Cleveland State University’s radio station, WCSB, will stop airing student-run programming and become a jazz station under a new agreement with Ideastream Public Media.
The university will maintain the station’s Federal Communications Commission license and WCSB will keep its call letters. Ideastream is now in charge of all programming decisions at the new home of JazzNEO, formerly a station available only by streaming or high definition radio.
The Boards of Trustees at both Ideastream and CSU voted to approve the agreement Friday morning.
WCSB started operating out of the university in 1975, and has offered a wide variety of programs run by students and alumni ranging from goth to reggae, jazz to classical, hip-hop and ethnic shows, as well as a variety of talk programming.
Liam Main, WCSB’s business manager, said the news was sprung on the students who worked at the station. WCSB management was called into a Zoom meeting with university officials Friday morning. Main said students were given no indication what the meeting would be about, and by the time the meeting ended, their college station was playing jazz.
Main said the past year had been a “shaky process” with the university.
“We've been unable to hold events, unable to have any sort of funding released to us to
be able to perform maintenance at our radio station, order any new equipment,” Main said. “We had felt that something was coming, that something was going to happen, I just did not imagine this is the direction it was going and how abrupt it was going to happen.”
Main lamented the fact that staff and DJs were not given an opportunity to say goodbye to their audience.
“We had such a diverse range of programming, a lot of which represents communities that don't necessarily have a voice on the radio,” Main said. “That’s part of the idea behind being an alternative radio station. We're not just amplifying the songs that aren't being played, but it's also the voices that aren't being played too.”
Julianna Bennett, development director at WCSB, said staff had been on edge after their key cards to the radio station stopped working a few days ago. She said that while DJs were unpaid volunteers, staff was supposed to get scholarships for their work, but those scholarships never came through this year. She’s also not sure what will happen with upcoming programs, like WCSB’s planned Halloween Ball or the Radiothon
planned for November.
“It's been a really great experience,” she said. “I've met lots of really great people, and now it's over, apparently.”
A post after Friday's announcement on WCSB's Instagram page from station general manager Alison Bomgardner, a DJ known as Squirrel, said they were told in a meeting that the station is "defunct" with Bloomberg, other university officials, and their faculty advisor.
"But this is not the end," Bomgardner said. "With the 50th (anniversary) right around the corner, 50 years of community of DJs, listeners, and creatives coming together at this station and our locations past, we will continue to celebrate WCSB. Not only with the 50th, but we will continue on air until Cleveland State University and the Center of Campus Engagement can take us out of this station."
WCSB's website appeared to be down before 2 p.m. Friday. Earlier in the day, the old WCSB logos and programming were listed on the site.
A Facebook post by Bridget Daryl Ginley, a DJ at Case Western Reserve University's radio station, urged supporters of student radio to call or email Cleveland State president Laura Bloomberg. The reaction from commenters ranged from shock and anger to dismay.
In a statement, Bloomberg said the decision to partner with Ideastream is part of the “Cleveland State United vision,” the five-year-plan launched earlier this year by the university.
“CSU is uniquely embedded within the city of Cleveland, which provides students with opportunities to benefit from strategic partnerships like this one,” Bloomberg said in the statement. “We look forward to working with Ideastream to expand access to experiential and work-based learning.”
Cleveland State University students will be provided opportunities for paid internships as part of the agreement.
“This was not launched to save money," Bloomberg told Ideastream in a separate interview. "That was not the intent of it. Really, I would say that much more of a catalyst for this is our new strategic plan that focuses on us being Cleveland’s university, offering hopefully infinite opportunity to our students and the opportunity to engage in a large organization like Ideastream that has radio, television, streaming, media arts opportunities for our students just creates a fantastic opportunity.
"If we’re really going to create professional development and career path opportunities for our students, the best way we can do that sometimes is with strategic partnerships with the greater Northeast Ohio area," Bloomberg said. "This was one of those examples, and that drives this decision far more than budget or finances."
Bloomberg said students have asked about funds raised through radiothons or other measures.
"We have no intention of scraping that money from them," Bloomberg said. "So they have opportunities to invest and think about what they could do next to create a next generation of communications around the topics of primary interest to them.”
Cleveland State University has been dealing with a drop in enrollment since 2019, and significant budget shortfalls led to layoffs and buyouts as well as cuts to programs over the past few years.
Some nationality programs that air on WCSB that will be allowed to continue broadcasting on Ideastream digital properties. The release says that will occur until those shows “find new platforms for broadcast."
Ideastream runs several public radio stations around Northeast Ohio, including the NPR affiliate WKSU 89.7, as well as the classical music station WCLV 90.3. Ideastream has had a streaming jazz station online since early 2024, with hosts Dan Polletta and Dee Perry. It is that programming that audiences will now be able to listen to on analog airwaves.
In a statement, Ideastream Public Media President and CEO Kevin Martin said that “jazz is one of America’s most original art forms – and by expanding its reach on the airwaves, we’re ensuring this music remains vibrant, accessible, and part of the cultural fabric of our community.”
This is not the first time Ideastream Public Media has entered such an agreement with a local radio station. WKSU used to be a standalone NPR affiliate operated by Kent State University. In 2021, the two stations decided to enter an agreement much like Friday's
arrangement with CSU in which Kent State University maintains the license for WKSU, but the programming is under the auspices of Ideastream Public Media.
Ideastream also has a long history with jazz. 90.3 WCPN was initially launched as a non-commercial jazz station in 1984 before becoming the primary news and NPR affiliate for the region until 2021. Then, WCPN became a classical music station, simulcasting 104.7 WCLV, and WKSU took over as the news flagship for Ideastream.
In an email to staff, Martin noted that increasing consumption of jazz and classical music is part of the organization’s strategic plan.
“Now, you might think: as the world pushes more and more digital, why is Ideastream taking on another broadcast property?” Martin wrote in that email. “Our market study last year showed that radio is still the primary way jazz fans in Northeast Ohio listen to jazz music. To better serve this audience and maximize our community impact, we prioritized finding a station that fits the needs of our audience.”
In an email sent to Cleveland State University students, Bloomberg thanked “the dedicated team of students and volunteers who have programmed and hosted shows on WCSB in recent years,” as well as the students, staff and alumni who worked at the station over its 50 year tenure.
Friday, Oct. 3 is National College Radio Day.
This story was reported by freelancer Ida Lieszkovszky. Ideastream's executive management did not review this story.
