35000 Watts :: The Story of College Radio
A film about a radio revolution
The debut album is tricky. Many great artists have debut albums that show raw potential but not a lot of polish, or that don’t really represent what they would eventually become (Radiohead falls into this category).
Then, there are debut albums that are undeniable masterpieces, like the ones on this list.…
Twenty-six years ago, President Bill Clinton signed the “Telecommunications Act of 1996”, a landmark overhaul of telecommunications law that completely changed the landscape of broadcasting in the United States. Billed as a way to allow any business to compete in the communications sphere, some of the most damaging provisions instead drove many small broadcasters out of the market, while allowing large corporations to scoop up broadcast licenses and reduce the number of independent voices in communities across the country.…
In 1991, Nirvana was known to college radio fans but had not yet released Nevermind and the world-changing lead single, “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. James Faust, the station manager of KTXT at the time, recalls hearing the song for the first time.…
“Five Songs” is a series where we ask former and current college radio DJs to give us a list of five songs that they feel best represents the chosen topic. For this playlist, John Bernstein, producer of 35000 Watts: The Story of College Radio, chooses five songs that remind him of his first ever DJ shift at WIDB at Southern Illinois University.…
Name: Jesse Robinson
College: George Mason University
Radio Station: WGMU Radio
Years Active: 2012-2016
Position(s): DJ (12-16) Program Director (13-14), General Manager (15-16)
Favorite bands (either during your time at the college radio station or now, or both!)…
John Dufilho (The Deathray Davies/The Apples In Stereo/Clifffs) has been involved in the indie music scene for over 25 years, and college radio has played a huge role in helping his bands find an audience.…
Name: Nathan Moore
Interviews are hard, and it takes a long time to really get good at writing interesting questions. This poor guy wasn’t quite there yet. Watch this hilarious clip of Toadies drummer Mark Reznicek and lead singer Vaden Lewis talking about one of their worst interview experiences.…
In this outtake from the film, college radio historian Jennifer Waits talks about what a typical college radio station looks like. We had a small lighting issue in the first few minutes of her interview but I wanted to share this clip anyway because it is so accurate.…
On March 1, 1979, the first issue of the College Music Journal rolled off the presses, featuring a photo of Elvis Costello on the cover. While the first issue didn’t make a huge splash (Wikipedia quotes staff as calling the first issues “a bunch of photocopies stapled together”), the publication would soon become the most important college radio publication in the country.…