Live from the Underground

September 18, 2023
Jewell (Dollars for Dixie), an associate professor of history at Fitchburg State University, chronicles the rise, fall, and legacy of college radio in this sprawling and richly detailed account. Describing how college radio stations navigated America’s changing cultural landscape in the second half of the 20th century, Jewell explains that while college radio’s noncommercial status “offered useful cover for DJs seeking the weird, the unheard, or underappreciated,” other proponents of the format, including some station managers, “wanted to cultivate a professional sound that emulated commercial rock radio, except with a few new cuts thrown in for the youngsters.” These contrasting views shaped a patchwork network of stations that engaged with such issues as feminism, antinuclear politics, and civil rights, often in left-leaning ways (for example, broadcasting public service announcements for abortion clinics or playing “anti-Reagan hardcore punk” music). While financial pressures and the internet hastened college radio’s decline in the new millennium, Jewell attributes “the real fracture” to a culture of higher education that promoted less artistic exploration, and a shift toward mainstream radio trends. Jewell offers both an animated homage to college radio as a microcosm of American culture and reassurance for readers that the medium isn’t dead. It’s a fascinating deep dive.