Jewell, Katherine Rye
Live from the Underground: A History of College Radio
UNC Press (Chapel Hill)
2023
OUR SYNOPSIS: Katherine Rye Jewell shares stories that reveal “the origins, meaning, and transformation” of the “modern college radio culture,” from the 1970s through the end of the twentieth century. (xiii) She argues, “Embedded within institutional power structures of higher education, federal regulatory bodies, and the corporate culture industry, college radio offered participation in alternative, underground markets and culture while remaining thoroughly a part of the nation’s dominant political economy and politics of culture.” (4) It was both countercultural and not, at the same time. She also shows how college radio became fertile terrain for political and social debates about regulation and power. It was very much a part of the late-twentieth century “culture wars.” (11) Colleges encouraged critical thinking, and college radio encouraged critical listening. Providing vignettes of individual college stations at specific moments, she emphasizes local developments amidst national influences such as the FCC and NPR.
BIG QUESTIONS:
To what extent did higher-ed institutional association constrain college radio’s social agenda?
How do the major historical themes of college radio differ from those of mainstream radio?
To what extent did college radio stations represent the demographics of their host colleges?
FEATURE QUOTES:
“College radio’s market power and identity—the sometimes-reviled reputation of elitist indie-rock kids spinning records and manning mics—was a product of historical forces, and it was transient. This book traces the fraught process of college radio’s emergence as a cultural and market force, with a recognizable identity, and the ongoing and newly emerging challenges to that identity.” (xiii)
PRIMARY SOURCES:
College Media Journal (CMJ), “PM’s New Music Report,” October 10, 1983, https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/CMJ/1983/CMJ-New-Music-Report-1983-10-10.pdf.
BALTIMORE CONNECTIONS:
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