Dartmouth’s student-run AM station, WDCR, was the oldest radio station in New Hampshire until August, when its license was officially canceled, at the school’s request. The cancellation came after two years of stagnant airwaves, after the programming moved from the obsolete AM waves to a more convenient, less-expensive online-only operation in August 2008. The free-form student-run station still functions online, and Dartmouth still operates its commercial FM station, 99 Rock.

Dartmouth is one of the only schools in the country with a student-run, Billboard-recognized commercial station. According to Dartmouth senior Tony Quincy, who manages both 99 Rock and WDCR under the umbrella student group “Dartmouth Broadcasting,” 99 Rock aims to maintain a “commercially viable” entity through ad sales, because the school requires the station to raise its own funding.

At Dartmouth, the transition of WDCR to online-only over the past two years has been successful. But things are going less smoothly elsewhere, like at Rice University, who in August announced plans to sell the FM license for their 40+ year old campus station, KTRU. The plans to turn KTRU an online-only entity led students to launch a “Save KTRU” campaign in order to, according to its website, preserve “one of the last sources of local, independent, diverse programming left on Houston airwaves."

The two situations are markedly different, but the losing of each license raises similar questions. Do college radio stations need signals, or is an online-only operation sufficient? At a time when most radio formats are losing their markets and becoming obsolete, what role does college radio even play anymore?

Since taking the helm as Music Director at Boston University's WTBU, I've spent a great deal of time fine-tuning my answer to this question—explaining the unique cultural role that college radio plays in a changing media market. I dedicate a lot of energy to a station whose signal barely spans a campus. And I am fully aware that, after graduation, the radio industry is unlikely likely to provide a steady job or source of income. I’ve been asked repeatedly, “Do you even know how many people are listening to your show?” I’ve never known that number, and sometimes it's disheartening to know I'm working with a “dying” medium.

But college radio is about more than the number of people listening and opportunities to get paid. It’s about creating and harnessing community, embracing deep-rooted ties to local and independent music scenes, and providing a commercial-free platform for alternative music—something that does not exist on major mainstream radio stations anymore.

College radio expert Jennifer Waits says that in the past decade or so, the increasingly homogenized nature of commercial radio has made college stations even more culturally important. They've become home to the “few remaining independent voices on the radio” according to Waits, a college radio DJ for over 24 years who has written academically about college radio for Radio Journal and Pop Matters. “College radio stations need to realize the power they have,” Waits said in a phone interview. “Stations focused on independent artists and obscure genres are providing a vital service that’s not happening on commercial radio anymore.”

But as listeners continue to discover independent, obscure artists on music blogs instead of airwaves, college radio’s greatest significance may be shifting. For WTBU, as its audience dwindles, its efforts are increasingly split between maintaining the quality of programming and acting as a sort of community organizer, creating a small haven on a campus of 40,000 for music enthusiasts to meet and share music with each other.

The dynamic is similar at New York University, according to WNYU Programming Director Jonathan Williger. “College radio’s role as a primary source for discovering music is diminishing fast, if not faster, than mainstream radio,” he wrote in an email. “I think more than anything, it is becoming a place where students can learn from older college kids in a safe environment. I know I wouldn’t like much of the music I like if I wasn’t first exposed to it through WNYU.”

As stations like WTBU spend more time organizing live events, they become even more entrenched in their local music communities. “There’s an intimate relationship between local bands and college radio DJs,” says Waits. “In Bowling Green, that was certainly the case. It’s a conservative small town. The station and local bands provided a sort of an oasis from that.”

When Ryan Engelberger, a Dartmouth junior, toured with his Athens-based indie rock band Reptar, visiting college radio stations was their main source of networking, and one of the funnest parts of being on tour. (Engelberger has previously hosted two shows of his own on Dartmouth’s student-run WDCR.)

Before tour, Reptar researched college radio stations in each city they played. “We’d call up the stations as we were driving in, and usually we would end up stopping by, seeing what their studios were like. We met all of these interesting people who care about music, who are interested in spreading info about small relatively unknown traveling bands.” In Virginia, the band even ended up meeting a UVA station manager who gave them a place to sleep. (Fact: I have also given up my floor to random touring bands via college radio networks.)

At each stop, Engelberger’s band was less concerned with the number of people listening than they were with the DJs they met, and the enthusiasm and energy associated with college radio communities.

“Everywhere we went, people in college radio were the most welcoming and understanding of our situation and putting us up,” Engelberger said. “They’re kind of like outposts for touring bands."

College radio has clearly evolved in the past few years, and will continue to. But regardless of inevitable changes to the medium, there are other cultural roles for college radio to play—ones that are unique and valuable. Even if all AM/FM college stations are eventually forced online, they can still remain "oases" for music enthusiasts, and “outposts” for local and touring bands.