Copyright cleveland.com
COLUMBUS, Ohio -As Cleveland State University and Ideastream remain under fire for the transfer of WCSB 89.3, college President Laura Bloomberg announced a new steering committee that will design experiences for students to participate in the radio station. The steering committee will be made up of representatives of CSU’s College of Arts and Sciences and the Levin College of Public Affairs and Education, as well as senior Ideastream Public Media leaders. Bloomberg announced Wednesday. “This inaugural steering group will design specific partnership actions and student experiences (e.g., internships, capstone projects, media production, job site tours and job shadowing) that pair CSU scholarship and talent with Ideastream’s storytelling and media expertise, enhancing both in the process,” Bloomberg wrote to the campus community. “Students will also receive benefits beyond internships and other applied learning experiences as they engage with the Ideastream professional community and build their networks.” CSU and Ideastream have been criticized since the Oct. 3 surprise announcement that the station – run by students and community volunteers, featuring talk and numerous genres of music – had been given to Ideastream. CSU is still the Federal Communications Commission license holder but Ideastream is not paying the school any money to run the station. Ideastream has assumed station and transmitter maintenance costs and Bloomberg gets a seat on Ideastream’s board. Ideastream had been prerecording JazzNEO broadcasts for its website and HD2 station at 90.3 since February 2024. On Sept. 10, Ideastream received a $1 million gift to create a dedicated studio to broadcast JazzNEO live, and WCSB 89.3 provided the conventional terrestrial signal of FM 89.3. However, students and some members of the public have criticized the move. The two radio station agreements inked by CSU and Ideastream require opportunities for students but are not specific on how many. Bloomberg, when questioned by journalists, hasn’t provided a clear answer to the question of “why give up the radio station,” except saying there were benefits of a “strategic partnership,” and that “a lot of college students do not have FM radios.” On the Facebook page of public television station WVIZ, Northeast Ohioans were critical to Ideastream’s Oct. 24 request that they donate their old vehicles to support the station. “Give WCSB back to the community!” one person commented. “I wouldn’t even donate the Sanford and Son pickup at this point because of WCSB being turned into a smooth jazz zombie station,” another commented. “Why would anyone donate anything to ideastream after their hostile takeover of WCSB,” a third person said. In Bloomberg’s Wednesday announcement about the steering committee, students are encouraged to fill out a form to indicate interest in the station. The steering committee is expected to meet throughout the fall and winter to assess their programs, “and use what we are learning from the partnership to expand or develop new partnership opportunities for faculty and students as we plan for our spring semester, the academic year and beyond,” she wrote. Jacklyn Bomgardner, a CSU student and former WCSB vice president and program director, planned to sign up and look at the opportunities that the committee creates. However, Bomgardner said when WCSB was student-run, there were plenty of opportunities for students. “My big grip is they made a deal before knowing what kind of programs they can offer,” Bomgardner said. “For a whole semester, if not for the rest of the school year, Ideastream is not offering any learning opportunities to students.”
