Finding an alternative: Music programming in US college radio

Radio stations based at universities make up only about 11 of all over-the-air stations in the United States of America, but college radio is often presented as offering an alternative in music radio to the for-profit stations that dominate the airwaves. College stations are now seen as a key means of promoting indie rock. This article traces the development of university-based radio stations in the United States, and reports on a five-year study of music programming in three stations based in Boston and New York, to examine their claim to alternativeness. The paper concludes that the stations do use different forms of music programming, that the programming extends well beyond the scope of indie rock and that the current notions of alternativeness utilised by station staff have their roots in the development of the sector from the 1920s onwards.