Author Interview: Katherine Rye Jewell

The professor and former DJ stops by to discuss her latest book: Live from the Underground: A History of College Radio

Photo courtesy of Katherine Rye Jewell

Good morning!

Today I’m excited to share a recent chat I had with Katherine Rye Jewell, a history professor an author of ‘Live from the Underground: A History of College Radio’

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For many of us, the term college radio is associated with fond memories. Maybe of that first year away at school. Maybe your school’s station was how you discovered your new favorite band. Indeed, many indie labels might not’ve survived had it not been for these stations. Maybe it reminds you of all the sounds you heard from other dorm rooms.

More than that, while these stations were a place for music that couldn't find a home anywhere else on the dial, they often served marginalized groups that often couldn't find a place anywhere at all. In other words, these stations were the voice of the community. That dual mission often found itself at odds with University Presidents.

Photo courtesy of Katherine Rye Jewell

For Katherine Rye Jewell, that journey started in the early days of her freshman year. Attending an activities fair, she stopped by the booth for Vanderbilt’s WRVU station, wound up hosting a show on the station, and the rest is history.

An interesting and insightful look at how this nationwide phenomenon has sculpted American culture. . . . Live from the Underground teaches us the importance of listening to college broadcasters while supporting their experimental stations as sites of free speech and free expression critical to our Democracy.”

~Midwest Book Review

Now a professor at Fitchburg State, Jewell’s latest book looks at college radio through an academic lens, blending stories of bands she met with rich data sets. The result is an incredible deep dive into college radio’s evolution from an extracurricular activity to the voice of a generation—the tip of the spear in the nation’s cultural and socioeconomic discourse.

Far from just playlists and recaps of how the football team did, these sites found themselves on the front lines of the free speech fight. The airwaves belong to the people, after all. Jewell’s book gives those broadcasters a voice and highlights how vital the medium is today.

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In our wide-ranging chat, we discussed her own history with radio, why the medium matters, what it means to be the voice of the community, and what happens when that voice is at odds with the establishment.

We also briefly discuss how college radio became a sales vehicle/text market (my terms) for record labels, how college and community radio overlap—and how they don’t—and what kind of show Jewell would host today.

I have also included a raw audio transcript for those who would prefer to read it instead. To be clear, there are syntax errors and the like. On the plus side, Grain does a great job of editing out all of my “ums” and “uhs.”

It was a fast 40 minutes. I hope you have as much fun listening as we did talking. When you're done, check out Live from the Underground: A History of College Radio. It is well worth your time!

Listen:

Interview with Professor Katherine Rye Jewell, author of ‘Live from the Underground: A History of College Radio.’ (The chat starts at roughly the 1:20 mark.)

Other ways to connect:

Link to buy the book | Website | Substack | Faculty bio page | Twitter

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Thanks to Katherine Rye Jewell for her time, and thank you for being here!

Kevin—