College radio is a medium that is celebrated and valued by people across the United States as well as around the world. Don’t just take our word for it – here are some quotes from public figures that value college radio and some that have also supported College Radio Day specifically:
“By empowering students to add their voices and opinions to the airwaves and connecting listeners to new ideas and artists, college radio fosters creativity, promotes emerging musicians, and serves as a platform for students to engage with one another. Uniting audiences across languages and borders…College Radio Day celebrates the students who power these stations and the unique role college radio plays across the globe.” – President Barack Obama
“Her Majesty…has asked me to send her warm good wishes to all concerned for a most successful conference, and enjoyable World College Radio Day.” – Queen Elizabeth
“College radio is a very important medium that needs to survive in difficult economic times when some stations are being sold off and shut down. College radio is the future for broadcasting stars and pioneers of tomorrow, and we as a band, Coldplay, support the vital mission of college radio and we also support College Radio Day, the day when college radio comes together.” – Chris Martin
“College radio really did make R.E.M. They picked up on us when all the big radio stations and all the big record stores really didn’t want that much to do with us.” – Michael Stipe
“It’s the final frontier of real people versus the robot corporations. To me it’s the beating heart of American alternative music culture in a way, and it’s important.” – Sean Lennon.
“I support college radio because, without college radio, Countdown to Extinction probably wouldn’t be a double platinum record. So I’m very grateful to college radio, you guys rock!” – Dave Mustaine
“When I left home, it was time for the big city—in my case the big city of Cleveland. And everything changed. It was the mid-’80s, and just being able to tune into college radio made my head explode with limitless possibilities. This was my baptism into the world of alternative and underground music—the sounds that informed what Nine Inch Nails would eventually become.” – Trent Reznor
“In this difficult time, there has never been a more important year, or a better year, for the hope that college radio brings. It is the future of communications and, in a year like this, communication is key. Music itself is the soundtrack to life and helps drive us through these unprecedented times. When dorms and campuses may be quiet, this should be the time for college radio to be going strong.” – Bret Michaels (College Radio Day 2020 Ambassador)
“The college station where I started was WBFO in Buffalo and that station changed my life. Completely.” – Terry Gross
“College radio, when we were struggling, was one of the elements that really kept us afloat – being able to play gigs and people had heard of us because they were playing us on college radio stations. College radio was a big deal for us.” – Joan Jett (College Radio Day 2018 Ambassador)
“It’s a great launching pad for whatever you want to do…you guys are on the cutting edge. College radio is an incubator, a great place for experimenting.” – Nikki Silva (The Kitchen Sisters)
“It is college radio where I heard almost all of the music that fueled my curiosity and formed my polyglot aesthetics. It is one of life’s great pleasures and, for me, indispensable.” – Nels Cline (Wilco)
“The power of college radio – it’s where we all started out. It was like, if the college radio did not play it – it would not happen.” – Wyclef Jean
“College radio, and I’m not over-exaggerating, I think is really one of the best institutions in the United States” – Moby
“I have listened to college radio quite a lot. I never went to college, so actually the college radio station is sort of like the closest I got to some kind of college experience.” – Andrew W.K.
Quotes about us from the press, most about College Radio Day:
“College Radio Day…was a call to unity in which 365 stations showcased their best work” – The New York Times
“College Radio Day: An SOS for student-run stations…a unifying college-radio event” – The Washington Post
“[An] event that encourages participating stations to tout their role in training students and helping unknown bands find an audience.” – USA Today
“A new, non-Hallmark holiday to honor students’ “unique and fearless programming” on the left of the dial.” – SPIN
“A nationwide movement…illuminating the cultural significance of student-run radio” – TIME
“World College Radio Day has sought to revitalize the sector” – The Economist
“A day reminding listeners that even as commercial radio often sounds more and more corporate, college radio is still out there” – NY Daily News
“College Radio Day Plans For Allied Airwaves” – CMJ.com
“College Radio Stations Join Forces to Send Out a Strong Signal… The primary aim of the event is to get average people to tune in to their local college radio stations and to appreciate their unique contributions to the larger culture…a mass celebration of campus radio” – The Chronicle of Higher Education
“College Radio Day Celebrates Localism, Unique Programming” – Radio World
“College Radio Has Its Day…College Radio Day boosts support” – New Jersey Monthly
“Hundreds of college radio stations around the country came together to proclaim College Radio Day” – San Francisco Public Press
“The idea of College Radio Day seems to have caught on” – Radio World
“Today people across North America are celebrating College Radio Day—a brand-new holiday founded by two enthusiasts of college radio” – Gawker
“The aim of College Radio Day is to get people to tune in to their local college radio stations, support this programming and remind college administrators just how important their radio stations are.” – The Record (New Jersey)