I have seen these claims as well, including one by a volunteer who tried to make the case that the items were donated to "real CSB, which a community radio station, and not to CSU or just the student organization. " I feel bad for what happened, but that made me laugh. Does this person really think WCSB would exist without the Uni?
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WCSB - college station that flipped to jazz
- Thread starter b-turner
- Start date
WCSB isn't the first student station to be shut down by its university. There are hundreds of them. One example was at Syracuse, where the university turned the student station, WAER, into an NPR station. Same situation. What the students did was work with alumni to create their own non-profit. and applied for another FM license for WJPZ. But this time, the students and alumni had some ownership, and there were contracts. That's what seems to be missing here.
This "community radio station" thing was total fiction. The license and property was in the name of the university, not the community. The community had no ownership. There IS in fact some limited community ownership in Ideastream. But Ideastream doesn't own WCSB. To be a community station, you should have a community board where representatives from responsible community groups oversee how the station is run. Did that happen?
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From the WJCU Metal on Metal Facebook page:
“XCSB UPDATE (formerly WCSB 89.3fm Cleveland):
XCSB 89.3fm has relaunched as a nonprofit and has partnered with The Reading Room CLE to assist us with the process of becoming a certified 501(c)(3).
Our goal is to be streaming 24/7 out of a physical studio by May 10, which is our 50th anniversary. We are currently seeking donations to help us reestablish ourselves. We are starting from scratch, so any amount you can give will make a real difference in building a studio, purchasing equipment, etc. You can make a tax-deductible donation to XCSB right here:
Checkout | Clover
Additionally, XCSB was notified last night that legal action has just been taken against Ideastream and Cleveland State University. XCSB has no further comment on this legal action at this time. Thank you all for your support 🤗😘❤”
“XCSB UPDATE (formerly WCSB 89.3fm Cleveland):
XCSB 89.3fm has relaunched as a nonprofit and has partnered with The Reading Room CLE to assist us with the process of becoming a certified 501(c)(3).
Our goal is to be streaming 24/7 out of a physical studio by May 10, which is our 50th anniversary. We are currently seeking donations to help us reestablish ourselves. We are starting from scratch, so any amount you can give will make a real difference in building a studio, purchasing equipment, etc. You can make a tax-deductible donation to XCSB right here:
Checkout | Clover
Additionally, XCSB was notified last night that legal action has just been taken against Ideastream and Cleveland State University. XCSB has no further comment on this legal action at this time. Thank you all for your support 🤗😘❤”
That makes it sound like it's from a listener. Listeners have no legal standing with radio format changes. Even if the listener was a donor. The university stated publicly that it has no intention of taking any of the money that had been donated to WCSB.
But since all this was done behind closed doors with a STATE university [i.e. YOUR tax dollars] it should have been a public hearing anyways. The lawsuit MAY uncover what skullduggery was going on behind closed doors and they judge says "These shenanigans stink to high heavens. Hereby order the university to re-establish the station asap." But what will really happen is the university/ideascream will throw more of your tax dollars at the plaintiffs in order to get them to go away and MAYBE say "Fine, take back what you say is yours."
Tax dollars weren't being spent. This was about saving the university money. Once again: This university is losing $80 million.
You don't have to have legal standing to file a lawsuit. It's up to the judge to toss it out if they feel it's bogus or has no standing. Just cause Hercules Snidesnot sues because "As a faithful listener, I feel aggrieved that they took that station away from me." the judge could bitch slap him back to last week and tell him to grow up and find another station to listen to. It just reminds me of a Doctor Who episode I just watched, "The Giggle", where EVERYBODY in the world thinks they're right and can do whatever they please.....My tax dollars paid for this roadway and it's my right to stand here in the middle if I want to, it's my right to drive on the sidewalk because I want to, It's my right to fly this plane into the side of a mountain, it's my right to crap out this window and if it lands on you so what, it's my right to shoot you in the ass for pooping on me......and on and on it went.
If an old dorm or aging bleachers at the university field are torn down or a major is dropped from the curriculum, there is no hearing. The university simply shed a non-useful asset. It was well within its rights.
Yes, it's YOUR 80 million dollars in tax money being lost. Do you think the president or V.P. ponied up the money out of their pocket to purchase the station license and equipment years ago? It was TAX dollars and a small part was tuition money.
The radio station was funded by the student activity fee. So the students were paying for it, not taxpayers. The board felt it was a waste of money.
It was a student activity that was mainly used by non-students.
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Yes, in that case they're not going behind someone's back and making a nefarious deal with another company. Now, if it comes out that it was torn down just because some dorm construction company decided they slide a few bucks under the table if they'd let them build a new dorm, there'd be hell to pay. And i feel that's exactly what they did with this crap with Ideastream.
I wasn't really happy that they tore down my old high school [even though it was younger than me] about 15 years ago but I didn't demand they keep it and build the new one beside it. It was run down, flat leaking roofs, plugged up sewer lines that would have required tearing up cafeteria/library/classroom floors to replace it. I even suggested to the building facilitator that the dump some bricks from the old school in a pile and let people come and get some as a "reminder" more or less of the old place. He scoffed and said "No one would be interested in old bricks." They dumped a pile anyways and they ended up having to dump three more piles, each larger than the last cause people were claiming them as part of their memories.
Or it's just simple bluster and noise, as has been the case since day one of this nonsense. No lawyer worth their salt would work pro bono on a Quixotic dream that will never come true. If they're begging for money for a "XCSB" online platform, what does that tell you?
The latest now on CSU and XCSB.
https://www.the216scoop.com/p/break...l11ulVBhTdAI5KLlNn_aem_SqoI2Hyt85lv0IslGB62bA
Breaking: WCSB Takes CSU to Court
https://www.the216scoop.com/p/break...l11ulVBhTdAI5KLlNn_aem_SqoI2Hyt85lv0IslGB62bA
Breaking: WCSB Takes CSU to Court
Just as a point of clarification: Cleveland State OWNS this station. They are the licensee. As such they are allowed by law to do with it whatever they want as long as the FCC approves. They can sell it, shut it down, change operators, fire the faculty advisor, or lock out the students. They can do that because they own it. They don't have to ask anyone's permission.
The students operated the station as a club. They had no written agreement with the university. The university had no real obligations to the students in running the station. The station received student funds, overseen by the university's board of directors, and the board saw it as a bad use of student funds to operate a radio station that was mainly staffed by non students. The hostility following the decision likely influenced why the board made its decision in private, in anticipation of potential vandalism on university property by non-students.
There is nothing in the first amendment that requires a college facilitate and provide a broadcast FM station so students can express themselves. The university has done nothing to interfere in the free speech of anyone. I'm sure any judge who gets this lawsuit will dismiss it.
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The money they had is clearly going into this go-nowhere lawsuit. Alison Bombgardner and the "Friends of XCSB" crowd are listed as plaintiffs but the lawyers are not working pro bono. Thus the grifting and begging for money online.
Prediction: if we even get to a point of a forced discovery it will prove what has been continually been made in a freaking loop since day one: the lease agreement with Ideastream was made ethically and did not violate anything, CSU's finances were/are dire and needed to relieve themselves of an unnecessary burden, and the finances the XCSB crowd had were minimal at best and completely squandered.
But I'm with @TheBigA - any judge worth their salt is going to dismiss this.
That fact wasn't mentioned at all in the lawsuit.
That they blatantly ignored that fact is particularly damning. I betcha CSU's legal counsel is beside themselves right now: they have the perfect opportunity to request a dismissal right out of hand if they wanted to.
Not only was this lawsuit not filed in good faith, it is ultimately a waste of money for the XCSB Crowd.
It's good that the lawsuit didn't name Ideastream as a defendant. In the weeks after the decision, they hosted a TV special on the subject where the student GM was invited to present her side. Sadly, the students have targeted Ideastream and attacked their social media sites. The lawsuit doesn't apologize for that. The university and Ideastream have done nothing to interfere with the students expressing themselves. If anything, the university has been overly patient with the students. Anyone else would have called in parents for a discussion about proper student behavior.