The WXAV 88.3 FM Table The Xavierite
The Student Media Department will be hosting College Radio Day’s annual event on Oct. 4 to celebrate 14 years of worldwide radio stations joining together to discover new genres of music to audiences.
Rob Quicke, Ph.D., founder of College Radio Day (CRD), had established the event back in December 2010, with the aid of Peter Kreten, Director of Student Media, in the hopes of honoring and gaining recognition for hundreds of student-led radio station universities around the world.
Quicke was SXU’s former general manager of WXAV from 2002 to 2007 and Director of Student Media before Kreten took over in 2008. Kreten also took over the presidency of CRD in 2013.
Kreten has dedicated his life to college radio, so when Quicke had first established CRD, Kreten had been involved with the event from the ground up, he says. Kreten had called Quicke his mentor and became his right hand man.
“The aim of College Radio Day is to raise a greater, international awareness of the many college and high school radio stations that operate around the world by encouraging people who would not normally listen to college radio to do so on this day,” states College Radio Day.
When Quicke first came to Kreten with the idea of CRD, Quicke had finished the film “Social Network” with his wife over the weekend, says Kreten. “He called me and was like, ‘I got three words for you’ and he goes, ‘college radio day’ so over the days he figured it out and just became this day to celebrate college radio and the unique broadcast of it.”
About one week later, CRD was created. The first actions to its development was creating a website and social media account, then contacting around 100-200 college radio stations to get involved in the project. The next route was getting in touch with bands for interviews. A page on the CRD’s website includes several interviews listed for viewers.
CRD’s first event was set in the USA, Canada, and Jamaica in October 2011 where 365 college radio stations had joined together in its first celebration.
“The whole purpose of CRD was to raise awareness for college radio stations to let people know that this really unique and awesome medium is still out there and they can still listen to it and be a part of this really cool community,” says Kreten. “Really the whole idea was just to get people to listen to college radio again.”
Currently, over 600 college radio stations and 40 countries currently take part in CRD, in countries found in Italy, Jamaica, Colombia, Australia, and many more.
“It’s been phenomenal. It brings all of those different perspectives, languages, and cultures, Kreten commented. “I think it’s been great just to get everyone’s horizons broaden because you get this opportunity to work with people from all over the world. You’re learning how their community interacts with radio.”
CRD has been mentioned in Washington Post, TIME Magazine, USA Today, New York Times, and more publications.
Kreten understands the difficulty of feeling unrepresented in radio, and says getting involved in your college radio station allows students to personally connect and represent themselves.
Javell Sheppard, Program Director of WXAV, comments “I’m excited to see the new music I’ll discover along the way, the new people I’ll meet and interview.”
“I’m just excited to see it in action for the first time because I have only ever heard stories about it and the impacts it had. I’m excited to see it first hand and be part of the impact,” he says.
In the first year CRD, alternative rock bands in Chicago like Local H’s Scott Lucas had performed an acoustic set and did an interview. “That was really cool to have that experience because as a teenager Local H was a big band for me. So seeing one of my musical heroes in the studio on the chairs I sit in, that’s cool. That’s what college radio should and could be, interesting conversation, fun music and just awesomeness,” says Kreten.
Kreten recalls being on a Zoom call for CRD with the son of his favorite singer, John Lennon. Recounting his meeting with Julian Lennon while waiting for CRD to begin, had Kreten feeling starstruck. “He had the John Lennon circle glasses on, so it looked like I was talking to John for a hot minute. It was so cool.”
Many popular bands had shown their support towards CRD, one of whom is Coldplay. Quicke interviewed Chris Martin in 2012 within the second year of the event’s establishment. It took place immediately after Martin left the The Howard Stern Radio Show in 2012. To show his support for CRD, Martin also recorded a message for the event.
“College radio is a very important medium that needs to survive in difficult economic times when some stations are being sold off and shut down,” said Chris Martin on College Radio Day.
“College radio is the future for broadcasting stars and pioneers of tomorrow, and we as a band, Coldplay, support the vital mission of college radio and we also support College Radio Day, the day when college radio comes together,”
College radio separates itself from ordinary radio as more freedom is approached as it broadcasts a variety of music, game shows, sports news, talk shows, and public affairs.
Natalie Chibe, Music Director of WXAV, says, “My big thing is collaboration, I love how all these college radio stations all around the country get together and just celebrate the great thing that is college radio.”
“Not a lot of people get this opportunity to break into the radio industry at such a young age, and it is just a great opportunity for everyone involved to have their voices be heard,” Chibe says.
CRD has been recognized by many world leaders, including Queen Elizabeth, President Obama, and President Biden.
“By empowering students to add their voices and opinions to the airwaves and connecting listeners to new ideas and artists, college radio fosters creativity, promotes emerging musicians, and serves as a platform for students to engage with one another.,” said President Barack Obama on College Radio.
Kreten had mentioned that CRD had visited the White House a few times as a field trip. In 2016, SXU students attended alongside the organization where they spoke with Vice President Kamala Harris for 45 minutes. Quicke also interviewed Biden on their historical joys of college radio.
Artists like Andrew W.K., Jack White, Bret Michaels, Joan Jett, Moby, are just a few names on the big lists involved with CRD to show their support for the event.
Kreten mentions that college radio can be the opening to many great genres of music. For example, hip-hop wasn’t mainstream media, it was first introduced in radio. This also includes house music and EDM. College radio is ahead of its time before trends of music become popularized.
“The great thing about college radio is that it is personality driven, the music is secondary, says Kreten.
Kreten urges you to turn off music apps and switch to radio, like 88.3 FM to discover new songs you’ll fall in love with.