College Radio Fights For Its Rights
• College radio is experiencing a Gen Z renaissance — for example, Montclair State University’s WMSC 90.3 FM alone has 977 undergraduate student members. But while some universities embrace this growth, others are moving in the opposite direction…
On October 3rd — ironically, World College Radio Day — student staff at Cleveland State University’s WCSB 89.3 FM arrived for their shows and found campus police waiting to clear them out. The locks had been changed. As RAMP and other outlets recently reported, Cleveland State partnered with Ideastream Public Media to take over the operation of WCSB, converting the formerly student-run station to JazzNEO. With less than 24 hours notice, decades of content couldn’t properly be archived. This is the third university this month to remove students from their own station.
College Broadcasters, Inc. (CBI) works to educate administrators on a critical reality: once a broadcast license is transferred or relinquished, reclaiming it is nearly impossible. The FCC licensing process is complex, competitive, and takes years. Available frequencies are limited, especially in urban markets. CBI advocates for keeping these licenses student-centric because college radio serves as both a recruitment and retention tool where students dedicate time for no pay and no grade because they love it. They serve their community through public airwaves while creating transformative change in their lives.
After CSU’s shutdown, CBI immediately mobilized — connecting WCSB students with expert support, providing complimentary membership, and creating the first-ever NSMC Travel Fund to provide transportation for WCSB’s student leadership to next week’s National Student Media Convention (NSMC), which will take place at the Denver Embassy Suites Downtown from October 22-25.
WCSB’s student GM Alison Bomgardner and student Business Manager Liam Main will be in Denver to lead a session at NSMC on Friday, October 24 — Cleveland Doesn’t Rock: WCSB vs CSU, will discuss how they lost their signal and how they’re fighting back.
PS: Both Bomgardner and Main are available to discuss the station’s future and the impact of these changes. For interview requests, contact Alison Bomgardner at allynb2104@gmail.com and Liam Main at liammain729@gmail.com.
Support student media in crisis at AskCBI.org. [Special thanks to CBI President Anabella Poland]
