The Economist features a piece about college radio this week, with the headline How is College Radio Faring in the Streaming Era? – Not Signing Off Yet. It takes a cursory look at the state of college radio, unfortunately recycling stereotypical themes about the decline of college radio and its imagined heyday in the 1980s […]
It’s transition time at many college radio stations, as volunteers and staff members from the academic year graduate and pass the torch to new leadership. With these shifts, summer can be a good time for station projects and for making plans for the fall. A couple of fall radio conferences in the Pacific Northwest should […]
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 […]
The Hip-Hop Radio Archive aims to digitize, preserve, share, and contextualize recordings of hip-hop radio from the 1980s and 1990s from commercial, college, community, and pirate stations of all sizes, telling the stories of the shows and the people that made them. Our guest is founder of the archive, Ryan MacMichael. Radio Survivor is a […]
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 […]
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 […]
Kanye West and Common had an epic freestyle rap battle on WHPK. That’s just one reason why the University of Chicago’s station is interesting and historic. Jennifer Waits takes us on a virtual tour of the studios, located in an actual working bell tower. Jennifer, Eric and Paul also discuss how college radio has played […]
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 […]
