HuffPost story: More stations joining NPR

[aaronread]

Those student run radio stations that are working hard to provide a service that attracts listeners are a different story. I have seen/heard both, and the ones that are succeeding are definitely worthy.

Unfortunately, that's not necessarily the case. There are several examples of college radio stations that had passionate and devoted followings off-campus, but little to no on-campus audience. That makes it exceedingly difficult for the station to justify receiving college support; especially when it comes to "student activity fees" (or whatever the college happens to call it). It's hard to spend the inherently high costs (relative to other student activities) and justify the substantial financial risk of an FCC license when it's only benefiting the few dozen students who actually volunteer at the station.

That's true almost completely regardless of how big the off-campus audience is...UNLESS the station manages to tap that audience for fundraising dollars and leverage it for underwriting revenue. If the station can do that enough that it becomes revenue-neutral (or close to it) then it certainly goes a long way to making the parent institution less likely to arbitrarily dump the license. But such stations are relatively rare, and often it's very hard for them to accomplish revenue-neutrality unless they're in a fairly large market.

One thing I have found that's interesting is that I think new college stations, rare as they are, actually have an advantage here. There's a lot of tradition (or if you prefer: "hidebound thinking") at many college stations that make it very difficult for them to adapt to the new reality of how little relevance radio, as a medium, has in most 18-22yr olds' lives. Whereas newer stations are freer to adapt and really target the needs of their student populace and maximize the student activity aspect of things. In other words, that lack of relevance can more easily be leveraged as a "blank slate" to build on.

 

[MattParker]

College student radio stations (as opposed to college owned and operated public radio stations) often seek to provide programming more in tune with student tastes and interests than is offered by commercial stations in the area. Whether their perceptions reflect what students want to hear or what those at the station want to play is an open question. But as more public radio stations adopt the AAA format, there is increasing over-lap between the type of music heard on student radio and public radio.

Contrary to a snarky comment from someone who makes no secret of his dislike for public radio on principle, few students at campus radio stations aspire to public radio careers. Actually many have disdain for stations they associate with classical music or a subdued news presentation. The public radio audience skews old and generally college students don't see public radio as "cool."

I've also noticed that public radio people, in contrast to those at commercial stations, seem to come out of elite universities and have liberal arts (as opposed to communication) degrees.

 

[aaronread]

College student radio stations (as opposed to college owned and operated public radio stations) often seek to provide programming more in tune with student tastes and interests than is offered by commercial stations in the area.

Well, I can only speak for my own experience working for/with several college radio stations in the northeastern US, but I wouldn't say this is the case. At many college radio stations, the DJ's tend to just play whatever music they happen to like, and they don't put much thought into whether it'll be popular with listeners...be they on- or off-campus listeners. The implicit hope is that if the DJ is a student, then hopefully other students like that music too, simply by virtue of being in the same age and socioeconomic demographic.

At college radio stations with community volunteer (comvol's) DJ's...a similar dynamic is in play, but often a comvol has enough musical experience that they can more accurately choose music that will be considered "good" by the audience.

I do agree that in both cases, the DJ's frequently revel in the freedom to pick music from a wide array of genres and sources, which is typically anathema at most commercial radio outlets. That's okay; it might be musical snobbery, but it's also just one more way that a station can market itself to its target audience and make that audience feel good about listening to the station.

Contrary to a snarky comment from someone who makes no secret of his dislike for public radio on principle, few students at campus radio stations aspire to public radio careers.

Depends a little on the station and, more importantly, the college. For example, if the college has a strong journalism program, you're gonna see more students at the station that are interested in public radio as a career. Similarly, if there's serious sports programs at the college, you're at least somewhat more likely to see students at the station who are interested in sportscasting as a career. However, if you don't have a communications or communications-related curriculum, then yes - you'll see far fewer students looking to go into radio as a career.

I've also noticed that public radio people, in contrast to those at commercial stations, seem to come out of elite universities and have liberal arts (as opposed to communication) degrees.

I'm certainly guilty of that. I got a BA in Psychology from Boston University, and yet ended up working in radio engineering and consulting before becoming GM at WEOS/WHWS. Go figure. But I suspect a large part of it is that most communications curriculums have focused on getting students jobs in commercial media, not public media, as only relatively recently have public media really become seriously competitive to commercial media...especially in regards to number of jobs available. Accordingly, those with communications degrees traditionally looked for jobs in commercial media, leaving jobs open at public media for other folks. And admittedly there probably was...possibly still is...an undercurrent of elitism given how many public media outlets are still directly associated with higher education.