WCSB in Cleveland is now the FM home for JazzNEO and is programmed by Ideastream Public Media.
Welcome to JazzNEO on WCSB 89.3 FM
Welcome to JazzNEO on WCSB 89.3 FM
-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
WCSB 89.3 Switches to JazzNEO
- Thread starter MediaLover
- Start date
- Status
It's certainly preferable to what we've been seeing happen to other college radio stations around the country. At least the station will be operated by a responsible organization. I'm sure some will prefer the student programming. But that kind of thing has become difficult for the colleges to administer.
This also includes a rather wide-ranging partnership between CSU and Ideastream in which the students themselves can benefit. It is a win for area culture as JazzNEO has been very well programmed since it launched and does deserve a spot on the radio dial. Fittingly enough, Cleveland State provided studio space for the old WCPN 90.3 (predecessor to Ideastream) until the early 2000s.
Disclaimer: I graduated from Cleveland State but was never really involved with WCSB.
Yes. At least it is Ideastream. They could have leased it to EMF and we would have had yet another AIR-1 or K-Love religious station.
Exactly. Because what you're describing is what happened at several other college stations. As I said, these colleges want to get out of the radio business. They believe it's not core to their mission. They believe it's an expensive toy that could get them in trouble. They are looking for experts to come in and run these things so they don't have to.
What's interesting to me is they still want to hold onto the license. Which tells me they still see value in it for their students. Just not as an operator.
I don't argue with any of the economics or thinking behind the partnership. But some of these stations that stop airing "college" programming are hardly missed. This one's created an outcry, just like the GPB situation did with WRAS.
Are the people behind Ideastream truly that bad at PR? They literally found out at 11:30 and were escorted out by cops. The new programming started at noon. On College Radio Day. This could have been handled much better. Now, they've started with this outcry and shown no consideration for those who put a lot into this station, some for years with the ethnic programming. It's bad business, commercial or non-comm, to not handle things with tact.
Are the people behind Ideastream truly that bad at PR? They literally found out at 11:30 and were escorted out by cops. The new programming started at noon. On College Radio Day. This could have been handled much better. Now, they've started with this outcry and shown no consideration for those who put a lot into this station, some for years with the ethnic programming. It's bad business, commercial or non-comm, to not handle things with tact.
Keep in mind that the university still owns the station. It was their police who came in to escort the students out. So we need to be clear who did what.
I agree that the optics aren't good. They wouldn't have been any better had the new operator been K-Love.
VintageMac
Banned
Does CSU still have the license? Because the FOX 8 story stated one thing that CSU has the license and the Scene article says the opposite.
Cleveland State University Kills WCSB, Transfers Management of Station to Ideastream to Broadcast Jazz
CSU president Laura Bloomberg claimed the move, which drew immediate criticism, wasn't to cut costs but to increase opportunities for students as Ideastream takes the reins of WCSB.
www.clevescene.com
This says CSU has the license:Does CSU still have the license? Because the FOX 8 story stated one thing that CSU has the license and the Scene article says the opposite.
Cleveland State University Kills WCSB, Transfers Management of Station to Ideastream to Broadcast Jazz
CSU president Laura Bloomberg claimed the move, which drew immediate criticism, wasn't to cut costs but to increase opportunities for students as Ideastream takes the reins of WCSB.
FCCInfo Results
FCC Info is a Radio and Television Station Search Engine provided by Cavell, Mertz & Associates, Inc.
www.fccinfo.com
The bad optics with the switch mostly lie on Cleveland State's end. There was a non-disclosure agreement with this arrangement in which both sides couldn't say anything. CSU cleared out the studios by police escort; Ideastream is operating JazzNEO from the Idea Center.
Mark Oprea's story is riddled with errors. CSU has the license, Ideastream operates it. None of JazzNEO is "smooth jazz", and WCPN, "Ideastream's main station", has been WCLV since 2022.Does CSU still have the license? Because the FOX 8 story stated one thing that CSU has the license and the Scene article says the opposite.
Cleveland State University Kills WCSB, Transfers Management of Station to Ideastream to Broadcast Jazz
CSU president Laura Bloomberg claimed the move, which drew immediate criticism, wasn't to cut costs but to increase opportunities for students as Ideastream takes the reins of WCSB.
VintageMac
Banned
For how much longer?
VintageMac
Banned
Cleveland State University abruptly ends student-run WCSB radio, replaces with jazz run by Ideastream
Cleveland State University's student-run alternative radio station WCSB was abruptly shut down Friday and replaced with a jazz station operated by Ideastream Public Media.
www.news5cleveland.com
Bomgardner was on-air when the switch occurred.
"It was a feeling of shock because I didn't see the transmitter turn off," Bomgardner explained. "The only way I knew it turned off is people were saying they can't hear my voice on air anymore. To hear my own perspective and my own opinions be silenced by smooth jazz and boring music sucks as a general manager of an alternative station."
Email Cleveland State and ask them
Or worse, a right-wing fundamentalist operator like VCY.
Indefinitely, it appears. It's a long-term public service operating agreement like Ideastream has with WKSU, where Kent State is the landlord.
VintageMac
Banned
I regularly listen to JazzNEO and, with all due respect to Ms. Bomgardner, none of it is "smooth jazz" or "boring music". It's not The Wave we're talking about.Cleveland State University abruptly ends student-run WCSB radio, replaces with jazz run by Ideastream
Cleveland State University's student-run alternative radio station WCSB was abruptly shut down Friday and replaced with a jazz station operated by Ideastream Public Media.
Bomgardner was on-air when the switch occurred.
"It was a feeling of shock because I didn't see the transmitter turn off," Bomgardner explained. "The only way I knew it turned off is people were saying they can't hear my voice on air anymore. To hear my own perspective and my own opinions be silenced by smooth jazz and boring music sucks as a general manager of an alternative station."
The reaction to me is a bit surprising, some of these stations as I've mentioned go off without much notice. There's a lot of Reddit and other social media activity in support of the station. So, they did have an actively listening audience. Not saying it means much in the mainstream of things, but it's inaccurate to as many do, write off college radio and assume none of the stations have an audience that even registers. Some do.
VintageMac
Banned
She worked there.
I'm reminded of a similar story when the University of San Francisco sold its student run station to California Classical. It happened in a similarly abrupt way. The students were escorted out of their station. And that was that.
I know she worked there. What I'm getting at is there's two sides to every coin. There's enough of a discernable audience for traditional jazz (look at the ratings books for WCLV-HD2) that it can be supported on the radio dial. Merely dismissing traditional jazz as "smooth jazz" is a pejorative.
- Status