Great stuff. The main thing I noticed in that picture is a CSU professor. Does the college still have an active broadcasting department with experienced professors? Were they still involved in the radio station? Or was it just a club made up of students?
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WCSB Flips to Jazz
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Great stuff. The main thing I noticed in that picture is a CSU professor. Does the college still have an active broadcasting department with experienced professors? Were they still involved in the radio station? Or was it just a club made up of students?
True or not, they are mainly pissed on how it all went down. Most of them only do a show once a week to a very loyal group and hey had no chance to say goodbye to their audience, plan accordingly or anything. Yes it's one thing the station is gone and they were going to be angry about that either way. But to give them zero notice, have higher ups under wraps with NDAs, that's another thing.
Once again, this is how it happens all the time in radio. Big name radio & TV stars get fired all the time without warning and they can't say goodbye.
You're thinking the cooperate world. This is a bit different buddy, I've never-ever heard of this happening in a community based non profit station before. Never. This is EXTREMELY different, which is why they got involved with WCSB in the first place. It wasn't corporate.
They weren't operating some station above 92 mhz that gets their format flipped every 2-5 years or whatever. This is a heart and soul station not ran by the likes of I Heart, CBS or whomever. This is extremely different and should of been respected as much.
IdeaStream knows this too, that's why they have this quality control message on their website
"For longtime WCSB listeners, thank you for being part of the station’s rich history. We’re excited to continue that tradition by bringing you JazzNEO’s signature blend of jazz programming. Together, we’ll carry forward the spirit of discovery and community that WCSB has always represented."
What a load of crap.
They weren't operating some station above 92 mhz that gets their format flipped every 2-5 years or whatever. This is a heart and soul station not ran by the likes of I Heart, CBS or whomever. This is extremely different and should of been respected as much.
IdeaStream knows this too, that's why they have this quality control message on their website
"For longtime WCSB listeners, thank you for being part of the station’s rich history. We’re excited to continue that tradition by bringing you JazzNEO’s signature blend of jazz programming. Together, we’ll carry forward the spirit of discovery and community that WCSB has always represented."
What a load of crap.
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WCSB is not a community non-profit. Universities are corporate. The state of Ohio is corporate. All you need is some musician to sue CSU for millions, and you'll wake up. This is why colleges want out of radio. Some student says or does something, and the university is liable. Now they don't have to worry anymore.
Non-commercial stations are being taken over by religious broadcasters all over this country. Colleges are selling stations out from under their students because they don't want to get sued. Ideastream just lost $2 million because the president hates NPR. This is not the 80s anymore.
I would love to know the historical roots and structure of how WCSB operated (given my lack of access to the student newspapers, that might be a very difficult task at the moment).
What is noticably absent from media coverage on this move has been any statement or clarification from CSU's communications department or professors. It would not surprise me if WCSB was always run as a student organization and not as an extension of the communications department. But I wouldn't know.
By comparison, Kent State's online radio station Black Squirrel Radio has always been tied directly to their communication department (along with "TV2", their in-house television station) and have been for decades.
If it's not tied to an academic department, and left to the president and the board, then it's no surprise this happened.
I imagine the university has policies about who is authorized to speak to the media.
Who isn't? We're all just trying to reword everything to make sure we're communicating. Others are doing the same, not that I have a problem with it.
Normal doesn't make it right. There's a social contract or at least, used to be.
Nor is there a reason to do it to a bunch of college kids. At least give them a heads up, what's the harm in that? What possible downside is there for anyone to give them a heads up. The GM was doing an interview for channel 5 while the police pulled up for crying out oud.
Here's how Salem State University near Boston handled it in August, while the students were on summer break:
The students weren't even on campus. They were preparing for the annual organizational meeting in September. While they're away, the university turned their license in to the FCC. No advance notice, no nothing. This just happened two months ago. This station had been on the air about as long as WCSB. One of the founders of the station, someone who was still very involved in regular operations, passed away earlier in the year. He wasn't around to handle things anymore, so the university turned in the license. That's the end. Are people upset? Sure they are. But it's too late.
Of note, WMWM had non-student volunteers on air, including the late Bob "RaccoonRadio" Nelson (I can't remember if he was what whom you were referring to?). Similar setup to WCSB, apparently.
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So I dug up the "about us" page on the now-gone WCSB website. The wording implies it was a student organization and not tied to the communications department:
web.archive.org
This pull-quote is interesting...
About WCSB 89.3 Cleveland's FM Alternative Radio
WCSB is the student-run radio station of Cleveland State University. Our mission is to provide an alternative source of news and entertainment.
web.archive.org
BTW to correct what the councilman said in the above video, the police that were used were university police who were called by the university, not Ideastream. The university still owns the station. If there is anything to be done, it should be aimed at the university. They invited Ideastream in, and gave them control of the station. It wasn't "hijacked." The signal was legally handed over to Ideastream. The university is the licensee, and they are still responsible. It's up to them, not Ideastream.
It was a nice speech, but I didn't hear the councilman propose any action, other than a meeting with Ideastream. I'm not aware that the city has any control over what a state university does. If there's any action to be taken, it's by the university. Ideastream is simply carrying out the terms of a deal.
It was a nice speech, but I didn't hear the councilman propose any action, other than a meeting with Ideastream. I'm not aware that the city has any control over what a state university does. If there's any action to be taken, it's by the university. Ideastream is simply carrying out the terms of a deal.
Um, that may have been one of the reasons for the change.
While I was watching the boomer councilman talk about radio, I could see the younger man behind him yawning very openly. He's obviously wondering what is this old guy talking about?
I will add that too often I heard what the FCC calls obscenity in some of the lyrics of songs played. While they have been getting away with it for some time -- it never bothered me or obviously their listeners -- but the emergence of the extreme right who are determined to squelch any media that they feel is not lockstep with their views, suggests that some conservative organization would challenge the license based on the "obscenity" and who knows what they would do with it.