Line #35 Main/CollegeRadio


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4	[[quoteright:285:[[ComicBook/{{Archie}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/archie_radio_club.png]]]]
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6	->''"College radio can be summed up in five words: dead air, 'um', dead air."''
7	-->-- '''[[WebAnimation/HomestarRunner Strong Bad]]''', ''WebAnimation/StrongBadEmail'' #120 [[Recap/StrongBadEmailE120Radio "radio"]]
8
9	[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Radio stations in colleges and universities]], often portrayed as a couple of students working as unpaid volunteers to try their hand at being an announcer or talk show host, which is usually TruthInTelevision. The students are probably majoring in communications or a related field, although oftentimes, there won't be enough communications students to fill the roster, so students from other departments are allowed to take air shifts. College radio stations are very rarely a high priority.
10
11	There was a time when college radio, even at state colleges in fairly conservative states, was both the last bastion of truly unadulterated [[TheSixties '60s]] liberal radicalism in both the media and within the university system, and the proving grounds for many a genre of music that eventually became mainstream, such as AlternativeRock, IndiePop and rock, and HipHop. The Golden Age of sorts for college radio was in TheEighties, before Creator/{{NPR}} really took off as a major force in "alternative" radio. Nowadays, college radio is still going strong, even if the Internet has mainly taken over the once-pivotal role that it played in the development of pop culture. However, they are still a useful source of underground music.
12
13	In fiction, the college station is something that either ''everyone'' listens to, or ''no one'' does. Either the whole campus (and no small number of people in the school's metropolitan area) tune in to the station, or the astonishingly low listener base becomes a RunningGag. The output will generally either be mind-numbingly boring or LargeHamRadio.
14
15	If the school has an AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil, this will most likely be either [[PropagandaMachine its tool]] or [[VoiceOfTheResistance its greatest rival]]; see also the SchoolNewspaperNewshound.
16
17	Community radio stations can also act as college stations, and there are (or were) a few campus/community stations. Some allowed non-students and high school students to participate. One could really learn the details of how radio works, essentially getting a Columbia School of Broadcasting education for free.
18
19	----
20	!!Examples:
21
22	[[foldercontrol]]
23
24	[[folder:Anime]]
25	* The Radio Research Society from ''Anime/TheGirlInTwilight''.
26	[[/folder]]
27
28	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
29	* ''ComicStrip/{{Doonesbury}}'' has "Marvelous" Mark Slackmeyer, who started out as an announcer-programmer on Walden College's campus-community station WBBY, where he alternated music with anti-UsefulNotes/VietnamWar, anti-UsefulNotes/RichardNixon rants (these got the strip moved from the comics section to the politics page in many newspapers). He still works for an unnamed NPR station.
30	[[/folder]]
31
32	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
33	* In ''Film/BlindedByTheLight'', Javed attempts to get his [[TheEighties 1980s]] secondary school radio station to have an entire show dedicated to [[Music/BruceSpringsteen Bruce Springsteen]]. When the student DJ refuses, Javed and his friend trick him into leaving the studio, put on "Born to Run", and lock the door. [[note]] This was [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory loosely based on]] something that the InspirationForTheWork Sarfraz Manzoor actually did while in school.[[/note]]
34	* At the end of ''Film/OldSchool'', Frank "The Tank" becomes a college radio host.
35	* In ''Film/TheSorcerersApprentice'', love interest Becky Barnes works at NYU's radio station. While she admits it doesn't get too many listeners, it does lead to a few bonding moments between her and protagonist Dave, including the introduction of the film's BreakawayPopHit, "Secrets".
36	* In the movie ''Film/UrbanLegend'', some plot includes Sasha's radio sex advice show.
37	[[/folder]]
38
39	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
40	* In an episode of ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'', her normally grumpy roommate turns out to be great at talk radio ([[StatusQuoIsGod although this isn't spoken of again]]).
41	* In ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'', a flashback reveals that Ted had a radio show in college, where he took on the persona of "the mysterious Doctor X" (a ridiculously over-the-top SoapboxSadie). His show and his attempts at a secret identity are universally mocked. See for yourself on the [[http://www.mysteriousdrx.com Doctor X website.]]
42	* In a ''Series/ThirdRockFromTheSun'' episode, Harry took over Pendleton University's radio station and became a talk radio host. He proved popular until he started needlessly insulting everyone.
43	* On ''Series/FamilyTies'' Alex had a college radio show playing old music from the Thirties and Forties.
44	* Three Canadian series, ''Series/RadioEnfer'', ''Series/RadioActive'', and ''Series/RadioFreeRoscoe'', brought this premise to high-school settings.
45	* ''Series/BeverlyHills90210'':
46	** During the high school years, there was "KWBH, the voice of West Beverly High!"
47	** The college years had both a radio station (which allowed a plot line where David became addicted to uppers so he could do his show) and a TV station, with Brandon as director.
48	* On ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'', one of the show's many {{poorly disguised pilot}}s included an episode that focused on the radio [=DJs=] at Bud's college.
49	* One episode of ''Series/TheFactsOfLife'' took place entirely in the [[BottleEpisode campus radio station]]. Jo was forced to fill in all night when another DJ passed out drunk, and the rest of the gang stayed to help.
50	* ''Series/DearWhitePeople'' features broadcasts from the titular controversial radio show, hosted by Sam White. This example falls into the "everybody listens" part of the trope, with Sam often receiving angry letters about the content of her show, and even the title.
51	* In an episode of ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'', Hal is shown to have operated an underground radio station in college where he went by the name [[Music/SteelyDan "Kid Charlemagne".]]
52	* In ''Franchise/{{Degrassi}}'' the namesake high school where the show is set has its own radio station, which in real life is not unheard of at larger high schools in North America.
53	[[/folder]]
54
55	[[folder:Music]]
56	* Music/TheReplacements' song "Left of the Dial", named after the physical motion to find these stations - they'd usually be found on the low end of the FM dials (anywhere between 88.1 and 91.9, the Non-Commercial Educational band reserved by the FCC) before the commercial stations start to pop up around 92.1 (or earlier in some places bordering Canada and Mexico, which made these stations hard to hear because of the larger station conflicting with the signal of the tiny college stations).
57	* Music/WeirdAlYankovic developed his stage persona and nickname as a college radio DJ while attending California Polytechnic University for architecture.
58	* Canadian AlternativeCountry band Ox was propelled to quasi-recognition due to heavy play on college radio in the 2000s, before fading to obscurity. This is reference in several of their songs, such as "Indie Rock Radio Nation" which is about college radio and those who listen to it, and in "Burnout", which is about their attempts to make it in music.
59	-->''Got a stolen guitar and I'm breaking the scene\
60	Livin' the college chart radio dream''
61	[[/folder]]
62
63	[[folder:Radio]]
64	* Garrison Keillor, best known for ''Radio/APrairieHomeCompanion'', has a terrific monologue on this subject, detailing his experiences as a classical music DJ on college radio, that ends with his discovery that [[spoiler:the station was not on the air for most of the time (due to their engineer turning the transmission off for his Christmas vacation in California and forgetting to turn it back on when he got back)]] and the realization that for the last three months he had been, essentially, [[spoiler: talking to himself]].
65	* Max from ''Radio/NewDynamicEnglish'' said that he started his career in radio because he was pretty good when he was on college radio.
66	* ''Radio/ThatGoshDarnHippieShow'' started out on Camden Community College's station, WDBK.
67	[[/folder]]
68
69	[[folder:Video Games]]
70	* ''VideoGame/SaintsRow2'' has an indie rock station titled 99.0 The Underground, which is defined in-game as a college radio. It also happens to be a pirate radio station with a limited signal range.
71	[[/folder]]
72
73	[[folder:Web Animation]]
74	* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'': Strong Bad really made fun of this in the WebAnimation/StrongBadEmail "radio", where college radio is depicted as being run by a "bewildered freshman" who mumbles and stutters through his announcements.
75	[[/folder]]
76
77	[[folder:Western Animation]]
78	* Pete White of ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' used to be a college radio DJ for a while. He once pulled a prank on his friend Mike Sorayama, claiming Mike request he informs his crush that "I masturbate furiously to your picture every night", then got kicked off the air for it.
79	[[/folder]]
80
81	[[folder:Real Life]]
82	* Proving that RealLife will keep on trucking, even if tropes fall out of favour, the University of [[UsefulNotes/TheSixteenLandsOfDeutschland Bielefeld]] has a rather professional student radio called ''Hertz 87,9''. Attracting students from all fields, several of Germany's radio personalities had their start here. Their webpage, which includes a broadcast stream, can be found [[https://www.hertz879.de/ here]].
83	* Campus and community radio (which are often the same thing) can be found all over North America still, and many universities and colleges still have their own stations. While not as influential, they have a following as a niche hobby and have adapted to the internet by streaming their broadcasts.
84	[[/folder]]

Context Main / CollegeRadio