CLEVELAND (WJW) – A group of students is suing Cleveland State, accusing the university of taking away their college radio station and turning over the airwaves to Ideastream Public Media.
For the past 50 years, WCSB, 89.3 FM at CSU has upheld the long American tradition of college radio.
CSU senior Alison Bomgardner is the general manager of the station, but Bomgardner and the entire student staff have been locked out of the 89.3 studios on Chester Avenue.
The student broadcasters learned during a meeting in October that the university had signed a partnership agreement with Public Radio’s Ideastream, which was taking over programming on 89.3, effective immediately.
“They’re missing the true alternative of Cleveland. WCSB was notorious for being the weirdest and the most underground station in our area and that’s even compared to our other collegiate counterparts and that’s something we took pride in. We took pride in playing stuff you would not hear anywhere else and you would never hear again,” said Bomgardner.
In protest, students staged a series of rallies, asking for the public’s help to fight the decision by the university to take 89.3 away from CSU students.
“The message is ‘we won’t be silenced.’ Ultimately, this is an issue of free speech, free expression and artistry on campus and the ability to find community on campus,” said Bomgardner.
On Monday, the student broadcasters filed a lawsuit against Cleveland State, accusing the university of taking away their right to free speech and making the decision without public comment or debate.
“We want a judge to reverse what happened in that secret board of trustees meeting, where they had been deliberating behind closed doors, and give this broadcast frequency back to WCSB, back to the real WCSB that has been broadcasting for 50 years, providing independent alternative voices and music for the Cleveland community,” said First Amendment attorney Brian Bardwell.
On Oct. 21, CSU President Laura Bloomberg told FOX 8 that the college radio station is an outdated model and that the university would be looking for new streaming technologies to reach the student audience.
“Change is not without dissent and letting go of something to move toward something else, although it’s the imperative of the learning organization. It can be hard and it can be painful and I acknowledge that,” said Bloomberg. “A lot of college students do not have FM radios. They are accessing information on their phones through streaming.”
In response to the lawsuit, CSU issued a statement on Monday that reads, in part: “We do not comment on pending litigation.”
The student broadcasters believe the tradition of college radio is worth fighting for.
“It’s only an outdated model because the people with money think it’s an outdated model,” said Bomgardner.
Ideastream Public Media is not a named party in the lawsuit and had no comment on the suit.