When Cleveland civic leaders are boasting about Cleveland being the “Rock and Roll Capital” or “The Rock Hall City” as a marketing ploy, one has to wonder how deep their awareness and respect for the city’s rock & roll roots really goes. Not very, apparently, given the sudden erasure of Cleveland State University’s adventurous, block-programmed radio station WCSB-89.3FM, swept into the ashbin of history after nearly 50 years to make way for a very niche format called JazzNEO, run by Cleveland’s public broadcasting organization ideastream.
On Friday October 3 around noon, the staff of the station was evicted, given orders to leave the premises immediately, with a low-energy “good” jazz format instantly plugged in. (Unlike what a legion of angry music lovers is saying, it’s not “smooth” jazz, an equally snoozy but more R&B-leaning genre.) A statement from CSU president Laura Bloomberg revealed that while the university kept the license, it had handed the programming over to ideastream, Cleveland’s public broadcasting outlet, for reasons that aren’t clear.
The lack of awareness about the role of college radio in creating Cleveland’s reputation as a city that rocks is stunning. The groundwork was laid well over 50 years ago when WRUW FM 91.1 went on the air. Over the years they were joined by WCSB, as well as Baldwin Wallace University’s WBWC FM 88.3 and John Carroll University’s WJCU FM 88.7. Initially they had weak signals heard only on campus, but their power —and influence — grew over the years.
These stations played different mixes of formatted and free-form music, with WCSB and WRUW (full disclosure: I was a programmer at WRUW in the ’70s) offering the most eclectic mix of programs. “Block programming” meant that the host came in and dedicated several hours to whatever type of music (or non-music!) they were passionate about. Shows ranged from Broadway tunes to hardcore punk, British new wave to oldies, noise music to reggae, bluegrass to folk, to hip hop, to, yes, jazz. One could argue that these are all niche genres with small audiences, but they add up. Many are less “niche” than jazz, which already had a home on college radio. Now the entirety of the stage serves only a single niche, an odd tactic for attracting support.
As the strength of their signals and reputations grew, the stations had increasing influence on the local music scene. Any local band that was willing to work it could find a programmer who would play their music. Audiences at small venues — the ones that fed the bigger venues — depended on college radio exposure. And Cleveland’s college radio scene gained national attention for having one of the strongest collection of college radio stations in the country, as local bands, from Pere Ubu to Death of Samanatha to Mushroomhead to My Dad is Dead to Cloud Nothings, gained a toehold at college radio.
In addition, college radio provided roots. There’s no question that Cleveland’s rock radio station WMMS-FM was a major national influence in the ’70s and ’80s. But it nearly disappeared in 1974, before program director John Gorman arrived from Boston and revived it with an influx of air talent, names that are legendary now — Kid Leo, Matt the Cat, Jeff KInsbach, Betty Korvan, Steve Lushbaugh. He got all of them from Cleveland State, back before it had a “real” radio station. By the ’80s, college radio was a national force and few cities had as many respected college stations as Cleveland. Bands such as Pixies, U2, R.E.M. and the Smiths were being aired on college radio stations before anywhere else. David Thomas of Cleveland’s Pere Ubu once whined in a Scene interview that his band never got any airplay in its hometown. He was confronted by WRUW air personality Michigan Mom, who told him his latest album had been number one for six weeks on that station. He responded, “That doesn’t count — it’s college radio.” It counted — a lot.
College radio shows can fuel entire scenes. Musicians tuned in, and future band members found their passion by listening to college radio — the angry and/or lamenting social media posts about WCSB’s abrupt changeover from members of notable Cleveland bands attest to that. People found their people and their musical soulmates, and things ignited. Bill Peters’ Metal on Metal show, still running on WJCU on Friday evenings after more than 40 years, drove one of the most vibrant of all Cleveland’s rock & roll scenes. WCSB’s Halloween Balls are legendary, and this year’s is at the Beachland Ballroom October 25. The lineup looks terrific, as usual, so you might want to mark your calendar. (It’s free!) The amount of energy college radio has pumped into the local music scene is inestimable.
What happens next is unclear. Terrestrial radio is on life support anyway, and there’s chatter about keeping some version of the station going perhaps online, where most music is these days. There’s a lot of speculation about why this move happened and predictions about what this could mean for ideastream, since infuriated people are talking about ending their donations to the public broadcasting outlet at the same time it’s threatened with federal funding cuts.
One of the statements in CSU President Bloomberg’s upbeat press release seems untethered from the facts. She said, “The goal is to provide students professional development and career-path opportunities in partnership with a large media organization.” If she was referring to ideastream as a whole, perhaps, but couldn’t that partnership have been forged without sacrificing the student-run radio station? If she meant at JazzNEO, it’s hard to see “career-path opportunities.” Radio as a career path has virtually vanished, and students can likely learn more transferable skills by researching, planning, putting together and executing their own show, building a project from the ground up, than doing errands at a pre-packaged, single-format station such as JazzNEO.
We’ll share more as we learn more, and we will also be sharing responses from a variety of noted players in the Northeast Ohio music scene. For now, it might be best to back off on all those puffed-chest civic boasts about “Cleveland the Rock and Roll Capital.”
4 Responses to “An Outlet for Music Diversity Goes Dark as College Radio Station WCSB Becomes “JazzNEO””
Matt McManus
Tom, I’m sorry to hear the current CSU president pulled the plug on WCSB–it’s an unfortunate and short-sighted decision. I’m a CSU alumnus and work at CWRU, and both their college radio stations have been a significant part of Cleveland’s music scene for years. Bad move.
Jerry Szoka
Someone should sue Cleveland State and idea stream. The station should be in the hands of the community. Not corporate nor. They have too many lpfm stations as it is
Frank Svaty
Helloooo, Anastasia.
Hello from Old Brooklyn.
Frank Svaty here.
The Guy From Cuyahoga.
I really like the variety of Cleveland college radio stations.
Was really surprised when I was listening to WCSB
and they announced, “We’re now Jazz Neo.”
Thanks for the info.
FS.
Frank Svaty
— A Snake Hill Trail Reunion —
from Frank Svaty
The Guy From Cuyahoga
Helloooo, Anastasia.
Sunday, Oct. 5 I was driving around Old Brooklyn about noon
when I saw a little white canopy set up at Muriel and W38th.
It was for Nikki Hudson, our next councilwoman for our new Ward 11.
We had cider and donuts.
About a dozen and a half people showed up.
Talked to Eric, a neighborhood guy who is really enthused about
Cleveland Rock-n-Roll.
He mentioned you’re at Cool Cleveland, so I thought I’d stop by
and say hello,
— FS/TGFCuy