College Radio Struggles to be Heard

College Radio Struggles to be Heard

“Ten watts of fury,” screams current WBCN nighttime deejay Deek, as he sits in his Boylston street studio. Ten watts, which is low by today’s radio standards, certainly doesn’t describe the Infinity-owned rock station that hands him his bi-weekly paycheck. However, it does describe the place where he, along with so many other deejays, got their start on the road to a professional radio career -- college radio.

Less than two miles away from WBCN stands the center of Deek’s on-air jokes. “Ten watts of fury,” WRBB, is Northeastern’s student and community radio station. The community half of that description is often left out, but it clearly shouldn’t be.

College radio has always been an outlet for students to learn about industry, while also using it as a tool to voice their opinion.

“It’s a chance to vent, plain and simple,” said Evan “Slippy” Schneider, a WRBB deejay. “Where else can college kids speak to large crowds and (whine) and moan about the runarounds NU gives us?”

The large crowds Schneider speaks of don’t accurately reflect the typical college radio audience. “We realize there are only so many people you can reach with a two-mile signal,” said current WRBB Station manager Kristen Aldrich. "That’s why we make a conscious effort to involve the community.”

With increasing restrictions in rules and regulations of college stations, any type of involvement of outside university members would seen beneficial.

“I think we’re one of the few stations who allow ‘community members’ to have their own show,” says Aldrich. “It’s great to get on-air personalities with a different perspective. Another reason to listen to WRBB.”

The Boston radio scene has changed a great deal since WRBB’s inception in 1968. Amid all of the corporate turnover and company buyouts, college radio in Boston is often left out of the important radio history of the ninth-largest media market in the country.

Like any medium, there have been numerous changes to the sound of Boston radio over the years. According to some, the digital revolution, involving modern technology, has become the largest change the radio industry has had to deal with. As difficult as it may be for stations to adjust to these changes, it is even harder for college stations. For years lack of funding and state-of-the-art equipment has become the largest obstacle for college stations. Recently the state of college radio has been influx due to programming and copyright issues that have affected the sound of local programming.