The Case for Independent College Radio

The University of Georgia describes itself as the 'birthplace of higher education', it can also easily be described as the 'birthplace of Indie Rock' and along with that, the necessitated importance of college rock radio in spreading the new genre of music to listeners around the United States and United Kingdom in the late 1970s and 1980s. Bands like Camper Van Beethoven, R.E.M, The Church, The Smiths, Husker Du, Sparklehorse, and Pavement all found success arguably due to college radio in an era where streaming was non-existent and most students were still using typewriters to do term papers. Today the idea of radio as a viable medium for music has become questionable at best. With streaming via Youtube, Spotify, Bandcamp, Soundcloud, and other sites cheap and easy to access most students have turned away from regular listening of the radio. The result has been a slow death of the concrete platform of radio for independent music programming and a turn to podcasts and streaming for music related shows and content. In context this makes perfect sense for music related college radio programming. You are able to reach your target audience at any time of the day and anywhere. It is easy to write of college music radio for this reason. Why try to play and review music on a platform that college students consider 'dated' now? This idea may turn out to be wrong though and there is a good case both practically and culturally speaking to keep college music radio alive and even expand its presence on campuses around the world. Practically speaking, or more so looking at college rock radio from a marketing standpoint, it's best to look back at other platforms of media that were once considered 'dated' but now have seen a resurgence in popularity. The first platform worth looking at is vinyl records. In the early 2000's most record stores were closing down and it appeared as if vinyl was a completely dead platform of music. Fast forward to today and vinyl records are in the middle of a massive resurgence with Sony Music putting back into action its old pressing machines and most musicians choosing to press most of their new releases in vinyl right alongside digital and CD. Another platform that is undergoing a much more less visible resurgence is cassette. In DIY scenes around America the cassette is regaining its hold on being a much more economical and compact version of a vinyl record but with the added nostalgic effect still tied up within it. There is also an aspect of college rock radio that mainstream stations can not compete with: their independence. People often look back to the 1980's and 1990's with reverence for the music that came out as if what was going on in underground music was somehow the norm on radio stations around America. This was simply not the case. Indie music in the 90's and 80's actually lived up to its name more than it does now, it was truly independent and people found out about independent music through college rock radio. Today it is easy to find new bands online, but even that has begun to be commercialized with underground artists finding it harder and harder to find their place in an increasingly commercialized atmosphere dominated by marketing teams spamming music that is easy to make money off of yet retains a sense of 'indieness' to it. You can't count on music journalism to be truly independent when the bands and artists getting the most attention in the underground Indie community at this point are getting attention via a pay-to-play system handled by marketing teams. College rock radio on the other hand is not bought out and DJ's play what they themselves consider important music. This fosters a culture of discovery rather than musical force feeding. College rock radio may never reach its previous heights of the 1980's and 1990's but it is truly important to recognize its importance in developing music scenes across America and the United Kingdom that to this day continue to be important. It is just as important today as it was then to have places to independently play new artists, styles, and underground concepts of music that otherwise would be buried by mainline indie sources and radio stations. Do yourself a favor and tune into your local college rock station, it would be well worth your time.