College stations sold or leased to NPR, religious etc

They may not all be listening to radio, but many are.

johnbasalla said:

They may not all be listening to radio, but many are.

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Many? As a percentage? Possibly some. More like a few.

Even back in the day when almost everybody listened to radio, almost all college students were listening to the real radio stations in town - not campus radio. You could walk down the hall in the dorm and hear them.

A campus bowling center is fine for students who want to blow off steam but if enough students don't use it and/or if they need the space for something that's higher priority, the students can go into town and bowl there.

Same applies to campus radio. Radio is for listeners. Not for those who want to be on the radio (for whatever reason).

Broadcasting is a waste as a major, a waste of students' time and money. But schools make money from it, so they will continue offering it. And campus radio is a waste of spectrum bandwidth to indulge a handful of radio geeks who want to play radio. Nothing wrong with playing radio. What's wrong is taking away scarce bandwidth for this purpose.

Let's talk about WVUD at the University of Delaware in Newark, DE (outside Wilmington). Until a couple of years ago, Delaware was the only state without a public radio station. Meanwhile, the university gave a Class B FM license to students to play radio and "play what we like." Delaware now has a small Class A FM downstate in Dover, owned by the university, which most of the state's population can't receive. Delaware has three counties. New Castle County, including Wilmington and Newark, the boundaries of which come close to WVUD's local contour, has about 60 per cent of the state's population. New Castle County gets student radio. A high school station has an on-again, off-again relay of the downstate station but that's about it. If Northern Delaware wants public radio, their have to tune to Philadelphia's WHYY-FM (if they can get a good signal). But I guess some of you think it's more important that students have a Class B toy than area residents have good access to public radio.

FredLeonard said:

I guess some of you think it's more important that students have a Class B toy than area residents have good access to public radio.

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That's not a decision for us to make. At some point the licensee will have to decide if the "class B toy" is the most productive use of its resources. But licenses aren't handed out on the basis of what programming is more important. So the FCC isn't going to take this license away based on the lack of public radio in the state.

I've been involved in situations like this, and here are the options:

1) The university can continue doing what they're doing. It's their license, and they can use it however they see fit.

2) The university can decide to take the station away from its students, turn it over to its communications department or marketing department to run differently.

3) The university can lease time on the station, or enter into some form of brokerage deal with an area non-profit, who will run the station for them.

4) The university can sell the station.

5) A qualified non-profit could make a challenge to the license at renewal time, demonstrating how the current licensee is not serving the public, and they'd do more for the community if they were given the license. Not necessarily the way to win friends or influence people, especially if you're interested in raising money from them.

My limited knowledge of Delaware tells me that it's unlikely they will sell the station. Delaware is a very prosperous state thanks to certain corporate tax laws that encourage companies to incorporate there. Lots of state money to support college radio stations, and no political pressure to change that. However, if an area non-profit, like WHYY-TV (which is licensed to Delaware) wanted to have a repeater or a second FM in the area, they could make a pitch to the university. But that would require the university to be interested in making such a deal, and the non-profit to raise enough money. I imagine if WHYY felt it was worth doing, they would have done it by now. The fact that the university (or its alumni) applied for and received a big power increase just three years ago leads me to believe they have a commitment to the station.

I do not agree with the broad brush statement that all people on college radio stations are there only to "play radio". Yes, there are some, and I have a low opinion of them too. However, the broad brush stroke is unfair to those that are doing good work. The facility I'm associated with works hard to put a worthy product on air and has succeeded. They have a format that is not duplicated on any of the large commercial stations. Broadcasting (and related industries) as a major is not a waste. Recent graduates have gotten positions, including a gentleman who now has the 10am-2pm talk shift at WAKR radio in Akron, a number of graduates who are working in Sports Talk radio, and the list goes on.

johnbasalla said:

The facility I'm associated with works hard to put a worthy product on air and has succeeded. They have a format that is not duplicated on any of the large commercial stations.

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Then again, if the university decides at some point that the cost outways the benefits, the uniqueness of format will not be much of a consideration, as demonstrated at several stations around the country. Especially if this is a private college.

Big A, you are correct. Fortunately, things are going well. We are an important part of the University for a variety of reasons and are valued by the listenership to the extent that just about every year we find that we have new students who attend the institution, in part, because they have listened to the station since middle school. That's what they tell us. Additionally, we cover the City Council meetings of the city in which we are licensed. That has proven to be valuable not only from the public service aspect, but also because the school wants a continued positive relationship with the city and we are a part of that.

TheBigA said:

Then again, if the university decides at some point that the cost outways the benefits, the uniqueness of format will not be much of a consideration, as demonstrated at several stations around the country. Especially if this is a private college.

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Closing in on seventy replies … and counting.… Again, it’s great finally seeing life in this forum — particularly on this important topic. But, at this point, I think we’re beginning to talk in circles. Therefore, I am going to quote myself, from an earlier post …

Mike_Saffran said:

To students, I emphasize: “We must protect us from ourselves.” By this warning, I mean we must remain relevant, so as not to give our school any reason to even think about selling the license. This might be accomplished, in part, by taking seriously the original spirit of the NCE (noncommercial educational) license classification — which does not emphasize training DJs … being merely a student-club activity … nor, most definitely, breaking new music (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

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“We must protect us from ourselves” … by being relevant (to listeners) and valuable (to our institutions and students) — with ‘uniqueness of format,’ as TheBigA correctly points out, potentially not a factor if a licensee decides in favor of sale (or lease).

From his description, it sounds to me as though John’s station is nailing it in terms of relevance and purpose (well ‘guarding themselves’ — so, kudos to you, John). I know of at least a couple other college stations, in my home market alone, that, likewise, are flourishing (props to “sister-station,” SUNY Brockport’s WBSU, and to “like-a-sister-station,” RIT’s WITR). And I have no doubt there are many, many more across the country … that most definitely are not “wastes” … to listeners … institutions … or students.

In summary: I strongly defend the existence of relevant (in today’s world) college radio … but not ‘nostalgic,’ outdated notions about what it should be today based on what it used to be decades ago. (Bringing this discussion full circle, I believe.)

Mike_Saffran said:

From his description, it sounds to me as though John’s station is nailing it in terms of relevance and purpose (well ‘guarding themselves’ — so, kudos to you, John).

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I agree, and I will often suggest that if student stations wish to retain some level of autonomy, they demonstrate that they can run the station responsibly, in a way that reflects well on the university, and also provides a unique service for the students, beyond just playing music. One way is utilizing the resources that are only available at the university.

FredLeonard said:

Student radio stations are a toy for students to play with and a waste of institutional resources. They offer no educational benefit and do not serve the public interest, convenience and necessity.

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"College Radio" does way more to serve the "Public Interest" than ANY radio station owned, operated and/or affiliated with K-Love, Air One, or American Family Radio (the later owned by a Hate Group).

*drops mic, steps off soapbox*

YES YES YES because IT'S LOCAL LOCAL LOCAL....... There are very very few places in America you cant get a OTA "public" radio station.....

So Delaware didn't have a station Oh boo hoo, there was NO local content away...so its would be hogging stealing extremely selfish to the students who purposely chose that college to go to because of the radio station
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But I guess some of you think it's more important that students have a Class B toy than area residents have good access to public radio.

Kudos are better placed to our academic leader and most importantly, engaged and hard working students who understand the importance of the experiential learning they get every time they sit behind the microphone. Maybe this shouldn't be surprising since a good number of them are major's and they know they better take the business and performance art of broadcasting seriously. Some posts ago a person wondered how much of the business side can be taught when the station is a non-com. It's called underwriting and we have a department headed up by a student who does that. We also air play-by-play of University major sports events, including away games which keeps a good number of alums, who otherwise might not listen, on board as listeners. Couple that with the student produced weekly sports talk show, and it's no surprise that we see a number of our graduates doing sports, on radio, on TV, on line and at newspapers.

In related news …

Study: More College Stations Considering Merging With Or Buying Other Stations (via All Access)

Mike_Saffran said:

In related news …

Study: More College Stations Considering Merging With Or Buying Other Stations (via All Access)

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The story says "college licensed media." Not "college stations." Many public radio stations are owned and operated by institutions of higher learning. And buying or merging only makes sense for public radio stations - not student radio or campus radio. Clear channelizing student radio certainly doesn't provide opportunities for student participation or increase the kind of campus presence that makes campus radio unique.

And it's a poll. So what? Any question in a poll with the word "consider" is meaningless.

FredLeonard said:

Clear channelizing student radio certainly doesn't provide opportunities for student participation or increase the kind of campus presence that makes campus radio unique.

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Well actually it does, but in a more practical way than traditional student-run radio, by providing more real-life radio experience.

I had a unique experience, working at a college station, while also working at a commercial station. I did one for fun, the other for money. Of the 70 or so students who were at the college station, I was the only one who walked out of college with an actual job in radio, and I'm one of only a handful of all fellow alums who are still in the business. It's not because of my college radio experience.

TheBigA said:

Well actually it does, but in a more practical way than traditional student-run radio, by providing more real-life radio experience.

I had a unique experience, working at a college station, while also working at a commercial station. I did one for fun, the other for money. Of the 70 or so students who were at the college station, I was the only one who walked out of college with an actual job in radio, and I'm one of only a handful of all fellow alums who are still in the business. It's not because of my college radio experience.

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Thank you. As I said before, these are hobby stations - extra curricular activities. Only training grounds for a relative few. But what good is an extra-curricular activity when it's taken over by another school (on another campus). At the very least, it means fewer opportunities for students to participate. What else are these schools "considering" sharing - the band (fewer slots for musicians)...?

A local college is using a commercial station as a training ground for its students. I'm not clear on whether the college owns the station yet, but the sale was supposed to be complete by now. It's still mostly Dial Global America's Best Music (Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Michael Buble, The Carpenters, Elton John) with similar music on the local morning show still hosted by the man who owned the stations for twelve years.

Not likely to appeal to the students, but I'm sure some of their more uptight professors like it.

Some are "hobby stations", unfortunately, but not all. Stroking with a broad brush leads to a lack of truth.