College Radio Day
By Caroline Cawthon
Lander University will be participating in the annual College Radio Day on November 4. Paul Crutcher, Broadcast and Emerging Media Specialist and XLR-General Manager, says that essentially this day is to celebrate college radio across the country. It celebrates the creativity, the freedom to create, and to bring people together with their communities.
Lander University’s participation through XLR Lander Radio will include a booth where Lander students can visit and also air unique, interesting contents, different than the usual contents aired on XLR.
Students should expect to hear Crutcher’s documentary titled, The Soul of College Radio, that was two years in the making. The documentary will be promoting both Lander University and Lander’s XLR Radio as well as discussing the college radio experience.
This documentary will be a part of a simulcast on over 700 radio stations with keynote speakers such as Shawn Lennon, John Lennon’s son and Jeremiah Fraties of The Lumineers as well as other celebrities.
There will also be performances and/or participations by former Lander University Graduates during this event. In short, College Radio Day is a day to recognize the college radio stations for their creative content and the belief in their mission and to encourage college radio day to continue to be celebrated. Students of any majors are welcomed to participate by listening to www.xlr1.org and stopping by the XLR radio station to join with this celebration.
College Radio Day is a nationally celebrated event that unites colleges across the country. The event is also celebrated internationally under the moniker World College Radio Day.
More than 30 countries around the world participate. In short, the aim of College Radio Day is to celebrate college radio as a platform for creativity that is free from a commercial driven mindset.
There is an important distinction between college radio and ordinary radio stations. College radio offers programs that emphasize creativity and ingenuity, not commercial value. Ordinary radio stations, on the other hand, consider how much revenue they would receive as the priority in deciding what programs to broadcast. Thus, this is why College Radio Day was conceived by Dr. Rob Quicke and Peter Kreten. They saw college radios as the only radio platforms that believe in creative radio programming without treating it like a business for profit.
