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World College Radio Day takes place on October 6, 2023 and in honor of that, we dig into the early history of college radio on our latest episode of the show. Jennifer Waits walks us through her research about college radio in the 1920s and earlier, sharing details from a paper that she presented this past spring at the Radio Preservation Task Force Conference at the Library of Congress. In that paper, she argues that we should be broadening our definitions of what college radio is, pointing out examples of radio clubs, radio experiments, and amateur radio activities that mirror the activities of future “broadcast” stations.

Jennifer recounts stories from more than 100 years ago, pointing out the incredible contributions that students have made to radio history. Along the way, we hear tales about early student radio practitioners at places like Haverford College, Union College, Harvard University, and Columbia University. Jennifer also asks for listeners to share details that they may have about very early college radio (1920s and earlier) at other schools.

Show Notes:

• College Radio Day
• World College Radio Day is October 6
• College radio history resources on Radio Survivor’s “About College Radio” page
• College Radio Watch: College Radio is Older Than You Think
• Radio Preservation Task Force
• 2023 Radio Preservation Task Force Conference
• Jennifer’s radio station tours
• College radio history on Radio Survivor
• Union College (WRUC) radio tour
• Making Waves: Race, radio and the legacy of Wendell King (Union College)
• From Wireless Experiments to Streaming: The Secret History and Changing Role of College Radio at Haverford College, 1923-2014
• Haverford on the Radio (Jennifer’s piece in Haverford Magazine)
• WHRC – Haverford College Radio Tours station-field-trip-16-haverford.html">from 2009 and station-field-trip-165-whrc-at.html">from 2014
• College Radio Revival at Haverford College’s WHRC
• California Historical Radio Society
• The Gas Pipe Networks is 80
• Tour of Brown University radio station BSR
• Lee De Forest
• Podcast #333 – Low Power FM for Dummies

Show Credits:

• This episode was produced by Jennifer Waits
• Hosted by Jennifer Waits, Eric Klein, and Paul Riismandel
• Edited by Eric Klein
• Photo: Jennifer Waits’ photo of a photo of the Union College Radio Club. Courtesy of Special Collections, Schaffer Library, Union College (RG-08-006-015)

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