Live From the Underground: A History of College Radio

[G650 14,229]

So I didn't know where to really put this, maybe there should be a general books about music thread. Or maybe there is one and my search skills are too inept to find it.

 

Anyhoo, I have almost finished this up. Beyond things like college and independent radio being totally my wheelhouse, this book does a really cool job diving into a lot of the cultural issues that existed concurrently. And when it gets to the late 80s and early 90s it's like a time machine taking me back to that era. Highly recommended.

 

https://uncpress.org/book/9781469677255/live-from-the-underground/

[RiverwalkMiner 247]

This looks like a great read. My dad was the General Manager of our local public radio station for many years. This could have been me back in the 80's, but he never would give me a time slot to play cool stuff, even when I was a college student in the Communications department.

Just a steady stream of news, jazz, classical and pledge fund drives. 😂

[jimmyjazz 45,877]

"College radio" as a format seems to be largely associated with the 80's and beyond.  My dad taught at a predominantly-engineering school (think GaTech on steroids), and so my early experience with "college radio" was a bunch of bearded hippie dorks spinning 70's prog rock.  It was . . . well, it wasn't REM and Let's Active and Violent Femmes.

[YGIFS 19,449]

Georgia Tech on steroids?  I have so many questions starting with a Riddle

[G650 14,229]

3 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

"College radio" as a format seems to be largely associated with the 80's and beyond.  My dad taught at a predominantly-engineering school (think GaTech on steroids), and so my early experience with "college radio" was a bunch of bearded hippie dorks spinning 70's prog rock.  It was . . . well, it wasn't REM and Let's Active and Violent Femmes.

Yeah, probably one of the biggest themes of the book is the diversity of what was aired, and the competing interests. Some knock down drag out fights between say a professor who wanted a lot of classical and student DJs that played hardcore bands like Screaming Foetus.

 

It is broken into three eras, the 70s, the 80s and the 90s. The late 80s early 90s is probably what most people think of when they think college radio. It's a really interesting study.

[jimmyjazz 45,877]

11 hours ago, YGIFS said:

Georgia Tech on steroids?  I have so many questions starting with a Riddle

Mostly referring to the rigor/studies (nearly 100% STEM) and the demographics -- 7:1 male:female when I was there.  We spent a lot of weekends road-tripping to Mizzou.

Edited December 15, 2023 by jimmyjazz

[hullabelew 3,723]

On 12/13/2023 at 3:17 PM, G650 said:

So I didn't know where to really put this, maybe there should be a general books about music thread. Or maybe there is one and my search skills are too inept to find it.

 

Anyhoo, I have almost finished this up. Beyond things like college and independent radio being totally my wheelhouse, this book does a really cool job diving into a lot of the cultural issues that existed concurrently. And when it gets to the late 80s and early 90s it's like a time machine taking me back to that era. Highly recommended.

 

https://uncpress.org/book/9781469677255/live-from-the-underground/

This is going to be right in my wheelhouse.  Thanks for posting.  

[G650 14,229]

6 minutes ago, hullabelew said:

This is going to be right in my wheelhouse.  Thanks for posting.  

You definitely were one of the guys I had in mind.

 

I have mentioned before somewhere my dad was a broadcast engineer, did TV for decades, but started in audio, so I always have a soft spot for this sort of thing. That said my thoughts of college radio always conjure up images like the radio station in PCU. Probably because of my age. So this book was very cool to get into the very broad diversity, super illuminating.

 

 

[hullabelew 3,723]

I grew up on George Gimarc.  

My brother had a show at WT in the mid 80s called The Bottom Forty.   A buddy then had a magazine by the same name and now he has a podcast, still called The Bottom Forty.  He calls it Non-denominational Radio

https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/the-bottom-forty-greg-glover-OZ0l-gTebno/

  

[locodos 5,387]

Not college, but WKPX was a high school student run radio station.  They would play a wide variety of weird shit and a lot of mainstream stuff too.   The station was/is not a commercial station so they didn't have ads, but they would have student scripted and voice acted PSAs that were laughably terrible (as you might expect).   But the absolute best were the live NEWs updates written by the schools' nerd newspaper staff and read on air by barely literate aspiring High School DJs.

Other than that, they had an acceptable Sunday morning Blues slot called the "Freight Train of Pain"  Pretty sure those segments were just programed in advance by an actual functioning adult.

It's now a collab with Nova Southeastern University...  but still pretty damned bad

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WKPX

or listen 

https://live365.com/station/WKPX-FM-a80755

[HornOnTheBayou 8,904]

20 hours ago, locodos said:

Not college, but WKPX was a high school student run radio station.  They would play a wide variety of weird shit and a lot of mainstream stuff too.   The station was/is not a commercial station so they didn't have ads, but they would have student scripted and voice acted PSAs that were laughably terrible (as you might expect).   But the absolute best were the live NEWs updates written by the schools' nerd newspaper staff and read on air by barely literate aspiring High School DJs.

Other than that, they had an acceptable Sunday morning Blues slot called the "Freight Train of Pain"  Pretty sure those segments were just programed in advance by an actual functioning adult.

It's now a collab with Nova Southeastern University...  but still pretty damned bad

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WKPX

or listen 

https://live365.com/station/WKPX-FM-a80755

That brings back some memories. I was one of those barely literate aspiring DJs at my high school's radio station (WBRH, 90.3) back in the 90s. We played jazz during the day and college alternative at night. One day I had to read a PSA for a charity that was helping families adopt children. Instead of saying, "If you need help adopting a child, please call XXX-XXXX", I said, "If you need help abducting a child, please call XXX-XXXX". After I put on the next song, my station manager ran into the studio and yelled, "Don't help people kidnap children!"

Thanks for the book rec. Looks like a nice little Christmas present to myself.

[locodos 5,387]

50 minutes ago, HornOnTheBayou said:

That brings back some memories. I was one of those barely literate aspiring DJs at my high school's radio station (WBRH, 90.3) back in the 90s. We played jazz during the day and college alternative at night. One day I had to read a PSA for a charity that was helping families adopt children. Instead of saying, "If you need help adopting a child, please call XXX-XXXX", I said, "If you need help abducting a child, please call XXX-XXXX". After I put on the next song, my station manager ran into the studio and yelled, "Don't help people kidnap children!"

Thanks for the book rec. Looks like a nice little Christmas present to myself.

" A US flagged vessel was attacked yesterday in the Straits Of Hormel... Homecoming tickets go on sale at noon in Cafetorium"