On October 3, 2025, while World College Radio Day was being celebrated all over the globe, Cleveland State University’s nearly 50-year old student-run college radio station WCSB 89.3 FM was shut down by administrators. Staff and volunteers were escorted out of the station by police and programming was soon replaced by JazzNEO, a music service produced by public radio group Ideastream. 

In the ensuing weeks, WCSB participants and supporters have been protesting this move and have organized under the name XCSB. To discuss what happened to the Cleveland State college radio station and what lies ahead for XCSB, two former WCSB student leaders join us on Radio Survivor. Liam Main was the business manager of WCSB and Alison Bomgardner was the most recent General Manager of the station.

The post Podcast #346 – The Fight for College Radio at Cleveland State Station WCSB appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Jennifer Waits reports back from the Grassroots Radio Conference, held in Spokane Washington from September 11 to September 14, 2025. We recap FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez’s keynote address, in which she spoke forcefully about recent actions by the FCC that threaten freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Gomez talked about the importance of community radio, as a place that inherently provides a diversity of view points.

Also on the show, we hear a bit about the National Campus and Community Radio Conference, which was held in Nanaimo, BC, Canada in June 2025. Plus, Jennifer digs into the latest “best college radio stations” list from Princeton Review.

The post Podcast #345 – Catching up with Community Radio at the Grassroots Radio Conference and NCRC appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Eric, Jennifer and Paul return with a new episode of Radio Survivor, recapping some of the latest news from our travels. Jennifer shares highlights from the annual student media conference hosted by Intercollegiate Broadcasting System (IBS) and from her visits to college radio stations in New York City. Just back from South by Southwest, Paul lends perspective on some of the latest trends in podcasting. Additionally, we provide details about an opportunity for radio stations to broadcast the Wetland Project‘s annual Earth Day 24-hour slow radio event, featuring the sounds of nature. If you are interested in airing all or part of the broadcast, the organizers can be reached at INFO at WETLANDPROJECT dot com.

Edited by Eric Klein

This episode was produced by Jennifer Waits

Hosted by Paul Riismandel, Eric Klein and Jennifer Waits

The post Podcast #343 – Catching up on College Radio and Podcasting News (March 19, 2025) appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Williams College student Josh Picoult arrived on campus with a fascination for both history and radio. Four years later, he’s about to graduate after completing his undergraduate thesis on the history of college radio station WCFM, where he’s also the general manager. On this edition of Radio Survivor, we are joined by Josh, who talks us through some of the big ideas from his thesis: Gas Pipes, Gigahertz, and Grunge: Broadcasting at Williams College, 1940-1998. Josh also shares details about the current state of radio on campus.

The post Podcast #340 – College Radio History at Williams College appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The Radio Survivor team returns for a new episode, during which Jennifer, Eric and Paul recap some of the latest radio news. Topics this week including LPFM, college radio history, radio documentaries, expanding and returning radio stations, and a slow radio broadcast for Earth Day.

Jennifer talks about her new gig working on a college radio history collection that is part of the Digital Library of Amateur Radio and Communications (DLARC) on the Internet Archive.

Additionally, we cover some updates to the radio landscape, including details about the most recent low-power FM licensing window, during which 388 groups (and counting) have been awarded construction permits for new LPFM stations. In San Francisco, streaming radio station BFF.fm is the recipient of one of these coveted spots on the dial.

Also coming to the San Francisco airwaves is Seattle-based non-commercial radio station KEXP, which acquired the former KREV full-power FM commercial frequency in a bankruptcy auction. Across the country in New York City, streaming community radio station East Village Radio is returning after it ceased operations nearly a decade ago.

A few radio stories are coming to the big screen. 35,000 Watts, a documentary about college radio, has made its debut and is initially hitting the college radio circuit. Jennifer will be in attendance at a 35,000 Watts screening and panel discussion at Pomona College on March 28th as part of a fundraising event for college radio station KSPC. Another radio film in the works, 40 Watts to Nowhere, recounts the story of pirate radio station KBLT, which ran out of founder Sue Carpenter’s home in Silver Lake near Los Angeles in the late 1990s.

Finally, we alert stations to an opportunity to participate in the annual Earth Day radio event: Wetland Project Slow Radio Broadcast on April 22, 2024. Stations can air all or part of the 24-hour broadcast featuring the sounds of nature, including birds, frogs, insects, and airplanes.

The post Podcast #337 – Catching up on Radio News including LPFM, a College Radio Archive, Documentaries, and More appeared first on Radio Survivor.

On this edition of the show, we explore public radio history, specifically the origins of public radio in the United States, including the important role played by college and university-based stations. Josh Shepperd joins to talk about his new book, Shadow of the New Deal: The Victory of Public Broadcasting, which examines the intersections between the media reform movement, public broadcasting, educational technology and communications policy and research. Josh is an assistant professor of media studies at the University of Colorado Boulder and is Director of the Radio Preservation Task Force at the Library of Congress.

The post Podcast #336 – Educational Radio and the Beginnings of Public Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

World College Radio Day takes place on October 6, 2023 and in honor of that, we dig into the early history of college radio on our latest episode of the show. Jennifer Waits walks us through her research about college radio in the 1920s and earlier, sharing details from a paper that she presented this past spring at the Radio Preservation Task Force Conference at the Library of Congress. In that paper, she argues that we should be broadening our definitions of what college radio is, pointing out examples of radio clubs, radio experiments, and amateur radio activities that mirror the activities of future “broadcast” stations.

Jennifer recounts stories from more than 100 years ago, pointing out the incredible contributions that students have made to radio history. Along the way, we hear tales about early student radio practitioners at places like Haverford College, Union College, Harvard University, and Columbia University. Jennifer also asks for listeners to share details that they may have about very early college radio (1920s and earlier) at other schools.

The post Podcast #334 – College Radio’s Hidden Early History appeared first on Radio Survivor.

10/17/23 Update! The new low power FM filing window has been delayed and is now opening on December 6, 2023. See the FCC’s announcement here.

On our latest episode of Radio Survivor, it’s a very special treat, with all four Radio Survivor hosts at the mic discussing an exciting low power FM opportunity. Another low power FM licensing window for non-commercial radio stations in the United States opens on November 1, 2023 December 6, 2023. Who is eligible to apply for these licenses? And why should they? And what help is available? Our guest, Sharon Scott, joins us to talk us through all things LPFM. Scott is the co-founder and general manager of a low power FM radio station, WXOX-LP in Louisville, Kentucky. She is also the author of Low Power FM for Dummies, which is set to be released in October, 2023.

The post Podcast #333 – Low Power FM for Dummies appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Jennifer, our intrepid radio station tour guide, leads us through some of her recent visits to college radio stations in New York and Rhode Island. This most recent academic year (2022-23) was an active one, with college campuses and radio stations coming back to life as pandemic restrictions have eased. We also discuss a long-running college radio program that just turned 50 years old. We are curious if listeners know of other programs of a similar vintage. We close the show with a discussion of the 20th anniversary of podcasting.

The post Podcast #332 – More College Radio Tours & Podcasting Turns 20 appeared first on Radio Survivor.

It’s been nearly three years since the FCC first announced that a new low-power FM (LPFM) application window would be forthcoming. Now we know that November 1 – 8, 2023 will be the third-ever opportunity for qualified non-profits to apply for a license. Jennifer, Eric and Paul review all the pertinent details, explaining why there is excitement around LPFM and this next chance for new community and college radio stations to go on the air.

We also take another look at Franken FMs – vestigial low-power TV (LPTV) stations on channel 6 that can be heard at the far left end of the FM radio dial. They were supposed to go off the air a year ago when the last LPTV stations converted to digital broadcasts. But the FCC eventually granted 13 of them “Special Temporary Authority” to continue broadcasting an analog radio signal experimentally even while their video signals went digital. At its July meeting the Commission plans to vote on rules that would allow these Franken FMs to live on, and we discuss what’s at stake.

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