• 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 Flips to Jazz

TheBigA said:
We can see what they'd do if given an extra day to say goodbye. They would not have said goodbye. They would have used the air signal to mobilize. The university knew that, and wanted to protect their license.
Click to expand...
Bingo!

I can imagine the legal advisors thinking of all the ways the university could have been in jeopardy were they to have allowed "goodby" programming. I'm sure someone even mentioned the chance that the students would decide to "occupy" the station... as that is a very popular way of protesting on campuses today.
 
TheBigA said:
They're basing their opinions on what the students are saying. Nobody is giving the other side. If you only hear one side of the story, it sounds like the students got screwed. That's not the whole story. So all there is is criticism. You're buying their side of the story.

The students aren't acting very adult. They've been given all the money they raised to start an online station. They've been given airtime on Ideastream stations. They've been given paid internships. Ideastream wants to work with them. But they're not taking the opportunities being given. They want to go back to the past.
Click to expand...
WCSB's former Facebook page is still active and renamed "XCSB" and is posting rather inflammatory content against Ideastream and the university. Such is an excerpt from one post where they give their side of how things came down:

1759893182468.png

"Ideastream had fully hijacked our airwaves."

Not only are the students not wanting to compromise, they are basically poisoning the well between themselves, the university and Ideastream. Possibly permanently. At a certain point, Ideastream is going to rescind the internship opportunities and willingness to host ethnic shows on their platforms.

As for operating WCSB, Ideastream is too entwined in the current arrangement, and have the grant money they actually do really need that specified they needed to do this, so they can't just walk away. But a public response from Ideastream with their side of the story is needed because social media is being polluted with nothing but "XCSB"'s side.
 
Nathan Obral said:
WCSB's former Facebook page is still active and renamed "XCSB" and is posting rather inflammatory content against Ideastream and the university. Such is an excerpt from one post where they give their side of how things came down:

"Ideastream had fully hijacked our airwaves."
Click to expand...
First, they say the action by the licensee was "a takeover". Heck, with double-l's. The station did not belong to the volunteers or students. It belonged to the licensee which was not them.

Then they say "hijacked". With that attitude, one can only have fully awake nightmares about what might have happened if a "goodbye" period had been allowed.

And just think of how they would have left the equipment and offices afterwards!
 
The university wanted to get out of radio.

And they could have been nice about it and told the staff/volunteers/whatever of the station "Look, you have till the end of the school year to start a foundation, get another sponsor or come up with some other funding because if you don't we're shutting you down and turning over the frequency to some other media company." And if they're in such of a rush to get out of radio, why are they holding onto the license? You'd think they'd get rid of everything radio related, lock, stock and barrel. And do you think Ideastream is going to put on anything other then what they currently air? Maybe they should add an * after Ideastream: "Ideastream Public Media* (* but only if your ideas line up with what we want). They may be saying they'll host ethnic programming but if it's like when a new owner takes over a radio station "We're planning no changes, everything is working fine as it is" and then two weeks later fires everyone and changes formats. Me thinks the ethnic programming will last until "Has the furor died down? Can we poke our heads out of the hole we dug ourselves? No one's calling for our heads anymore? OK, time to dump that ethnic stuff that we promised to keep three months ago."
 
davideduardo said:
First, they say the action by the licensee was "a takeover". Heck, with double-l's. The station did not belong to the volunteers or students. It belonged to the licensee which was not them.

Then they say "hijacked". With that attitude, one can only have fully awake nightmares about what might have happened if a "goodbye" period had been allowed.

And just think of how they would have left the equipment and offices afterwards!
Click to expand...
Questions: Who posted it? Was it a group decision? Did one individual [webmaster, whomever] decide to post it on their own? Could it have been someone outside [say a hacker] post it? Another individual who no longer worked for them but still has access to passwords, etc. post it?
 
Yabadabado1 said:
And if they're in such of a rush to get out of radio, why are they holding onto the license?
Click to expand...

The license is the asset. Holding on to the license gives them control over what happens. They wanted a responsible group to handle operations. They don't have to pay for the operations. But they hold the asset. It's very common. A lot of universities have done it.

Yabadabado1 said:
And they could have been nice about it and told the staff/volunteers/whatever of the station "Look, you have till the end of the school year to start a foundation, get another sponsor or come up with some other funding
Click to expand...

They've had 50 years to do that. Instead, they're playing with someone else's money. They're like a kid driving their parent's car, and they think it belongs to them. It doesn't. They were given all the money they raised from their listeners to start their own station off school property. They don't want that. They want their parent's car. Hey, who wouldn't? They've been living rent free in someone else's place, and now the owner wants it back.
 
You act like there wasn't a reasonable expectation. These people put time and effort into this, along with their studies. Their understanding was that the college was allowing this to be a student and community outreach that they ran and gave their passion to. You act as though "how dare they" have a reasonable expectation they'd get more than an hours notice after 30 years?

This is so basic. You act as though they're somehow entitled little snots for simply expecting to be treated like adults after investing in the station with their labor - and, might I point out, doing something that sustained itself with a fundraiser every year! They should get some respect for that. Good for them.
 
Andy Travis said:
You act like there wasn't a reasonable expectation. These people put time and effort into this, along with their studies.
Click to expand...

Only a handful were students. That's the problem. The station had divorced itself from the school. But it took the school's money.
Andy Travis said:
This is so basic. You act as though they're somehow entitled little snots for simply expecting to be treated like adults after investing in the station with their labor - and, might I point out, doing something that sustained itself with a fundraiser every year! They should get some respect for that. Good for them.
Click to expand...

That's exactly what they are. They're not acting like adults. They're acting like babies who lost their playtoy.

The station did NOT sustain itself. Who paid for the heat and electricity? Who paid engineering? They received money from the student activity fee. All the students are required to pay this fee, and only a handful of students used the radio station. Plus all the non-students. They used the fundraiser money to pay themselves "stipends." It's not like they paid rent. They didn't pay the university for the use of the license. No academic departments were able to use the station. They didn't broadcast the school's sports teams. Nothing. It was like their own private little radio station that someone else owned. Until the landlord showed up and locked them out.
 
Last edited:
davideduardo said:
I can imagine the legal advisors thinking of all the ways the university could have been in jeopardy were they to have allowed "goodby" programming. I'm sure someone even mentioned the chance that the students would decide to "occupy" the station... as that is a very popular way of protesting on campuses today.
Click to expand...

If this continues, the university is going to have to call the students in for a discussion about responsibility.
 
TheBigA said:
They were given all the money they raised from their listeners to start their own station off school property. They don't want that.
Click to expand...
I don't think every single member thinks that way. In fact, there's ex staff doing podcast type shticks now.

Obviously time will tell but just maybe the staff will come together and do an online WCSB deal. Heck maybe it will be called "XCSB". I have no insider info but would that shock you?
 
inter1097 said:
I don't think every single member thinks that way. In fact, there's ex staff doing podcast type shticks now
Click to expand...

I hope you're right. For the most part, I relate to these folks. I was in their shoes. But I handled it very differently. When I was in college radio, I worked with the university. Our station devoted a lot of time to university activities such as sports. On election night, we invited the political science professors in to co-host our news coverage. We raised some of our own money too. But we respected out landlord. It's their station. We're just operators. When I graduated, I left and didn't stay to do alumni shows. That period in my life was over. I went on to my radio career. I'll never forget my time in college radio. I wish there was a place for it now. But it looks like it's days are numbered. Thankfully my old college station is still on the air.
 
I'm somewhat amused. First, an earlier post said the station streamed online. The shows can still be heard online.

If you listen to some on this site, nobody listens to the radio anymore, it's all online. I guess these guys are seeing a dose of reality.
 
b-turner said:
I'm somewhat amused. First, an earlier post said the station streamed online. The shows can still be heard online.

If you listen to some on this site, nobody listens to the radio anymore, it's all online. I guess these guys are seeing a dose of reality.
Click to expand...

Some guys have a side podcast/stream type deal but the station itself no longer streams online. wcsb.org is gutted
 
I think one thing being lost in this whole "They want this, this is their opinion" is not all of them are going to think the same exact way. As said before the station had like 90-100 djs/staff/etc so you can't assume if one person is saying one thing they all are thinking the same way.
 
inter1097 said:
I think one thing being lost in this whole "They want this, this is their opinion" is not all of them are going to think the same exact way. As said before the station had like 90-100 djs/staff/etc so you can't assume if one person is saying one thing they all are thinking the same way.
Click to expand...

I get it. I just came from a meeting where someone said "Reddit will be the death of mankind." I immediately thought of this thread.
 
inter1097 said:
I don't think every single member thinks that way. In fact, there's ex staff doing podcast type shticks now.

Obviously time will tell but just maybe the staff will come together and do an online WCSB deal. Heck maybe it will be called "XCSB". I have no insider info but would that shock you?
Click to expand...
I hope they do. I'm worried that the current reaction risks burning bridges and relations that need to exist between the students that ran WCSB and facility.
TheBigA said:
I get it. I just came from a meeting where someone said "Reddit will be the death of mankind." I immediately thought of this thread.
Click to expand...
I only regret being able to give you just one like.
 
Since this thread, I reached out to my old college radio station, and I'll be making a visit soon. As I said, when I graduated, I left the station and really never went back. I don't do alumni days or that kind of thing, and really focused on my career and the future. But I have a warm spot for the station and the students, and don't want my former station to end up like this one. So I'm going to alert them to this possibility, and advise them on how they can avoid it.
 


Back
Top Bottom