Radio Survivor

Princeton Review’s latest “Best College Radio Stations” list has been released, bringing attention to another interesting mix of college radio stations from across the United States.

In 2016 I was intrigued by the story of a 1985 “college radio network” visit to the White House, in which students had the opportunity to interview President Ronald Reagan.

On the ground floor of the Donohue Building on the Holyoke Community College campus sits college radio station WCCH 103.5 FM in Holyoke, Massachusetts.

On a chilly early March night, WMHC General Manager Valentina Rubio Lopez greeted me outside the Mount Holyoke College campus in South Hadley, Massachusetts.

In a 1947 letter to WPRU at Princeton University, Smith College student Betty Specht asks for advice about the feasibility of setting up a college radio station, writing that there is a feeling that they are, “very much out of the fashion by lacking this…

“This semester is our last semester in our current radio station, so we would love the opportunity to show off our wacky and wonderful space,” emailed WAMH-FM station manager Finley Liu in response to my request for a tour.

During lunchtime on a Thursday in early March, University of Massachusetts Amherst’s college radio station WMUA was buzzing with activity.

“We desperately need this station!

Every college campus is an adventure, requiring advance planning on my part so that I am able to navigate as quickly as possible to radio stations that are often in hidden-away locations.

“CiTR is in fact a Nardwuar cult,” joked CiTR Vice President Dani Larose in a message to me after my visit to the University of British Columbia (UBC) campus and community radio station in Vancouver.

Treasure hunt is the best way to describe the whirlwind afternoon that I spent at campus and community radio station CJSF 90.1 FM at Simon Fraser University (SFU) in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada in June 2025.

On a Sunday drive from Vancouver to Abbotsford, British Columbia last June, Aaron Levy narrated the landscape, pointing out locations used during the filming of various series (including some of my personal favorites: Riverdale and Bates Motel) in British…

“Keep Nanaimo Weird” reads a piece of artwork on the wall of CHLY 101. 7 FM, a campus and community radio station in Nanaimo, British Columbia in Canada.

Underground is more than a metaphor for countless college radio stations which may play edgier music but are also housed beneath the earth.

It’s no surprise that the home of one of the oldest still-operating college radio stations, WESU 88.1 FM at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, is full of typical student radio artifacts.

“Get Loud in the Library” reads the headline on a flyer posted on a table in front of KYRS-FM, a community radio station located inside Spokane Central Library in Spokane, Washington.

Around lunchtime on a warm day in September, WYBC General Manager Jules Morris and I comb through stacks of paperwork from the Yale University radio station’s files.

Perched on a shelf in the WCFM 91.9 FM studio at Williams College sit well-loved copies of Moby Dick, Ulysses, and The Idiot.

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.

This year, College Radio Day began for me in the best possible way, with a visit to Middlebury College’s student-run radio station WRMC 91.1 FM in Middlebury, Vermont.

As I was plotting out my fall vacation to New England, I imagined chilly days, falling leaves and colorful foliage.

One of my favorite things about tuning in to terrestrial radio is hearing unlikely juxtapositions as stations fade in and out of each other.

In 2009, a University of Denver Magazine profile of the school’s student radio station bore the headline, “The nine lives of DU radio.”

A sentence on the KRCX website, “Regis University is home to Denver’s oldest college radio station,” piqued my interest and led to a journey not only through the radio station, but down many archival rabbit holes in search of more information.

On Friday, October 3, as World College Radio Day was being celebrated across the country and around the globe, students were locked out of their long-time home at college radio station WCSB 89.3 FM at Cleveland State University.

One of the first things that I noticed when I arrived at WMPG-FM in Portland, Maine was a familiar-looking three-dimensional grey cardboard sign perched in the lobby window.

“Walk to the front between the two large turrets!”

“The station’s in a bit a flux,” WBRS co-General Manager Ella Thanik said apologetically, after enthusiastically greeting me at the Brandeis University college radio station around lunchtime on a Thursday in early October.

Over the years there have been so many reports about the ebb and flow of college radio and I’ve tried my best to not feed into narratives of decline.

Jennifer Waits reports back from the Grassroots Radio Conference, held in Spokane Washington from September 11 to September 14, 2025.

The annual Princeton Review “Best College Radio Stations” list is here, just in time for the 2025-2026 academic year.

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.

The magic of college radio lies not just in the sounds that are transmitted over the airwaves, but also emanates from the spaces from which stations operate.

It was a surreal experience to return to one of my college radio alma maters, WBGU 88.1 FM at Bowling Green State University (BGSU), and encounter an unrecognizable radio station and campus.

One version of my radio nerd dream vacation includes a cross-country road trip, with numerous stops at college radio stations along the way.

On a Sunday morning, when most college students were likely asleep, KUCR Music Director Diya Anantharaman cheerfully greeted me at University of California, Riverside’s college radio station.

What are the best college radio stations?

Eric, Jennifer and Paul return with a new episode of Radio Survivor, recapping some of the latest news from our travels.

Thanksgiving 2024 is a bit sadder this year, with the news that Alice Brock has passed away.

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.”

As we chatted over lunch in the dining hall at Bowdoin College on a late August afternoon, Mason Daugherty, one of the Station Managers of college radio station WBOR-FM, said quick “hellos” to friends who he hadn’t seen in months.

We travel back to the 1980s, when the show, The Famous Computer Cafe, initially launched over the radio in southern California.

Journalist Marc Masters joins us to discuss his book, High Bias: the Distorted History of the Cassette Tape.

Williams College student Josh Picoult arrived on campus with a fascination for both history and radio.

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

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.

The Radio Survivor team returns for a new episode, during which Jennifer, Eric and Paul recap some of the latest radio news.

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.

Arlo Guthrie’s seasonally appropriate “Alice’s Restaurant” is getting dusted off once again for radio airplay this Thanksgiving 2023.

On this week’s show, we peek behind the scenes of The Digital Library of Amateur Radio and Communications (DLARC).