Radio Survivor Podcast

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.

While the work of radio stations using terrestrial transmitters is a typical discussion topic on Radio Survivor, for this episode we find ourselves examining music and talk beamed down from satellites orbiting the earth. Satellite radio as we know it began in the 1990s, with its major players launching satellite radio services in the early 2000s. Brian Fauteux, Associate Professor of Popular Music and Media Studies at University of Alberta joins us on the show to discuss the fascinating history and relevance of satellite radio to both radio culture and the music industry. Brian is the author of the new book, “Music in Orbit: Satellite Radio in the Streaming Space Age,” released in 2025.

The post Podcast #344 – Music in Orbit: Satellite Radio in the Streaming Space Age 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.

Several years ago, Radio Survivor had the pleasure of speaking with artist and restaurateur Alice Brock, the woman who provided much inspiration for Arlo Guthrie’s inadvertent Thanksgiving Day radio staple, “Alice’s Restaurant.” Sadly, Alice Brock passed away on November 21, 2024 at the age of 83, just a week before the classic rock radio airwaves will be blanketed with the song that made her famous.

This year, in honor of Alice, we are presenting the Radio Survivor episode that we recorded with her in advance of Thanksgiving 2020, which was the most unusual of holidays, as the COVID-19 pandemic kept many of us separated from friends and family. During our discussion, Alice Brock shares with us not only some insight into the 18-minute anti-war epic “Alice’s Restaurant”; but also stories about her life and holiday traditions. For 2020, Brock was inspired to create a special introductory message for radio stations to play in advance of “Alice’s Restaurant,” and she explains why she was moved to offer up these words of thanks during that pandemic year in particular.

As we approach another holiday, our thoughts go out to Alice Brock’s friends and family. We are so grateful to have had the chance to chat with Alice and share Thanksgiving 2020 with her through the magic of podcasting.

The post Podcast: Remembering Alice Brock of Alice’s Restaurant appeared first on Radio Survivor.

We travel back to the 1980s, when the show, The Famous Computer Cafe, initially launched over the radio in southern California. With a focus on home computers, computer news, and more, the program had a fascinating roster of guests, including Timothy Leary, Donny Osmond, Bill Gates, and so many others. Although it was assumed that all the recordings of the show were lost; recently 53 episodes were found and digitized. Computer historian and archivist Kay Savetz spearheaded this project and joins us on Radio Survivor, alongside one of the creators and hosts of The Famous Computer Cafe, Ellen Fields.

The post Podcast #342 – The Famous Computer Cafe appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Journalist Marc Masters joins us to discuss his book, High Bias: the Distorted History of the Cassette Tape. We dive into how the oft-maligned cassette influenced the music industry and our culture by inspiring musicians, taking music to the streets and returning power back to listeners.

The post Podcast #341 – The Distorted History of the Cassette Tape 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.

Matthew Lasar talks with Brian Edwards-Tiekert, host of KPFA’s Upfront to commemorate the Birthday of Pacifica Radio.

The post Podcast #339- 75 Years of Listener Supported Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

In the last few years YouTube has become one of the most popular platforms for consuming podcasts, even though it’s a primarily a video platform, and podcasts have traditionally been an audio-first medium. This fact has raised both questions and concerns with podcasters. Paul has worked on research studies intended to better understand why and how people use YouTube to consume podcasts. He shares that data along with analyses and thoughts on how podcasters might think about YouTube and video.

The post Podcast #338 – YouTube, Video and Podcasting appeared first on Radio Survivor.