiar players involved, including Public Radio Capital (the part-owner of CPRN) and Burr Beard (a public radio and college radio veteran who was embroiled in some controversy during his short time as General Manager at WTJU) According to the piece,

“As the college looks to offset a $1.3 million reduction in state funding it’s considering selling the radio station. The school has had the radio station’s license appraised but has yet to move forward with a sale, said Heather Kuhns, LCCC’s associate dean of institutional advancement…The station’s former director, Burr Beard, said he’s made a pitch to buy the station but doesn’t have the hundreds of thousands of dollars needed to buy the radio license. Beard wants to lease the station for a year and then possibly buy it with help from Public Radio Capital, a national financial backer in Denver.”

We’ll have to wait to see what the future holds for WXLV. The good news, though, for WXLV and other stations in crisis is that 2011 was also a great year for college radio bonding. In addition to national protests, a number of “college radio in crisis” panels took place at conferences all across the country (SXSW, UCRN, NFCB, GRC, CMJ, and CBI to name a few). Press coverage for college radio skyrocketed and the first ever celebratory College Radio Day took place on October 11. And, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that overseas, college radio station Radio One 91 FM in New Zealand successfully fought off a potential sale after mounting a protest campaign that included a week of radio silence.

So, although, there have been some big losses for college radio in 2011, the voices of college radio supporters have also been loud and resounding.  We’ll have to wait to see what’s in store for college radio in 2012, but I’m hopeful that it still has a long future ahead of it thanks to its passionate practitioners and supporters.