On this week’s episode we venture to prison and to a very unusual high school radio station. Members of the artist collective Provisional Island (Heidi Ratanavanich, Eileen Shumate, and Michael McCanne) speak with us about their prison-radio-themed exhibit, An Electric Kite, which is on view at the historic site/museum Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia through […]
Broadcasting to a minuscule potential audience of around 130 people during the dark days of winter, Ice Radio has much in common with my own college radio show that beamed into my school’s cafeteria at mealtimes. Similar to a college radio station in the pre-internet days, the community radio station at McMurdo Station in Antarctica […]
On this week’s podcast, we dig into the Hip Hop Radio Archive, which owes its very existence to some pioneering college radio shows. Founder Ryan MacMichael was in large part inspired by early hip hop programming that he heard over stations like Princeton University station WPRB. A work in progress, the Hip Hop Radio Archive […]
I’ve joked about the common trope of “DJs in peril” in popular culture; with numerous films portraying radio hosts as the target of evil-doers. The tables are turned in the video game “Radio Hammer Station,” in which a crew of pirate radio DJs battle “a wide variety of villainous baddies,” including aliens, zombies and “horribly […]
Like many college radio participants, I’m dreaming about my summer vacation; although in my case that also means cross-checking vacation plans with intriguing radio stations. In order to plan these tours in good conscience, I need to complete my tour reports from recent visits. College radio fans should definitely take a look at my latest […]
It was with great anticipation that I arrived at VCS Radio at Vacaville Christian Schools in Vacaville, California for a full day of immersion into the highly unusual middle school/high school radio station. Having spoken with energetic station manager Ralph Martin previously for the Radio Survivor podcast, I expected that it would be a visit […]
In 2011, I wrote about the heroic efforts in 2006 that resulted in college radio station WUEV being saved from a potential sale by University of Evansville. It was a shining example of how an open-minded university president involved students, alumni and fans of college radio station WUEV in the discussion about its future. The […]
My tour of college radio station WHPK at University of Chicago is one of the main topics on this week’s Radio Survivor podcast/radio show, so take a listen to hear more about this historic station in a Gothic bell tower. Also this week, Radio Survivor has started a new “Around the Web” feature, highlighting interesting […]
With the spring semester rapidly drawing to a close, college radio stations are wrapping up the year, hosting spring concerts (WHPK’s Summer Breeze festival is tomorrow, Saturday, May 12 in Chicago), and making preparations for the fall. With finals, papers, and graduations; it’s a hectic time. Some stations are also running summer camps for kids […]
In the fall, I had a great visit to see college radio station WHPK at University of Chicago. The focus of my 143rd station tour report (posted this week); WHPK just celebrated its 50th anniversary of FM broadcasting, although radio history at University of Chicago stretches back further. Chicago College Radio Tours I feel lucky […]
