College Radio Faces Its Online Future

Over the past 13 years, Internet-only college stations have exploded exponentially and increased exposure for underrepresented and undiscovered musical movements, all while being commercial and FCC-free. Much like its terrestrial brethren, Internet-only college radio has filled an important niche and provided another anchor against corporate radio. But as university budgets are cut and broadband becomes cheaper, the old concepts of "college radio" have become blurred.

In 1998, WOXY, a trail-blazing, independent, commercial radio station broadcasting out of Cincinnati, Ohio, started simulcasting online, providing former Queen City citizens the ability to once again tune into their beloved station. "There was something real special for people who had moved away," recalls Matt Shiv, WOXY music director. "They could still tune in and hear this weird, little station that they had grown up with or listened to when they were in college." After various financial struggles, the station moved to its current Internet-only form in 2004.

"The advantage that web stations have over terrestrial stations," says Scott Vyverman, faculty operations manager at WRDP/Radio DePaul, DePaul University, "is that we're better equipped to connect with listeners and provide them with content that is both stimulating and relevant. Our audience is immersed in technology and most college students rarely listen to terrestrial radio anymore. We offer [extras] that [terrestrial] radio cannot, and we can reach the world from our studios." This is one way Internet-only stations differ from their terrestrial brethren. Radio DePaul provides listeners a supplemental experience beyond the broadcast. From a list of the staff's favorite new records to interview podcasts, a webcam and the ability to instant-message requests to the DJ, their website is full of "value added" content. "We are college students, and we spend more time on the computer than we do next to an FM tuner," says Radio DePaul's assistant general manager Delmy Cabrera. "We don't want to be a place where you only come for music. We want to chat with our listener. We want to provide them with a visual. We work as a cool accessory to all of the other things you are doing online."

But it wasn't always that easy. Internet radio arrived several years premature, and left most listeners frustrated with slow Internet connections and dubious sound quality. "It certainly didn't sound good at all in the early days," when WOXY began streaming at a paltry 24 kilobits-per-second, Shiv says. "And now, where hardly anyone has dial-up anymore, you can tune into just about anything you want in the world. It has definitely opened that up so much more in just the last couple of years." Initially, Internet radio was hindered by the need to be connected to a computer to listen. But as broadband became more readily available and the sonic quality increased, that burden faded. "When I arrived at DePaul, there was a lot of speculation that we would always be hampered by not having an FM signal," Vyverman says. "Now, no one brings it up anymore." The station is in elite company as one of the few Internet-only college stations listed in Apple's iTunes Radio, putting them on the same stage as web radio giants like KCRW, KEXP, WOXY and Radio Paradise. "Being listed with those heavyweight stations I think not only legitimizes Radio DePaul, but web radio overall."

While technology may have finally caught up with Internet radio's potential, the real spark, as with their terrestrial counterparts, is the knowledgeable DJs who act as music funnels for the traditionally obsessive listenership of alternative radio. "We've become a trusted filter, and that's not something we take lightly," Shiv says. "The stuff that we love, we find room for it on the air. We don't have any kind of rigid, specific playlist rules."

For Internet-only stations, making the listener's experience a personal one is a key component in building trust. "I talk to my listeners all the time, via email or instant messenger," says Ted Leibowitz, owner/DJ for BAGeL Radio, the San Francisco Internet-only radio station that operates 24/7 from his spare bedroom. "I'm getting emails and IMs from all the continents. It's an interactive kind of thing compared to regular radio. There is no way people can go out and listen to every band on MySpace in this age of billions of MP3s sitting out there."

This new way of discovering, filtering and disseminating all those MP3s is part of the industry's evolving music-selling model. "The four major labels, which are huge conglomerates, don't want to sell Clap Your Hands Say Yeah records," Leibowitz says. "They want to sell Justin Timberlake records. They want to sell 10 million copies of 10 artists and not 10 copies of 10 million artists. That's what Internet radio does. It promotes those smaller bands."

Chris Anderson, Wired magazine's editor-in-chief, defined this concept as the "long tail," theorizing that the volume of small niches is greater than that of the popular few ones. While there is a finite amount of space on AM/FM radio bands, Internet radio is limitless. In 2004, the FCC listed 13,476 licensed stations. A quick view at the number of Internet radio stations on Shoutcast (an AOL-owned database of free Internet radio) shows nearly 20,000 live streams. "Internet radio is a prime example of the market as driven by this long tail," Leibowitz says, "where you have hundreds of people like me that absolutely love music and... share music with people. Internet radio has allowed those people to create radio stations that are not beholden to advertisers."

College radio hasn't been immune to this industry shift either. What does it mean to be a college radio station today? Specifically, what does it mean to be an Internet-only college radio station? The answer isn't simple, as both WOXY and BAGeL Radio have no university affiliations, yet report to CMJ and operate as (and have playlists similar to) most student-run university stations. "It's a spirit to me," Shiv explains. "In this current climate, I don't know as much what college radio means anymore. I went to college to major in broadcasting, and I didn't go to Ohio State because they didn't have a college station you could work at. I chose another school because that's what I wanted."

Similarly, Leibowitz sees what he does at BAGeL Radio as an extension of what he's always loved. "I went to college in the '80s when college radio became College Radio." Internet-only college radio, it seems, is becoming something different.

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