College Radio Cuts: Syracuse University Student DJs Walk Out, 1983

At Syracuse University in 1983, student managers walked out of WAER-FM to protest the implementation of news, information and jazz over the former “new wave” format. These power struggles arose from questions about “who shall control” signals, “the students or the university.” The professional station manager planned to hire four more staffers to qualify for CPB funding, even though it was not clear how much the station could obtain. Syracuse’s administration had hired him to professionalize the station, and he insisted that “the radio station cannot allow itself to be dictated to by the student.” The students had won a previous contest over the station’s format but would not prevail in this case.

Source: “Entire student management staff of SU’s WAER now departed,” Syracuse Herald-Journal, April 25, 1983. See WAER Collection, University Archives, Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries, Syracuse University, New York.