Students and community members silently protest Ideastream’s takeover of WCSB student-run radio station in CSU courtyard – The Cauldron
Students and community members took to Cleveland State University’s (CSU) courtyard Tuesday, Oct. 7 to silently protest the University’s shutdown of WCSB and new strategic partnership with Ideastream.
This new partnership, agreed upon by the CSU Board of Trustees and the Executive Committee of the Ideastream Public Media Board of Trustees, puts an end to WCSB as a student and community-run radio station that was known for a wide array of music genres and programming. Under Ideastream, the station will live stream exclusively jazz under the name JazzNEO.
A crowd of protestors and supporters amassed during campus common hour from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. despite a rainy forecast, picket signs and umbrellas in hand. Local news stations, from Channel 19 to Spectrum to independent publications, were scattered in the outskirts of the crowd for their own coverage of the protest.
Ideastream reporters were also in attendance, while CSU Police kept watch in the distance.
Protestors holding signs saying CSU DID WRONG TO OUT 89.3 DJS, BOO FOR CSU,” “WE WANT OUR RADIO STATION BACK,” “IDEASTREAM SILENCES STUDENT VOICES,” and more. Photo Credit: Olivia Stein
Protestors holding signs saying CSU DID WRONG TO OUT 89.3 DJS, BOO FOR CSU,” “WE WANT OUR RADIO STATION BACK,” “IDEASTREAM SILENCES STUDENT VOICES,” and more. Photo Credit: Olivia Stein
Protestors holding signs saying CSU DID WRONG TO OUT 89.3 DJS, BOO FOR CSU,” “WE WANT OUR RADIO STATION BACK,” “IDEASTREAM SILENCES STUDENT VOICES,” and more. Photo Credit: Olivia Stein
Protestors holding signs saying CSU DID WRONG TO OUT 89.3 DJS, BOO FOR CSU,” “WE WANT OUR RADIO STATION BACK,” “IDEASTREAM SILENCES STUDENT VOICES,” and more. Photo Credit: Olivia Stein
Protestors holding signs saying CSU DID WRONG TO OUT 89.3 DJS, BOO FOR CSU,” “WE WANT OUR RADIO STATION BACK,” “IDEASTREAM SILENCES STUDENT VOICES,” and more. Photo Credit: Olivia Stein
Protestors holding signs saying CSU DID WRONG TO OUT 89.3 DJS, BOO FOR CSU,” “WE WANT OUR RADIO STATION BACK,” “IDEASTREAM SILENCES STUDENT VOICES,” and more. Photo Credit: Olivia Stein
Alison Bomgardner, general manager of WCSB, spoke with The Cauldron on the community support in response to an alarming decision of which student leadership at WCSB had no prior knowledge.
“We are out here protesting at this rally today to show Cleveland State and the community what voices have been silenced,” shared Bomgardner. “Because we are not silent. We have just been forced to be silent.”
The announcement that the entire campus community received on Friday, Oct. 3 via email at 11:36 a.m. was also around the first time that Bomgardner heard of this partnership.
“I found out about what was happening at 11:15 a.m. and a select number of my general staff, including my other executive staff members, including Liam May, my business manager, did not find out until 11:30 [a.m.],” shared Bomgardner.
Cleveland State President Laura Bloomberg held a virtual meeting with student leadership at WCSB the morning of Oct. 13 to formally inform them of the partnership.
“Unfortunately, right when I was getting introduced in the meeting, [CSU] turned off the transmitter at 11:16 a.m.,” said Bomgardner. “So I didn’t even have the chance to tell our community over our own airwaves what was happening.”
The Cauldron reached out to CSU administration on Tuesday, Oct. 7 for comment:
“Due to the highly confidential nature of the agreement, neither party was able to speak openly about the partnership or programming for WCSB,” said CSU marketing on behalf of university administration.
Bomgardner shared that following the virtual meeting, WCSB staff members apparently dashed to the station to clear out the space and were met with Jarrett Pratt, director of the Center for Campus Engagement, and CSU PD, who allegedly intimidated them to leave the station property:
“[They] were up there with the intention of monitoring and intimidating us out of the station sooner,” said Bomgardner. “Even by the end of our time there, they were throwing around the word trespassing just by being in the parking lot…and we still have not been able to clear out the entire space and we don’t know what the future of that space looks like.”
President Bloomberg, in the Oct. 3 email, described the new strategic partnership as an opportunity to “continu[e] to serve the audiences of Northeast Ohio” and “provide CSU students with paid experiential learning opportunities in the region’s largest independent public media organization.”
“I think what [CSU is] doing is a very noble thing,” added Bomgardner. “But we have to find a balance between lifting up pre-professional training and lifting up communities. Because ultimately, those two things can work together and can interact with one another in a substantial way…Cleveland State did this without realizing that there were ways to interact with the community.”
The University told The Cauldron that students at WCSB “have not lost the ability to participate as a student organization.”
“They are able to maintain their status as a student organization, and all rights and privileges associated with student organization,” shared CSU. “There are opportunities for students to continue programming through streaming, podcasts and other platforms.”
Cleveland State United, the University’s latest strategic plan, looks to “reimagine community partnerships to increase opportunities,” as CSU seeks to restructure physically, financially and academically in the post-pandemic era.
“The thing we have to realize is that we are not gone,” said Bomgardner. “We are still a community and we will rise again with or without the university or the Center of Campus Engagement’s help.”
A petition to “bring back WCSB and retract Ideastream’s ownership of CSU’s radio station” has garnered 452 out of 500 signatures.
“In regard to the recent rallies on campus and other responses, Cleveland State University firmly supports academic freedom and free speech on campus,” added CSU in its comments to The Cauldron.
The Cauldron also reached out to Ideastream marketing for comment on Oct. 7, with no response.