“The Ups and Downs of College Radio, Will it Last?”

By: Spencer Myler

October 25, 2021

There are lots of benefits to college radio that have kept it up and running, but there have unfortunately been some difficult challenges that threaten its popularity and influence. 

Potentials of College Radio

The benefits to college radio should be highlighted to show why it became so popular in the first place. In his article, Kevin Lozano mentions three aspects of college radio that he considers to be essential, “the autonomy, the freedom of speech, and the experimental drive” (Lozano, 2017). College radio allows students to run their own station, learn key skills, and also have freedom of what to say without restrictions from large corporations. With big corporations starting to take over smaller radio stations including college stations, it is more important than ever to hear voices that are straight from students that have not been filtered. Another benefit to college radio is how it allows people to hear songs that they may have never heard before. This not only helps the station gain popularity but it helps unknown musicians get recognition. For example, St Bonaventure’s radio station represents exactly why college radio is so beneficial. They were ranked #1 by the Princeton Review, have been around since 1948, and when it comes to their music they say the amount of records they have can be compared to the amount of books in a library. This allows for anyone who listens to find a large variety of new and old music run by 18 student directors (About WSBUFM).

Challenges of College Radio

Despite the many benefits of college radio, there are many challenges that are beginning to develop that impact its popularity and existence. The first and main challenge is college stations are starting to get taken over by “corporate interests and conglomerates.” (Lozano, 2017). Also, with the development of music streaming services such as apple music and Spotify, people have turned to radio less for new music, and students are lacking interest in radio. In fact, “only 9 percent of people in the 12-24 age bracket use AM/FM radio as their source for keeping up with music.” Another massive struggle for college radio is a lot of stations are too small to get enough listeners or get ratings. 

Gettysburg College’s WZBT

Gettysburg College has its own radio station licensed to it and it is called WZBT. Some of the potentials and challenges Lozano discussed can be shown through the WZBT site and WZBT Wikipedia page. The Gettysburg College radio station is student-managed which allows for the autonomy, free speech, and experimental drive that Lozano mentions. One of the benefits to the station that may be especially important with the development of Spotify and apple music is the ability to listen on the station’s streaming page. The main challenges for WZBT would be the lack of listenership that may come in the near future and the lack of funding. On the WZBT site, it mentions that “As a non-commercial educational radio station, WZBT cannot derive any revenue through traditional media advertising, nor are we able to sell airtime to any for-profit entity.  Instead, we must rely on donations and sponsorships.” (Underwriting with WZBT 91.1 FM, 2021) If listenership goes down and the radio begins to become less popular over the years that may lead to a lack of support through donations and sponsorships. 

Is it still relevant and important?

With the development of all these challenges, there is the question of whether college radio is still relevant and important. Coldplay’s Chris Martin has said, “College radio is a very important medium that needs to survive in difficult economic times when some stations are being sold off and shut down. College radio is the future for broadcasting stars and pioneers of tomorrow, and we as a band, Coldplay, support the vital mission of college radio and we also support College Radio Day, the day when college radio comes together.” (Radio Media, 2021) Even with all the challenges, college radio stations will continue to give listeners the opportunity to hear wide ranges of music and connect students to their surrounding community with the support of popular bands such as Coldplay who recognize their importance. 

References

About. wsbufm.com. (2017, August 2). Retrieved December 10, 2021, from https://wsbufm.com/about/.

Lozano, K. (2017, February 8). Does college radio even matter anymore? Pitchfork. Retrieved October 26, 2021, from https://pitchfork.com/features/article/10018-does-college-radio-even-matter-anymore/.

Media, R. (2021, May 18). Is college radio still relevant? yes, and here’s why it matters.: Radio Media. RADIO MEDIA | Broadcast Media | Public Relations. Retrieved October 26, 2021, from https://radiomedia.com/is-college-radio-still-relevant-yes-and-heres-why-it-matters/#:~:text=One%20of%20the%20most%20important%20features%20of%20any%20radio%20station,to%20share%20their%20own%20music.&text=College%20radio%20is%20certainly%20not,is%20tune%20in%20to%20see

Underwriting. WZBT 91.1 FM. (2019, April 5). Retrieved October 26, 2021, from http://www.wzbt.org/underwriting/.

Wikimedia Foundation. (2020, August 13). WZBT. Wikipedia. Retrieved October 26, 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WZBT. 

Edited on December 9

added St Bonaventure radio station source and added to potentials of college radio section

hyperlinked titles instead of URLS