Princeton Review’s latest “Best College Radio Stations” list has been released, bringing attention to another interesting mix of college radio stations from across the United States. Appearing within The Best 392 Colleges – 2027 edition, the “best college radio station” list is comprised of 25 schools with radio stations that surveyed students considered to be popular.
Two New Entrants to the List, One Debuts at #4
I’m always excited to see a variety of stations getting attention and for this edition, two schools made the “Best College Radio Station” list for the first time in the 35 years of its publication. Eckerd College made its debut at #4, while Smith College (whose station WOZQ-FM was the site of my 200th radio station tour in March 2026) had its first appearance at #11. Additionally, two schools on this year’s list hadn’t been on the “Best College Radio Station” list in 9 years or more.
East Coast Dominates
Once again, the Princeton Review list is a mix, including large universities with multiple radio stations as well as small liberal arts colleges with online-only stations. The biggest school is Arizona State (with 203,000+ students) and the tiniest is Earlham College (670 undergraduate students). I have visited college radio stations at 8 out of the 25 schools on this year’s list, with two of those trips earlier this year!
The East Coast still dominates, although a California school has returned to the college radio list. In this edition, 11 schools from the northeast made the cut (2 from New Jersey, 3 from Massachusetts, 4 from New York, 1 from Vermont, and 1 from Maine). From the Midwest, the 5 schools hail from Minnesota, Michigan, Indiana and Ohio (2). On the west coast, only 4 schools are represented (2 from Washington, 1 from Oregon and 1 from California). The three schools from the South are from Florida (2) and Virginia. And the Southwest is represented by two schools, one each in Texas and Arizona.
Best = Popular
Although the Princeton Review describes its college radio results as “Best College Radio Station,” the title doesn’t tell the whole story. Here’s the scoop:
1. Results are based on student surveys
2. Surveys were conducted at 392 colleges. Per Princeton Review, “They are truly a select group: they comprise only about 14% of America’s nearly 2,800 four-year colleges.”
3. Students are asked to judge the popularity, not the quality, of an unspecified campus radio station at their own college
4. Radio stations are not named in the survey or in the resulting rankings
5. Only schools surveyed can make it into the rankings, so college radio stations at schools that are not surveyed by Princeton Review won’t appear on the list
A number of colleges appearing on the “Best College Radio Station” list have multiple radio stations, including student-run stations, large public radio stations, and everything in between. For this reason, it’s likely that students would indicate that their school’s radio station is “popular” if they are on a campus with a high profile professional radio station and/or with several radio stations.
Digging into Methodology
According to Princeton Review, “We tallied the rankings lists in the current edition of The Best 392 Colleges (published August 2026) based on the data from our surveys of 172,000 students at the 392 schools in the book.” Rankings are based on three years worth of data.
The methodology section of the site says that the “Best College Radio Station” list is compiled “based on students’ answers to the survey question, ‘How popular is the college radio station?” The survey specifically asks, “How much do you agree or disagree with the following statements at your school?” Among the list of statements was: “College Radio Station is popular.” Respondents were given the following options: Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neither Agree or Disagree, Agree or Strongly Agree.
How Similar is this Year’s List to Prior Lists?
For the 2027 Princeton Review list of “Best College Radio Stations,” 17 of the 25 schools were on the 2026 list. Eckerd College and Smith College are brand new entrants, not having appeared during the entire history of Princeton Review lists going back to the 1993 edition. The other six schools that did not appear last year include Carleton College and Skidmore College (both last appeared on 2025 list), Chapman University (last appeared on 2023 list), Columbia University (last appeared on 2021 list), Earlham College (last appeared on 2018 list) and Whitman College (last appeared on 2011 list).
Those that fell off the list this year were Rollins College, Illinois Institute of Technology, Dickinson College, Wellesley College, Grinnell College, Monmouth University, Macalester College, and University of Portland. It’s interesting to note that in some cases new entrants seem to parallel some of the departing schools. For example, although historically women’s college Wellesley dropped off the list, another women’s college in Massachusetts (Smith College) debuted on the list. Minnesota-based Macalester College fell off, while its neighbor Carleton College reappeared. And Florida-based Rollins College departed the list, while another Florida school debuted (Eckerd College).
The complete list for the 2027 edition is listed below. For comparison, here are the lists from the 2026, 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022 (different format- had “Great College Radio Station” list), 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009 and 2008 editions of Princeton Review.
2027 Princeton Review’s Best College Radio Stations
(aka Most Popular College Radio Stations)
Note: I’ve added station names and call signs as the Princeton Review only lists school names. Schools in bold were not on the previous “best” list for the 2026 edition
1. Seton Hall University (WSOU 89.5 FM, South Orange, NJ)
2. Reed College (KRRC, Portland, OR)
- Learn more on my KRRC tour: Station Field Trip #44
3. Carleton College (KRLX 88.1 FM, Northfield, MN) – last appearance was in the 2025 edition
4. Eckerd College (WECX 99.9 FM, St. Petersburg, FL) – first appearance on the list
5. Hillsdale College (WRFH-LP 101.7 FM, Hillsdale, MI)
6. Emerson College (WERS 88.9FM and WECB, Boston, MA)
- Learn more on my WECB tour: Station Field Trip
7. Earlham College (WECI 91.5 FM, Richmond, IN) – last appearance was in the 2018 edition
8. Washington and Lee University (WLUR 91.5 FM Lexington, VA)
9. Denison University (Doobie Radio, Granville, OH)
10. Chapman University (Chapman Radio, Orange, CA) – last appearance was in the 2023 edition
11. Smith College (WOZQ 91.9 FM, Northampton, MA) – first appearance on the list
- Learn more on my 2026 WOZQ tour
12. Mount Holyoke College (WMHC 91.5 FM, South Hadley, MA)
- Learn more on my 2026 WMHC tour
13. Columbia University (WKCR 89.9 FM, New York, NY) – last appearance was in the 2021 edition
- Learn more on my 2017 WKCR tour
14. Arizona State University (Blaze Radio – formerly known as KASC 1330 AM, Tempe, AZ)
15. Hofstra University (WRHU 88.7 FM, Hempstead, New York)
16. Bennington College (B-Rad, Bennington, VT)
- Learn more on my 2025 B-Rad tour: Station Visit #185
17. John Carroll University (WJCU 88.7 FM, University Heights, OH)
18. Whitman College (KWCW 90.5 FM, Walla Walla, WA) – last appeared in 2011 edition
19. University of Puget Sound (KUPS 90.1 FM, Tacoma, Washington)
20. Bowdoin College (WBOR 91.1 FM, Brunswick, ME)
- Learn more on my 2024 WBOR tour: Station Field Trip #174
21. Rider University (107.7 FM The Bronc, Lawrenceville, NJ)
22. Skidmore College (WSPN 91.1 FM, Saratoga Springs, NY) – last appeared in 2025 edition
23. Ithaca College (WICB 91.7 FM and VIC Radio, Ithaca, New York)
24. Rice University (KTRU-LP 96.1 FM, Houston, TX)
25. University of South Florida (WUSF 89.7 FM and formerly Bulls Radio – now Bulls Media, Tampa, FL)
Learn More about College Radio
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