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Today’s Ypulse Youth Advisory Board post comes from Chase Straight who explores the state of college radio today with a close up on his own alma mater, the University of Utah’s KUTE radio station. After my own earlier speculation around these issues (the need for a hyperlocal focus, stiff competition from internet radio), it was interesting to hear the word on the ground from an actual station manager. It actually gave me some renewed hope for the institution.. and inspiration to look up my own former college radio station online (streaming on my headphones now!).

Remember, you can communicate directly with any member of the Ypulse Youth Advisory Board by emailing them at youthadvisoryboard at ypulse.com…or just leave a comment.

College Radio Finds A New Niche

Since the 1960s, college radio has been a bastion of counter culture and emerging trends in music. From the 80s through the early 90s, it was THE force in breaking major groups. Groups like The Smiths and Talking Heads made their mark on college radio before being picked up by major labels. The early 90s saw the record industry banking on sure bets while college radio thrived as the alternative to the mainstream. Now with alternative music taking to the internet, campus broadcasting is forced to find a new niche.

When it comes to finding independent music, web sites like Pitchfork, Hype Machine and Pandora reign supreme. An entire world of cutting edge, alternative music is merely clicks away for those who know what they’re looking for. While mainstream radio popularity has remained static, according to an a recent Arbitron study, internet radio use has been steadily increasing since 2004 with over 42 million listeners in 2009.

Enter Web 2.0, a concept centered on the development of community online where users interact, share and collaborate. In a landscape flooded with content, it may be the saving grace of a group that has always thrived on niche programming. Sean Halls, station manager of the University of Utah’s KUTE radio, believes that cultivating an audience through community engagement is the new role of college radio.

“Web 2.0 is really human 2.0. Radio is so competitive in a media saturated environment that we have to work hard for every listener we get. It’s not hard to get them, it’s hard to retain them,” he told me.

Halls is a friend of mine from back when I was a journalist at the U’s Daily Utah Chronicle. When I last caught up with him, KUTE was struggling as a radio station. With an FM transmitter being too expensive, they were forced to rely on an AM signal that almost no one listened to. A year later and KUTE has revitalized their programming by taking it to the Net. Halls estimates that the station has increased their audience ten fold since the switch online. Even then they still face challenges.

“To compete with Pandora and Pitchfork, we have to establish a sense of community. That’s the difference between our station and Pandora, our music has to have a sense of community,” he said.

Aside from their traditional programming streamed online and packaged in a podcast, Halls and his station have harnessed social networking to promote their cause. Bringing his eccentric behaviors to the listening community, Halls created a Facebook group called “Help Sean Halls Shave His Terrible Facial Hair” and pledged to shave his admittedly god awful excuse for a beard once the station reached 250 listeners in a day. While the once-struggling station hasn’t quite gotten there yet, it has seen considerable improvement.

Sean Halls and KUTE radio are just one piece of the college radio puzzle trying to find their place in a changing market. Almost all successful college radio stations have developed an online presence these days. Classic college radio stations like Berkeley’s KALX offer deep online experiences on their websites. NYU’s WYNU showcases a blog and updated playlists to further their influence on community radio.

Community has always played a role in college radio programming, but the advent of Web 2.0 has given these stations a place to once again find a niche amongst media that small time establishments can’t compete against.

About Chase

Chase works for a online community management and moderation company. He recently moved to Dallas, TX and serves as Head of Community for an online virtual world for kids. A former journalism major at the University of Utah, he wrote feature articles and album reviews for a music and art magazine. He is fascinated and constantly amazed with how children create and interact online. Aside from his work, Chase is an avid gamer, blogger, live music lover and audiophile who is obsessed with discovering new music and building his already extensive collection. Oh, and he really likes pandas. (You can also find him blogging about virtual worlds on his company’s blog at metaversemodsquad.com/blog)

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Categorized under: Movies & Music, Youth Advisory Board, Youth Media

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