Commercial College/University stations

[DougD]

Commercial College/University stations

Just curious: How many commercial broadcasting stations in the U.S. --- if any --- are still owned by colleges or universities? There were quite a few at one time; WWL and WWL-TV in New Orleans (Loyola), WNDU-TV in South Bend (Notre Dame), WHCU in Ithaca, N.Y. (Cornell), WDCR in Hanover, N.H. (Dartmouth) come to mind. They've all been sold off in recent years.

 

[w9wi]

Re: Commercial College/University stations

WPRB (Princeton)?
WHRB (Harvard)
I guess Yale sold WYBC.
WOI-TV (Iowa State) was sold a few years back. They still own WOI AM&FM, but the radio stations are non-commercial.
WRUF AM&FM (Florida)
WUGA(TV) (Georgia) (now non-commercial)
WUOA(TV) (Alabama)
KOB (NM State?), sold decades ago
WGST (Georgia State) (sold decades ago)

I'm sure that list is not complete, and I probably messed up at least one entry above.

Back before FM (and reserved channels) it was not unheard-of for a college/university to lease its station to a commercial operator.

 

[TheBigA]

Re: Commercial College/University stations

I guess Yale sold WYBC.

Nope...they still own it. It's LMA'd to Cumulus.

WHUR is owned by Howard University. It was once owned by the Washington Post, but they donated it to Howard. Now it's one of the top rated stations in DC. But I wouldn't call it a "college radio station." It's professionally run.

 

[aaronread]

Re: Commercial College/University stations

Brown owns WBRU. Supposedly doing well enough with their Modern Rock format, too...they hover around 10th place in Providence, 6+ numbers are usually around 2.5 to 3.0 AQH and 200k-250k cume. Not too shabby, really, considering it's mostly student operated and managed.

I believe Dartmouth still owns WFRD, but they let go of WDCR. I don't think students are involved with it, though.

Did Yale LMA off the AM or the FM for WYBC to Cumulus? I know the FM hasn't had students at it for years, but kicking the students out of the AM was much more recent.

Harvard doesn't own WHRB; it's technically owned by a separate, alumni-run organization. Much like WVBR and Cornell. And WMBR for MIT, for that matter. (although WMBR is a non-comm) All are effectively student-managed, though.

Palomar College down near San Diego got ahold of KKSM a few years ago but I don't know if they run it as a commercial station or a student station or what...?

Wasn't there a 100kW high school station down in Texas that did/does a commercial oldies format? Not sure if they were really commercial or a non-comm doing oldies, though.

 

[w9wi]

Re: Commercial College/University stations

The University of Missouri still owns KOMU, the NBC affiliate for Columbia/Jefferson City. Its Wikipedia article suggests that the only other commercial television outlet in the U.S. that's "owned by a public institution" is University of Alabama-owned Class A station WVUA.

Which WVUA's article acknowledges -- and then notes WVUA is relayed by two other LPTVs and full-power WUOA...

 

[w9wi]

Re: Commercial College/University stations

Wasn't there a 100kW high school station down in Texas that did/does a commercial oldies format? Not sure if they were really commercial or a non-comm doing oldies, though.

I'm pretty sure this one is a non-comm.

 

[fybush]

Re: Commercial College/University stations

And a further clarification: WPRB and WBRU are not owned by their respective universities; like WHRB and WVBR, both stations are owned by independent companies whose boards are dominated by Princeton and Brown students.

Here's one that really is university-owned but operated entirely commercially: WPSE 1450 in Erie, PA is owned by the Penn State Behrend campus but runs satellite business talk.

 

[uncamark]

Re: Commercial College/University stations

And a further clarification: WPRB and WBRU are not owned by their respective universities; like WHRB and WVBR, both stations are owned by independent companies whose boards are dominated by Princeton and Brown students.

Here's one that really is university-owned but operated entirely commercially: WPSE 1450 in Erie, PA is owned by the Penn State Behrend campus but runs satellite business talk.

And in Champaign-Urbana you have student-run WPGU, but that station's owned by the Daily Illini newspaper, not the U of I.

 

[amfmxm]

Re: Commercial College/University stations

To the best of my knowledge, the University of Florida's WRUF-FM & AM may be the only commercial radio stations in the U.S. owned and operated directly by a university--licensed to the Board of Trustees and operated by employees (and students) of the College of Journalism and Communications.

On the other hand, the non-profit subsidiaries like Illini Media--licensees of Urbana-Champaign's WPGU(FM)--are nothing more than legal barriers to protect the university from any liability incurred by the Daily Illini and PGU. Same with Brown Broadcasting, Princeton Broadcasting, et cetera. Just like the athletic programs at FBS-level universities--separately incorporated "non-profit" entities to protect The U from Jerry Sandusky-type fallout.

But don't kid yourselves. The schools own these radio stations. And if you don't believe me, try to buy one of them--and see who you end up negotiating with...

 

[KeithE4]

Re: Commercial College/University stations

Just curious: How many commercial broadcasting stations in the U.S. --- if any --- are still owned by colleges or universities? There were quite a few at one time; WWL and WWL-TV in New Orleans (Loyola), WNDU-TV in South Bend (Notre Dame), WHCU in Ithaca, N.Y. (Cornell), WDCR in Hanover, N.H. (Dartmouth) come to mind. They've all been sold off in recent years.

WBAY-TV, Green Bay WI was owned by St. Norbert College of nearby DePere until the mid-1970s.

 

[aaronread]

Re: Commercial College/University stations

But don't kid yourselves. The schools own these radio stations. And if you don't believe me, try to buy one of them--and see who you end up negotiating with...

Oh really? WMBR, WHRB and WVBR have all (relatively) recently staved off concerted efforts by their "parent" colleges to seize legal control of the licenses from the independent entities that legally control them. When your alums are Ivy League grads, even Ivy League schools have trouble steamrolling them.

Granted, these licenses will never be sold to anyone, but that includes being sold back to the "parent" college. The alums on their boards won't allow it.

 

[amfmxm]

Re: Commercial College/University stations

Aaron, "never" is a long, long time. Twenty years from now? Fifty? A hundred?

In fairness, I don't know the particulars of these situations. If the stations are completely removed from the universities... own off-campus studios and transmitter sites... and are completely self-sufficient, financially--and continue to be completely self-sufficient--then "never" could indeed turn into thousands of years. Otherwise, uh, not so much...

 

[aaronread]

Re: Commercial College/University stations

Twenty years from now it's questionable that AM/FM will still be viable transmission mediums, period. Anything longer than that is not worth pontificating on because it's impossible to guess what game-changing factors will appear.

Even so, I'd wager that college stations will be among the last to "give up the ghost" as they are, generally speaking, the most disassociated between their operations and their funding.

Anyways, WMBR has both studio and transmitter facilities on-campus. WHRB has studio facilities, and a backup transmitter, on campus...but their main transmitter is on a skyscraper downtown. WVBR is completely off-campus. Make of all that what you will.

Then again, it's entirely possible that you've got a point. I think of WESU, which was independently-owned but nobody remembered to file the paperwork to keep the business entity that held the license "alive" as far as the state of Connecticut was concerned. The FCC was prepared to immediately kill the license (since it was, legally, licensed to something that didn't legally exist) but the president of Wesleyan stepped in and offered to take direct control of the license and promised this wouldn't happen again. The fact that the president at the time was Doug Bennett...former head of NPR...probably went a long way to giving the FCC cause to take him at his word. FWIW, WESU had both studios and their transmitter on campus, too.

Now I give Bennett a lot of credit here. He could've just let the station die, or save it only to sell it. But the point stands: the WESU alumni community was neither able nor willing to step up and solve the problem.

 

[amfmxm]

Re: Commercial College/University stations

A favorite story:

The University of Dayton had owned 99.9/WVUD--a 50-kw commercial stick--for 28 years. As a rocker in the seventies it had spawned some great talent--Dan Patrick & his brother (prominent programmer) Bill Pugh, much of the longtime WTUE staff, (WLW + syndicated) Mike McConnell, etc. WTUE blasted them out of rock (with VUD's ex-staffers who had simply graduated and crossed the street) and WVUD strugged through the eighties, but by the early nineties was doing well again as an AC. Good ratings, solid billing and (though hidden by non-profit accounting) excellent cash flow--despite still employing a couple dozen UD students and doing a boatload of great PR work for UD. But the administration had changed over the years, and by 1992 the good Marianist priests & brothers running the school didn't get it. Their priorities were religion (a Catholic school), education, basketball... and radio was way the hell down the list. They appreciated the $600K to $800K the station was spinning off to UD's coffers, though they worried that the surplus might endanger the school's non-profit status with the IRS--it was making TOO MUCH MONEY!

Brokers and would-be buyers were always lurking and making overtures to the school, but by 1992 something there was something different. Now, with real cash flow and real ratings, 'VUD was WORTH something.

So one day, a prominent philanthropist in Dayton made UD a "matching grant" offer to build a new $10 million Humanities Building. He'd toss in half if they could come up with the other half. And the school's administration know right where it was: 99.9 on the FM dial.

I've been told that there is a plaque in the Humanities Building commemorating WVUD's contribution.

University presidents move along or die, as do alumni. New ones take their places. Time moves on. Sacred cows become just another slab of meat--something for the butcher to sell.

Same with college radio stations.

 

[fybush]

Re: Commercial College/University stations

Very well put, amfmxm. I think it's fair to say that anything these days that's not seen as being core to a university's educational mission is potentially expendable. This thread started with WRUF. There's probably a case to be made that the AM station is reasonably central to the University of Florida's mission - it provides a place for students to learn how to do sports radio and a platform for UF sports play-by-play. But with the state of Florida's budget issues, if I'm the chancellor of UF and I have a budget gap to make up down the line, I think I'd be looking at WRUF-FM as a salable asset, especially with all the other platforms (WRUF AM, WUFT-FM, WUFT-TV, WLUF-LP) available for student training.

If there's no room in radio for sentiment or nostalgia these days, I'd submit there's even less room in higher education.

 

[amfmxm]

Re: Commercial College/University stations

Prior to UD's sale of 99.9 in Dayton, WVUD & WRUF-AM/FM shared the distinction of (to the best of my knowledge) being the only two commercial radio stations owned DIRECTLY by universities, i.e. not by a foundation or a subsidiary. I believe that the UF combo now stands alone in that regard.

I'd be surprised if they cut 103.7 loose--they're pretty bright people and seem to understand the cultural/outreach value (not "just" a radio station). But the longer WRUF-FM struggles to compete in the Gainesville-Ocala radio market, the greater the risk of it happening. FWIW, there is no particular/institutional reason WRUF-FM is getting its ass kicked around now--just some strikingly dumb decisions.

It may sound trivial, but I do sincerely believe that as long as 103.7 remains the flagship for Florida Gator football, the station is safe from being sold. UF football is akin to religion in the region and the 100-kw FM signal reaches every million-dollar home and trailer park--and the university keeps all the money--just shifting it from one pocket to the other.

It's a sweet situation, even if it's only 12-to-15 Saturdays each fall. In Gatorland, they're the most important days of the year!

 

[snazzyjazzy]

Re: Commercial College/University stations

WUMS, Rebel Radio 92.1, is a commercial college radio station, at Ole Miss.

 

[LibertyNT]

Re: Commercial College/University stations

Wasn't there a 100kW high school station down in Texas that did/does a commercial oldies format? Not sure if they were really commercial or a non-comm doing oldies, though.

That would be 88.5 KEOM.
It's Still around, still a non-com Oldies Format.
(actually Classic Hits, they used to be 70s only, but expanded to 60s and 80s)

 

[Poledo]

Re: Commercial College/University stations

It's a sweet situation, even if it's only 12-to-15 Saturdays each fall. In Gatorland, they're the most important days of the year!

I remember reading a newspaper article a few years back about the regents at Georgia Tech wanting to purchase a commercial FM license in Atlanta for the sole purpose of broadcasting Yellow Jackets' sports. They had absolutely no plans on what would fill the rest of the air time on this imaginary station. There was also something in the article suggesting they would be willing to sacrifice their non-commerical WREK if it could be moved and converted to a commercial station on 92.1

 

[amfmxm]

Re: Commercial College/University stations

WUMS, Rebel Radio 92.1, is a commercial college radio station, at Ole Miss.

Owned by the Student Media Center, not the university. Just a little corporate separation to protect U of M.

If Rebel Radio pisses someone off, they can sue the Student Media Center, not Ole Miss.