High school radio 

This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims.
Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (October 2007)

High school radio within the United States is almost as old as radio broadcasting itself. Simply defined as a radio station, with its studios located at a high school and usually operated by its students with faculty supervision, stations fitting this description existed in the mid-1920s.citation needed Little is recorded about these stations, but like other low-powered stations of the era, their programming would tend to be sporadic, with music and readings performed live by the station's performers - the era of playing records would not be established until the 1950s.citation needed The combination of the Great Depression of the early 1930s and new restrictions enacted by the Federal Communications Commission forced all of the high school stations off the air by 1934.citation needed

It would not be until the late 1940s, with the advent of the 88-108 MHz FM Radio band that renewed interest was shown in HS radio. The oldest HS station on FM is WHHS in Haverford Township, Pennsylvania, which started broadcasting in 1949.citation needed The station is still broadcasting today. As the FM band increased in listenership in the next few decades, the number of HS stations increased with it. By the 1970s, there were over 150 HS stations across the country.citation needed In addition to this number, there have always been untold numbers of unlicensed stations using carrier current (popular through the 1970s), extremely low power or "Part 15" stations, and closed circuit broadcasting. Many of the licensed stations are assigned to suburban school districts in a few large metro areas: Chicago, Indianapolis, Detroit, Boston, Philadelphia, Seattle and to a lesser extent San Francisco and Cleveland. There have historically been very few H.S. stations in the Southeast.citation needed

While some HS stations became important training grounds for students who would go on to careers in broadcasting,citation needed the perception of HS stations as poorly programmed and supervised helped contribute to the downfall of many stations. After a steady decline in their numbers in the 1980s and '90s, the availability of LPFM licenses has renewed interest in HS radio, at least in rural areas where the LPFM license is most readily available.citation needed

Today's HS stations, particularly in rural areas, serve as de facto community radio stations when classes are not in session.citation needed

Contents

Difficulties of high school broadcasting

Many HS stations were first licensed in the 1970s on the FM band, just as the band was beginning to fill up and become crowded in many cities. As a result, HS stations tended to be low-powered (under one kilowatt) in most instances.citation needed

List of American high school radio stations

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

"Defunct" refers only to the stations themselves and not necessarily the schools that operated them. The dates listed often refer to the year when the station's license was formally revoked by the FCC, though in most cases the station had ceased broadcasting years before that.

This list only includes stations that were/are licensed by the FCC. No licensed HS stations are known to have existed in Alabama, Hawaii, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and South Dakota.

Alaska

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Delaware

Florida

Georgia

Idaho

Illinois

Indiana

Located at the Indiana Soldiers' and Sailors' Children's Home

Iowa

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Mississippi

Missouri

Montana

Nebraska

Nevada

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New York

North Carolina

Ohio

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Carolina

Tennessee

Texas

Utah

Vermont

Virginia

Washington

West Virginia

Wisconsin

Wyoming

See also

References