College Radio Watch: Internet Radio Pioneers, College Radio in the 1920s and More News

On episode 167 of the Radio Survivor show/podcast, our guest Andrew Bottomley digs into the roots of podcasting and internet radio. The story includes some college radio pioneers, namely the college radio stations that debuted simultaneous internet radio streams concurrent with their FM broadcasts. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill’s WXYC and Georgia Institute of Technology’s WREK launched their initial streams on November 7, 1994; while University of Kansas’ KJHK began its stream in December, 1994.

College Radio on the Radio Survivor Podcast

With 169 episodes so far, the Radio Survivor Show/Podcast frequently addresses issues related to college radio, with some episodes focused solely on student radio. If you haven’t checked it out in awhile, here are a few episodes that are college radio-centric:

Podcast #165 – College Radio Is Truly Local Radio– Live from CBI Seattle (10/30/18)
Podcast #164 – College Radio and the Culture Wars (10/23/18)
Podcast #161 – Happy College Radio Day 2018 & Tour of WVKR at Vassar (10/3/18)
Podcast #159 – Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes, in College Radio and Podcasting (9/18/18)
Podcast #142 – Touring WHPK’s Bell Tower & YouTube’s ‘Pirate Radio’ (5/15/18)
Podcast #136 – Storied College Stations WIIT & WKCR (4/3/18)

1920s College Radio History in Montana

While compiling my college radio news round-up, I uncovered some fascinating early college radio history in Montana. The Missoula Current writes of Garvin Dennis Shallenberger, who came to State University in Montana in 1923:

G.D. came from Beloit College, where he had helped construct a broadcast transmitter with his physics students. In Missoula, with the backing of State University (now, UM) President Charles H. Clapp, he and his students would tackle the same project…

By early 1924, according the Missoulian, the students had constructed an experimental 50-watt station dubbed KFLW, operating on 234 meters. ‘The station opened up Tuesday evening (April 29), by broadcasting the Missoula Male chorus and the Varsity Glee Club concert.’

One of the station’s experiments was a “…broadcast with a play-by-play recreation of a Grizzly-Bobcat game based on relayed telephoned descriptions.” Licensed as KUOM, the station’s official first broadcast was February 17, 1925. Four years later, the license was not renewed, and KUOM faded away. According to Missoula Current, “Finally, on November 3, 1929, the national radio commission ordered KUOM and 19 other stations across the country ‘off the air’ for failing to file applications for renewal of their licenses.”

As followers of radio history know, the late 1920s was an increasingly competitive time in radio, with a number of pioneering college radio stations leaving the dial, including the first station at my alma mater, Haverford College’s WABQ.