Radio Station Visit #186: WRMC-FM at Middlebury College
This year, College Radio Day began for me in the best possible way, with a visit to Middlebury College’s student-run radio station WRMC 91.1 FM in Middlebury, Vermont. From the second that I walked into the station, on the upper floor of the Proctor Dining Hall, I was charmed by the colorful space. Lavender and […]
Radio Station Visit #185: B-Rad at Bennington College
As I was plotting out my fall vacation to New England, I imagined chilly days, falling leaves and colorful foliage. While hot weather was the norm for much of the trip, the first bit of crispness was in the air for my twilight visit to B-Rad, the student-run college radio station at Bennington College in […]
Radio Station Visit #184: WRBC-FM at Bates College
One of my favorite things about tuning in to terrestrial radio is hearing unlikely juxtapositions as stations fade in and out of each other. With religious radio covering much of the left side of the dial in some communities, there are often unintentionally bizarre mash-ups of faith-based messages with the sometimes edgier music and lyrics […]
Radio Station Visit #183: KXDU at University of Denver
In 2009, a University of Denver Magazine profile of the school’s student radio station bore the headline, “The nine lives of DU radio.” It’s a fitting description for the ebb and flow of radio activity on the Colorado campus, where there have been at least 7 distinct stations since the 1940s. The current college radio […]
Radio Station Visit #182: KRCX at Regis University
A sentence on the KRCX website, “Regis University is home to Denver’s oldest college radio station,” piqued my interest and led to a journey not only through the radio station, but down many archival rabbit holes in search of more information. The story goes that the station began as a “dorm room shortwave broadcast,” but […]
WCSB Student Leaders and Supporters Fight Against Takeover of Cleveland State University’s Student-Run College Radio Station
On Friday, October 3, as World College Radio Day was being celebrated across the country and around the globe, students were locked out of their long-time home at college radio station WCSB 89.3 FM at Cleveland State University. Word soon spread that a deal had been struck between university leadership and local public radio organization […]
Radio Station Visit #181: WMPG-FM at University of Southern Maine
One of the first things that I noticed when I arrived at WMPG-FM in Portland, Maine was a familiar-looking three-dimensional grey cardboard sign perched in the lobby window. Hidden behind a chair and near stacks of bumper stickers, the sign is on my hypothetical radio station tour bingo card. Sent by musician Leo Blais many […]
Radio Station Visit #180: WZLY-FM at Wellesley College
“Walk to the front between the two large turrets!” read the text message from WZLY historian Berit Raines, directing me to the entrance of Billings Hall, a gothic 1904 building that is home to the Wellesley College radio station as well as various student services and administrative offices. While walking across the lushly landscaped campus […]
Radio Station Visit #179: WBRS-FM at Brandeis University
“The station’s in a bit a flux,” WBRS co-General Manager Ella Thanik said apologetically, after enthusiastically greeting me at the Brandeis University college radio station around lunchtime on a Thursday in early October. The student-run station had recently been painted and various items still hadn’t returned to their proper homes. A large dry erase board […]
Love to College Radio on College Radio Day 2025
Over the years there have been so many reports about the ebb and flow of college radio and I’ve tried my best to not feed into narratives of decline. With that in mind, I was pleased to read a piece this week from Emily White, Gen Z’s College Radio Revival, which outlines feelings about college […]