It can be challenging to track down the history of specific college radio stations and I often find interesting tidbits while doing online research. In the course of my research, I ran across a couple of sources from the early 1970s that point to the state of college radio at the time. As I’m ensconced […]
Awhile back I saw a post on social media announcing the 75th anniversary of college radio. Although I’m excited any time someone writes about college radio history, I was also troubled, because I know that college radio is much older. Being quite fascinated with the early days of college radio, I’m aware of licensed college […]
Over the years I’ve seen references to the Black College Radio Conference and its annual award ceremony. Although scant information is available online, William Barlow writes about the convention’s origins in Voice Over: The Making of Black Radio. He says that the Atlanta-based event was launched by Lo Jelks and that the student-focused convention was […]
A few days ago I learned about a documentary about the “first all-woman radio station,” a commercial country station WHER which launched in Memphis in 1955. Of course it piqued my curiosity, not only because it sounds like an intriguing station, but also because I’m aware of college radio stations at all women’s colleges that […]
When I journeyed to Minneapolis for the College Broadcasters Inc. (CBI) convention last month, I was able to visit three college radio stations and Carleton College station KRLX-FM was on the top of my list. I’d been aware of the long history of radio at Carleton for quite some time and was eager to see […]
I had a great time at the College Broadcasters Inc. (CBI) conference in Minneapolis last week and was glad to have had the opportunity to speak on two different panels about college radio history and culture. (more…)
On Friday, October 23, I had a wonderful experience visiting University of Minnesota’s college radio station, Radio K (aka KUOM), in Minneapolis. I was in town for the College Broadcasters Inc. (CBI) convention and made a point to trek to a few stations. Radio K made my list not only because it is a college […]
A few months ago I wrote about an amazing collection of vintage college radio playlists that were recently sent to me. From the 1970s and 1980s, these playlists were mostly handwritten and typed affairs that were compiled by college radio station music directors. (more…)
Most people assume that college radio is by definition non-commercial, but that hasn’t always been the case historically and commercial college radio stations still exist today. Back in the early days of AM radio in the 1920s, the very first college radio stations were commercial endeavors. Fast-forward to the 1940s, when the growth of campus-only […]
We love to share stories about college radio history and in this guest post (part two of two), Greg Barman gives the back story on campus radio at Indiana University, which dates back to the launch of a carrier current station in 1962 (read more about that in part one). Today, students run low power […]
