Reviving the Radio Star

By Walker Kamph-Lassin

“Kanye West is a douchebag, I know. But he makes amazing music,” proclaimed Marc Sollinger, student deejay from WERW, Syracuse University’s free-format college radio station. He has the voice of a classic radio host: warm, welcoming, articulate, but still determinate. WERW operates from a small studio in the corner of the basement of Schine Student Center. The setting is intimate, and the ardor is abundant. His brand of brash confidence and honesty is what makes college radio such an endearing facet on the airwaves. Not many other venues allow people to share a fervent passion for music with others. The heart and soul with which college radio delivers music makes listening a consistently intriguing experience.

In March 2011, consumer research company Arbitron released a study showing that national radio listenership had increased 4.9 percent since 2005. With this statistic, the company erased notions that new waves of technology had replaced traditional radio as a source for music.

Since the Internet revolution, music has made a migration, both legally and illegally, from physical formats to the easily shared, intangible realm of cyberspace. This shift in consumption took a toll on the music industry, as evidenced by the declining record sales of the past decade. The free-flow of music, however, also exposed listeners to a much more expansive selection at an unprecedented rate.

Once on the vanguard of music exposure, radio must now compete with new online services offering many varieties of music at an exceeding pace. A 2010 Arbitron study showed that in the age group of 12 to 24-year-olds, half said they use the Internet for new music, while one in three said they use radio to discover music. Grooveshark and Spotify, the most recent websites for both new and old music exposures, collectively stream 100–110 million songs per month at a relatively low price. With the immense following these services have generated, traditional radio is in need of an identity overhaul.

SU’s own college radio station is on the cusp of this evolution. Operating on a free online format, WERW allows listeners to stream shows straight off its website. Jeanette Wall, a junior in the Bandier Program for Music and the Entertainment Industries, is the General Manager of WERW. Large headphones hang comfortably around her neck and in the past year, she attended SXSW, Pitchfork, and CMJ. Wall is by all account a music junkie. Sitting outside of the WERW studio in the basement of Schine, she said that WERW’s new purpose is to produce engaging listening experiences.

“With a lot of radio stations, the goal is listenership, but our main goal is giving a creative outlet to students from all different walks of life,” Wall said.

With radio losing its force as a musical ambassador, personality must now take a larger role. Arbitron’s statistics reveal that talk radio shows are currently the most popular genre, indicating that a strong personality is becoming not just an integral part of the formula, but a defining feature.

Ulf Oesterle, a professor in the Bandier Program and former college radio deejay, claims that college radio deejays still have the potential to distribute new music while developing an on-air persona. “Not all indie music is on Spotify, so college radio has that

advantage. Some of the content can be very niche and wouldn’t necessarily be on the mass services,” Oesterle said. “I think the college radio crowd is a mix of those who want to craft a personality and those who want to expose the music.”

The evolving technologies at the forefront of music exposure successfully provide access to vast amounts of music. While it's the most efficient method possible, but it comes with little else. Radio offers listeners, in addition to new music, exposure through the unique filter of a deejay.

Kyle Kuchta, assistant general manager at WERW, believes that having a personal connection with a radio show is more valuable than a systematic, technology-driven asthetic. “Having that one person cater to that listenership is totally different than having a computer generate it for you,” Kuchta said. “There’s just a lot more care.”

Oesterle echoes that sentiment. “You have Pandora, you’re picking one song or a genre, and, like broadcast radio, you’re not in control of what comes on next, but that’s based on an algorithm,” he said. “A personalized, local effect is something that radio has always had that other services don’t even necessarily want to have.”

As many college radio stations transferred to online-only formats, supporters mourned the ability to physically tune the dial to the college radio stations and to hear young, aspiring student deejays. Onlookers proclaimed the death of college radio when stations were sold off. Many stations, however, now embrace the new, digital format and take advantage of the possibilities that come with it.

Coming far since 2008, WERW placed in the Top 25 of College Radio Stations last year on mtvU’s Woodie Awards. The station has expanded and thrived because of the passion of students like Wall and Kuchta. As they put it, their ambitions reach further than just broadcasting radio shows.

“There’s definitely some disconnect between the community and the university and people shrug it off,” Kuchta said.

“Our goal is to keep reaching out, deejay-ing both university and community events, putting on our own events and just helping the university and the surrounding community through this medium that we’ve chosen,” Wall said.

The ease with which enthusiasts can access new music in the age of the Internet is extraordinary. But their ability to tap into a listening experience fueled by a fellow music lover's zeal is significantly less. This interpersonal dynamic is something college radio can offer not just through its broadcasts, but also through more anthropological efforts as a university organization. Building an identity as a devoted and caring organization is a task most massive online music libraries often struggle with or have no interest in doing.

College radio serves as a platform for connectivity through music than as a music distribution service. Sites like Grooveshark and Spotify say to the listener, “Rock, techno, jazz, funk – it’s all here. Search through it yourself and pick as you wish” while radio says, "I think you should give this song a try. You probably haven’t heard it anywhere else—but hey, you might end up really liking it,” in an effort to speak to the listener and share stories on a more intimate level.

“You don’t have massive audiences that are listening to these stations, but they certainly serve their purpose,” Oesterle said. “I think radio being a local medium is one that can still survive and will still survive.”