Alums and current students from WBRU and Brown Student Radio discussed balancing creativity and commercial success in radio Sunday evening on a panel on "The Importance of College Radio," one in a series of campus events celebrating 70 years of college radio at Brown.
Peter Tannenwald '64, Don Berns '69, Dan Oppenheim '98, former WBRU General Manager Rita Cidre '07 and BSR General Manager Jason Sigal '07 addressed the evolution of Brown college radio and challenges facing stations today.
Susan Smulyan, associate professor of American Civilization, opened the panel by explaining that student interest in the two campus radio stations sparked the series of events celebrating college radio. WBRU and BSR were also eager to work together and put to rest rumors of rivalry between them after an article about the alleged rivalry appeared in the Brown Alumni Magazine last year, she added.
The panel discussion focused on radio stations' need to reinvent themselves in the face of newer communication technologies. Berns urged students to help save the medium.
"Right now is the time to come up with some idea to save radio as we know it," he said. "It's the minds that are currently passionate about what they are doing at WBRU and BSR that are going to come up with these ideas."
As podcasts and streaming radio on the Internet gain popularity, "the whole world is becoming college radio," Oppenheim said. He added that stations gain audiences through their Internet presence, and that "The mass market as measured by the Arbitron (radio ratings system) is waning."
Particularly contentious is how college radio stations can balance their commercial interests and role as centers for students to learn and experiment.
"College radio is an experimental alternative to other media," Smulyan said. "(It) allows us to look at the producers of radio in addition to the structure of programming."
But there are real commercial limitations to college radio, Tannenwald said. To attract advertisers, radio stations have to appeal to a larger demographic than the 18-25 category and navigate conflict between acceptance from their larger audience and students' desire to be creative and try new things.
This issue is particularly relevant for WBRU, an independently funded commercial station. BSR was created for students interested in experimenting with alternative programming whereas WBRU appeals to students attracted to the large-scale commercial side of radio, panelists said.
Commercial and non-commercial college radio stations are often at odds because of these differences, Cidre said. "There's always this idea that BRU has turned into the corporate commercial monster - which we haven't - and to idealize BSR."
"We are an educational workshop, but in order to provide that training and for students to have that experience, the sacrifice can be playing My Chemical Romance or another band in that genre," Cidre said.
"College radio at its best is a space for new ideas to grow uninhibited by the audience's demands," Sigal said. But college stations must also manage other interests such as providing a service to the community and providing local programs that can't be found elsewhere, he said. The relationship works both ways, Sigal said, as community members teach students about the area and students learn from their listeners' experiences.
The representation of minorities on the airwaves also came up in panelists' discussion. One audience member, a Brown alum involved in creating WBRU's Sunday hip-hop program 360°, said that, though some people don't like the hip-hop show, college radio introduces people to different genres of music. "You may have some people say 'I don't want to hear 360,' but the music is not necessarily a mystery to them."
Most of the audience members were Brown college radio alums or current interns who enjoyed the discussion. Jim Brennan '69 said he came to see old friends and remember his college days. "I spent an enormous amount of time at WBRU, to the detriment of my academic career," he said.
"The panel itself was a good diversity of people," said Anit Jindal '09, station manager for WBRU. "There were a lot of really relevant alumni. It was good to sit down in an open forum and discuss these things."
