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This Tuesday, October 11th marked the first annual College Radio Day all over North America and in the wake of that event, more attention has been fixated on the future of college radio (at least by the mainstream press). Understandably, stories about the celebration of the medium of college radio have been overshadowed a bit […]
College Radio Day has come and gone, but I’d like to add a historic footnote to the festivities. College radio broadcasters in the 1960s convinced Congress to fund radio as well as television in the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967. Without that campaign, it is unlikely that NPR would exist. The story is beautifully told […]
Today marks the first annual College Radio Day. More than 350 stations all over the United States and Canada have signed up to participate. The concept’s fairly simple, it’s a day when people are encouraged to tune in to college radio and the goal is increasing awareness of the amazing range of stations based at […]
Like many college radio DJs, I don’t necessarily honor the requests made by listeners. Sometimes the song suggestions don’t fit with the style of my show, other times the artists are too mainstream, but most typically I don’t have time to search the library or can’t find the selection mentioned by the caller. An unlucky […]
Last week, I helped fact-check a lengthy list of colleges who had sold or transferred control of their student radio stations to outside entities. It was a depressing chore, as I delved into the stories behind these losses. Yet, it also reminded me that there is a more heroic story that I keep wanting to […]
Amid all of the new tools for music discovery, there are many that get lumped in with online radio since they approximate a radio listening experience. Whether it’s algorithms or human DJs selecting the tunes, these customized playlists may feel like the radio of the 21st century to their users. Since I still love old-fashioned […]
The web is buzzing today with the news that R.E.M. has broken up. Once a staple of college radio, R.E.M. eventually crossed over into the mainstream. A BBC News headline today declared, “R.E.M.: The band that defined, then eclipsed college rock.” In fact, R.E.M. was one of the bands that epitomized the “college rock” or […]
Yesterday CMJ announced the nominees for its annual College Radio Awards. Based on nominations submitted by folks who report their playlists/charts to the music publication, the list of nominees includes college and community radio stations, as well as individuals who work in college radio or at college radio-connected organizations. I was excited to see that […]
Established by the Grassroots Radio Coalition in 1996 as an alternative to the increasing commercialization of public radio, the Grassroots Radio Conference (GRC), is now one of the most important nonprofit radio events of the year. In contrast to other annual gatherings such as the National Federation of Community Broadcasters (NFCB) Community Radio Conference, in […]
Awhile back I got all geeked out about the amazing college radio map that highlighted the “best college radio stations” across the United States and Canada. That map is now up to 90 stations and it ended up taking its creators on a journey to create several other college radio listening tools. Initially they built […]
