Members mikeoxlong Posted January 19, 2010 Members Share Posted January 19, 2010 it has been gone for years now, they have the space still and I will be checking it out soon... my city blows for music and the "best" station in town plays nickelback all day and bands that sound like nickelback I already work at the uni so after i determine what I need I will make a business proposal... I want this station to play good music and not weird ethnic music... local bands combined with cmj top 20's and what not... do you think there would be some sort of quota for the type of music i need to play? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members frankiej Posted January 19, 2010 Members Share Posted January 19, 2010 Won't happen. My college has a radio station that tried to play what most people here would consider "good" (some of it was). But alas, the campus whom actually listened to it bitched about the "{censored}ty" music and now its a mix of pop/nickelback (and the likes)/rap/hip hop. They play a decent modern country song everyonce in awhile but ya..... Lets just say I avoid it. You'll have to listen to your campus audience for song requests and what not, that's the whole point of a college radio station after all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mikeoxlong Posted January 19, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 19, 2010 well it would take requests and what not, I'm just worried about having to play like jazz hour, or blues hour... cus we already have a station like that and it blows... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members frankiej Posted January 19, 2010 Members Share Posted January 19, 2010 well it would take requests and what not, I'm just worried about having to play like jazz hour, or blues hour... cus we already have a station like that and it blows... College radio is a bit tuff. You kinda just have to stick to what the majority of the campus likes. If they like "crappy" music then oh well. I listened to ours like my first year since I didn't have anything else to listen to and it was pretty bad. It was like Joe FM (basically plays all types of popular music). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mikeoxlong Posted January 19, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 19, 2010 I have a feeling that the campus would like the music I would play because they already have all that other stuff on the other stations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members frankiej Posted January 19, 2010 Members Share Posted January 19, 2010 I have a feeling that the campus would like the music I would play because they already have all that other stuff on the other stations. There ya go. Our station isn't really different from all the others expect it has some parts that talk about activities on campus and other college related things but that's expected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SpectralJulian Posted January 19, 2010 Members Share Posted January 19, 2010 my old college radio station. . . wrct.org they're awesome Is your college radio station free form? Can community members become DJs? If so, get a DJ slot and play what you want. Being a DJ is easy, requires relatively little training, and a bit of knowledge about FCC rules and regulations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mikeoxlong Posted January 19, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 19, 2010 There ya go. Our station isn't really different from all the others expect it has some parts that talk about activities on campus and other college related things but that's expected. maybe i should make a petition and when u sign the petition you get them to put down a band they would like to hear on the radio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Saturnine10 Posted January 19, 2010 Members Share Posted January 19, 2010 Podcast? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mikeoxlong Posted January 19, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 19, 2010 Podcast? no legit radio.... fm radio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Saturnine10 Posted January 19, 2010 Members Share Posted January 19, 2010 IMO if you want to reach more people with new music you have to use todays technology.. I hardly ever listen to the FM radio anymore, but the radio stations on itunes get a lot of play for sure... I guess thats what i meant by podcasts.. Chances are that a good percentage of your classmates have computers and are on them quite a lot listening to music.. Just a thought Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jrkirkish Posted January 19, 2010 Members Share Posted January 19, 2010 Does OP's college have a communications/broadcasting program? College radio is only worth it if that uni has a broadcasting program. I've been a DJ. not a crappy college dj where you can't get reception more than 100 feet away from the transmitter, either. A real, honest to god radio station that you can pick up forty miles away. It was awesome; apparently I have a face for radio. Need to take a dump? Put on some Tool. I was good at it too, but it gets really old after a while - like dealing with the family members of {censored}ty local bands calling in every fifteen minutes requesting their song because you made the mistake of playing their song on the sunday graveyard block. The remotes would have been cooler if we had a t-shirt cannon, and if more than 20 people came out to a car dealership for those impromptu classic car shows (where an 89 civic with an exhaust the size of a CD is considered cool). After everything was winding down, there was a burn(peel?)-out contest. I kicked ass in my brown '92 Oldsmobile with a V8... But yeah, I quit that job because I was going back to school, and because I got paid in CDs. The CD library in the basement was cleaned out before I left, though. Got a first pressing of Kid A with that book in it. hells yeah. Anyway, back on topic. OP has three options. First is jump through the insane amount of hoops to get his campus radio up and running. This includes finding an advisor, FCC regs, FCC permits, basically filling out a Kafkaesque amount of paperwork. Second is roll your own. Pirate radio. Mr. Microphone on steroids. Cool thing about high-power transmitters is that they usually still have tubes in them. Huge tubes. Third option is get a kilowatt-sized stereo and play music you like in your room. Because everyone else does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jrkirkish Posted January 19, 2010 Members Share Posted January 19, 2010 Also, radio is dead. Think about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SpectralJulian Posted January 19, 2010 Members Share Posted January 19, 2010 yeah it would be.... but the idea is that it would be consistently good... and i would get people i know have good taste as djsno legit radio.... fm radio Can you explain how your college radio station works to me? Have you visited it, experienced the operation, talked to the station manager? The radio station I DJ'd at was free form. A lot of kids played indie/alternative/punk whatever, but there was also talk programming, sports, jazz, country, ethnic music, classical, blues, rap, experimental. . . that was part of the beauty of it. It was a learning experience for everyone involved. (My post-punk/noise rock/post-hardcore/everything show was sandwiched in between experimental/noise and blues. I didn't get along with the blues lady, but the experimental/noise guy taught me about some great music and was a joy to talk to) Switching to a single genre format goes against the spirit of college radio programming. If you have an absolute format, the people who want to try other things with radio will be denied that experience. The idea of a college radio station is to be a learning experience for the students and the community, on both the technical side as well as the musical appreciation and public speaking/performance sides of things. A free form radio allows you to not just be exposed to the music you're already familiar with, but also music you aren't familiar with AND people on talk shows with different ideas. . . for the students and community members operating the station and for the students and community members listening. If you want to hear more college rock, get the people interested in college rock to DJ at the station. But don't screw the people currently at the station and the people who currently enjoy the station, no good can come out of that. Learn how the station works before you propose anything to improve the station, otherwise you'll just get laughed at. One thing to note that may be in your favor is that radio stations expand their library primarily off of free promotional CDs from record labels. For your radio station to receive those CDs, your radio station has to participate in CMJ charts, and those CDs have to chart. They may already be doing this, but if they aren't, they are missing out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mikeoxlong Posted January 19, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 19, 2010 Also, radio is dead. Think about that. i wouldnt say its dead... what do u listen to as your driving to school... if it had school related {censored} on there u would probly listen to it.... anyways.. i am checking out the studio sometime this week and will see what kind of equipment i am dealing with. worst case scenario i get some good mics for cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SpectralJulian Posted January 19, 2010 Members Share Posted January 19, 2010 Does OP's college have a communications/broadcasting program? College radio is only worth it if that uni has a broadcasting program.I've been a DJ. not a crappy college dj where you can't get reception more than 100 feet away from the transmitter, either. A real, honest to god radio station that you can pick up forty miles away. It was awesome; apparently I have a face for radio. Need to take a dump? Put on some Tool.I was good at it too, but it gets really old after a while - like dealing with the family members of {censored}ty local bands calling in every fifteen minutes requesting their song because you made the mistake of playing their song on the sunday graveyard block. The remotes would have been cooler if we had a t-shirt cannon, and if more than 20 people came out to a car dealership for those impromptu classic car shows (where an 89 civic with an exhaust the size of a CD is considered cool). After everything was winding down, there was a burn(peel?)-out contest. I kicked ass in my brown '92 Oldsmobile with a V8...But yeah, I quit that job because I was going back to school, and because I got paid in CDs. The CD library in the basement was cleaned out before I left, though. Got a first pressing of Kid A with that book in it. hells yeah.Anyway, back on topic. OP has three options. First is jump through the insane amount of hoops to get his campus radio up and running. This includes finding an advisor, FCC regs, FCC permits, basically filling out a Kafkaesque amount of paperwork. Second is roll your own. Pirate radio. Mr. Microphone on steroids. Cool thing about high-power transmitters is that they usually still have tubes in them. Huge tubes.Third option is get a kilowatt-sized stereo and play music you like in your room. Because everyone else does. not all college radio stations are crappy. . . WRCT has a 15 mile radius Oh and who says you have to actually play requests? We never had to, we just were supposed to try to fit them in. and it sounds like they already have a radio station up, so they don't have to go through all that FCC stuff (well they still do have to deal with the FCC, but yeah.) If they didn't already have a college radio station, it would be INCREDIBLY hard for you to convince them to. It costs A LOT to run an FM radio station. And radio is not dead. Tons of people still have car radios, and tons of people still listen to them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mikeoxlong Posted January 19, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 19, 2010 Can you explain how your college radio station works to me? Have you visited it, experienced the operation, talked to the station manager? The radio station I DJ'd at was free form. A lot of kids played indie/alternative/punk whatever, but there was also talk programming, sports, jazz, country, ethnic music, classical, blues, rap, experimental. . . that was part of the beauty of it. It was a learning experience for everyone involved. (My post-punk/noise rock/post-hardcore/everything show was sandwiched in between experimental/noise and blues. I didn't get along with the blues lady, but the experimental/noise guy taught me about some great music and was a joy to talk to) Switching to a single genre format goes against the spirit of college radio programming. If you have an absolute format, the people who want to try other things with radio will be denied that experience. The idea of a college radio station is to be a learning experience for the students and the community, on both the technical side as well as the musical appreciation and public speaking/performance sides of things. A free form radio allows you to not just be exposed to the music you're already familiar with, but also music you aren't familiar with AND people on talk shows with different ideas. . . for the students and community members operating the station and for the students and community members listening. If you want to hear more college rock, get the people interested in college rock to DJ at the station. But don't screw the people currently at the station and the people who currently enjoy the station, no good can come out of that. Learn how the station works before you propose anything to improve the station, otherwise you'll just get laughed at. One thing to note that may be in your favor is that radio stations expand their library primarily off of free promotional CDs from record labels. For your radio station to receive those CDs, your radio station has to participate in CMJ charts, and those CDs have to chart. They may already be doing this, but if they aren't, they are missing out. yeah i want to use stuff from cmj charts.... i think you failed to read my original post... THERE IS NO COLLEGE RADIO,,, its been left vacant for almost 10 years now... i want to make is so that the station isn't just another pile of random stew but plays current music... not jazz hour with jazz hands jeffery... but stuff students will actually want to listen to.. the studio and tower is there but nobody running it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SpectralJulian Posted January 19, 2010 Members Share Posted January 19, 2010 i wouldnt say its dead... what do u listen to as your driving to school... if it had school related {censored} on there u would probly listen to it.... anyways.. i am checking out the studio sometime this week and will see what kind of equipment i am dealing with.worst case scenario i get some good mics for cheap. Microphones? You're thinking of gear and programming? Two different departments of radio. . . shouldn't be under the control of one person. . . you're seriously biting off WAY more than you can chew if you think you're going to be head engineer and programming director. . . You'd have to practically live in the station (not that some people don't sometimes!) Also, I'm sure they have plenty of gear. . . you can't really run a station without it. I'd think if they play music they at least have a couple of rack CD players, a cart machine, a handful of microphones, a mixer, and emergency broadcast box, not to mention the transmitting gear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mikeoxlong Posted January 19, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 19, 2010 Microphones? You're thinking of gear and programming? Two different departments of radio. . . shouldn't be under the control of one person. . . you're seriously biting off WAY more than you can chew if you think you're going to be head engineer and programming director. . . You'd have to practically live in the station (not that some people don't sometimes!)Also, I'm sure they have plenty of gear. . . you can't really run a station without it. I'd think if they play music they at least have a couple of rack CD players, a cart machine, a handful of microphones, a mixer, and emergency broadcast box, not to mention the transmitting gear. i know plenty of people who would be on board on helping me run the place, infact i dont plan on running anything.... i own a small recording studio, the mics would be personal use only,, if this doesn't work out... you keep confusing what i write.... i am saying worst case scenario is i buy the gear that is already there for cheap Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jrkirkish Posted January 19, 2010 Members Share Posted January 19, 2010 i think you failed to read my original post... THERE IS NO COLLEGE RADIO,,, its been left vacant for almost 10 years now...the studio and tower is there but nobody running it Yeah, any FCC approval they had is gone now. It would be (in the eyes of the FCC) like setting up a new station. Now, setting up a college station is unequivocally easier than getting a major broadcasting station set up, but you have to realize that ONE PERSON is not going to make this happen. If you want to do this, forget about doing it alone. Recruit your friends who also want this, find a faculty member to help you, etc... Also, this will be a multi-year project. You have no idea how deep the rabbit hole goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mikeoxlong Posted January 19, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 19, 2010 Yeah, any FCC approval they had is gone now. It would be (in the eyes of the FCC) like setting up a new station.Now, setting up a college station is unequivocally easier than getting a major broadcasting station set up, but you have to realize that ONE PERSON is not going to make this happen.If you want to do this, forget about doing it alone. Recruit your friends who also want this, find a faculty member to help you, etc... Also, this will be a multi-year project.You have no idea how deep the rabbit hole goes. i bet... the thing is that i am already a faculty member.... and know everyone on the board.... i think the hardest part would be finding the money to fund it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SpectralJulian Posted January 19, 2010 Members Share Posted January 19, 2010 yeah i want to use stuff from cmj charts.... i think you failed to read my original post... THERE IS NO COLLEGE RADIO,,, its been left vacant for almost 10 years now... i want to make is so that the station isn't just another pile of random stew but plays current music... not jazz hour with jazz hands jeffery... but stuff students will actually want to listen to..the studio and tower is there but nobody running it You never explicitly said in your OP there is no college radio, you were pretty vague over whether there was or wasn't. Since there isn't, good luck. . . they probably don't have the FCC license anymore, a college isn't going to want to commit the money to get back on the air, and they aren't going to want to allocate a radio station budget. That said, you can talk to your school about it. Also want to talk to the activities board. They will be the ones who will allocate you your budget, and the budget for a radio station is much bigger than that of any other student activity. There's a lot of logistics to it though, and you really need a team of very seriously interested people including members of the student body, and they have to be interested in it. Also, being completely volunteer based--free form is a MUST unless you have automation (which would be a huge cop-out if you did, unless it was just to fill dead-air time.) You know jazz does chart on the CMJs, it's not's just college rock. Think of all the hours in a week. Are you seriously going to find enough community members who have the time and the commitment to do 1-2 hour shows to fill up all the time in a week in a certain format? You think you will, but you won't. There will be tons of people who will want to do it, but won't do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SpectralJulian Posted January 19, 2010 Members Share Posted January 19, 2010 Also, you really really really need to learn about radio in general. I'd suggest visiting other college radio stations, and learning them inside and out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mikeoxlong Posted January 19, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 19, 2010 Also, you really really really need to learn about radio in general. I'd suggest visiting other college radio stations, and learning them inside and out. i appreciate the info... even tho it is quite de-motivating, i am sure it is accurate..... the fact is that our school has no pulse.. i would hope that a good radio station with lots of campus info could strike some life into campus.... my boss is getting me information this week, everything from what we would need to how much it would cost... after that I will probably start petitioning to see if the students really want it... then after that, i will talk to people i know to see if they want to dj after that I will help them work out programming and funding... i don't want to run it by any means... i just want to get it off the ground. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mrweems Posted January 19, 2010 Members Share Posted January 19, 2010 Our college station now is robots.. sadly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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