…but we can save it

Like many of us in Radio, I got my first on-air gig at a college radio station.

Now THIS STORY that we shouldn’t even need to read, but if you haven’t, please do, and pass it on.

It is in our (meaning, “Radio’s”) best interest to help keep college stations operating. It is in the music industry’s best interest to help keep college stations operating.

It’s not just to freshen our supply of future talent, though that is important.

It’s not just to expose music that commercial radio won’t touch with a 10-foot pole, though that’s important too.

It’s because it just might entice college-age kids to listen to a radio station rather than to Pandora or Spotify.

It might just prove to be a stimulus to continued radio listening even after they leave college.

I don’t know if we — meaning the NAB and any other organizations that set the agenda for our future — are still investing in HD Radio. I don’t know the other things your annual support of the NAB and RAB is used to fund.

But this is something that deserves it.

It would be so refreshing to see Clear Channel, Cumulus, CBS, Entercom and Hubbard each commit a 7-figure sum annually to keep these stations operating and “free.”

Free to play whatever the heck they want to. Free to say whatever they want to. Free to do whatever they want to, without worry about audience and ratings and funding.

How can we not support this?