Clear Channel Media and Entertainment announced it will be adding college and university radio stations to its iHeartRadio, less than a week after Los Angeles public radio stations KCRW and KUSC were confirmed to be joining with the digital radio service.
Clear Channel is starting with more than 12 college stations from across the U.S. It has a liberal definition of the sector, so Clear Channel will be including everything from student-run stations featuring all types of block programming to professionally-run stations with specific formats.
Among the first to become available will be WSOU at Seton Hall University, WICB at Ithaca College, WASU at Appalachian State University, and KZSU at Stanford University.
“Bringing college radio stations to iHeartRadio is a great source of local and independent programming that offers our users a more diverse listening experience and also provides listeners new opportunities for music, news and sports exposure and discovery,” said John Hogan, president and CEO, Clear Channel Media and Entertainment. He added that many of today’s most popular on-air personalities started their careers at college radio, so iHeartRadio now gives these nascient talents a national platform, plus alumni can now listen to their alma mater’s station anywhere in the country.
KCRW, a community service of Santa Monica College and Southern California’s leading National Public Radio (NPR) affiliate, and KUSC, one of the most listened-to public radio stations in the country, will begin streaming on iHeartRadio in February.
KCRW plays an eclectic mix of independent music, news, talk and arts programming, curated with passion for the content. KUSC, a broadcast service of the University of Southern California, is dedicated to preserving classical music as a living art and is one of the most popular classical radio stations in the U.S.
Brian Lakamp, president of Clear Channel Digital, said, “We want to be everywhere our listeners are with a variety of programming options to appeal to the widest possible audience, and adding these public radio stations to iHeartRadio offers listeners an even more interesting and diverse listening experience.”
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