College Radio News Roundup: Budget Woes, Anniversaries, Festivals, Awards, Radio Reunion and Rebranding
In addition to the lengthier stories that we’ve been running about saving college radio lately, I also wanted to share a few other recent college radio-related articles, many of which provide a more optimistic perspective on the state of student radio. Here are a few reports from the scene: Budget Woes at WMUC The past […]
Pacifica radio donations up, but board/governance costs soar
There’s good news in the Pacifica radio network’s latest financial audit. Listener donations to the five listener supported radio station non-profit rose in 2010 from their catastrophic drop of almost $4 million between 2008 and 2009. The donation total was $10,585,979 in 2010, up from $9,808,729 in 2009. That doesn’t compensate, of course, for the […]
The mediageek’s advice for college stations, part 1: Be true to your school
Having followed Jennifer’s first-rate coverage of the unfortunate sales of college stations KTRU, WRVU[apologies for the error, WRVU has not been sold, but it is under threat] and KUSF I’ve been giving a lot of thought as to how college stations solidify themselves. As some readers may be aware, in addition to fourteen years of […]
The brief run of Pachindau People’s Radio in Zimbabwe
Kanyi Pamukwendengwe a Rusitu villager in Zimbabwe writes in the South Africa Mail & Guradian about the brief run of Pachindau People’s Radio, an unlicensed shortwave station that broadcast from Chimanimani in Eastern Zimbabwe. As Pamukwendengwe explains, the inspiration for the station came from the fact that the state-run stations in Harare could not be […]
CBI Organizes Minute of Silence on April 28 to Protest College Radio Station Sales
I spend a lot of time fretting over the future of college radio and have been particularly distressed by the very recent sale of the license for Rice University’s student radio station KTRU, the pending sale of the license for University of San Francisco station KUSF, and the possible sale of WRVU at Vanderbilt University. […]
KPFA will nix “Morning Mix” for Flashpoints and Hard Knock Radio
You need a score card these days to keep up with programming changes over at listener sponsored Pacifica station KPFA in Berkeley. About four months after dumping the KPFA Morning Show and replacing it with a volunteer lineup called ‘The Morning Mix,’ the station’s management says it is ending that experiment, too. Pretty much everything […]
NPR draws listener fire over ‘kimchee Kleenex’ comment
A couple of weeks ago I was listening to Fresh Air broadcast Maureen Corrigan’s decidedly negative review of Kyung-sook Shin’s hot new novel Please Look After Mom. The commentary finished by recommending that readers check out Patti Smith’s memoir Just Kids instead. “Smith will get your book club on its feet and pumping its collective […]
WRVU Still Fighting to Save College Radio at Vanderbilt
Back in September 2010, students at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee were informed that the group that owns the student radio station, WRVU, was investigating selling off the station’s license and transmitter. The non-profit which controls WRVU, Vanderbilt Student Communications (VSC), has stated that they are seeking input about the possible station sale, but they […]
FCC Approves Request by USF/CPRN to Move KUSF Transmitter
On Tuesday, April 12 the FCC approved University of San Francisco’s revised request to move the transmitter for KUSF out of San Francisco to Sausalito and issued a Construction Permit (PDF). This “minor change in licensed facilities” request, made on behalf of Classical Public Radio Network (which is awaiting FCC approval on its application to […]
Radio Free Record Store Day at Numero Group’s WTNG
This past Saturday I celebrated Record Store Day by dropping in to the Numero Group’s pop-up store in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood. Numero is a record label specializing on archival re-releases of forgotten treasures, especially regional records from small labels from Cleveland to Belize. They hosted a one-day record store inside Stop Smiling press’ storefront […]