Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
Arts & Entertainment
In the algorithm age, NYC college radio DJs are still broadcasting the funky stuff
By
James Ramsay
Published Oct 22, 2026 at 11:18 a.m. ET
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Spencer Song/WNYU
By
James Ramsay
Published Oct 22, 2026 at 11:18 a.m. ET
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
This column originally appeared in the Looped In NYC newsletter. Sign up here.
On days when I’m feeling a little down or lacking in self-esteem, I often pep myself up by recalling that I once co-hosted a college radio show called “Morning Breath,” and now look at me: I’m gainfully employed at a real radio station.
And like anyone fortunate enough to have made the Big Leagues, I think it’s sometimes incumbent upon me to check in on the next generation to make sure the future is still looking bright-ish.
So we recently paid a visit to WNYU, the student-run radio station in the basement of an NYU residence hall, and I can report good news: College radio DJs are still on the air playing nothing I’ve ever heard of.
Way Dynamic? La Femme? Mei Ehara? Cat Crash? Screenager?!
That’s the stuff.
“ We've been playing Froggy, and a lot of the New York-based stuff, so, like, Bad Static, T@b Grrrl,” said Gillian Coffey, a senior who hosts “Grrrlz2theFront,” a riot grrrl-themed show on Mondays at 8 a.m. (“Start the week with a riot.”)
When I asked Coffey how she finds music to play in this era of all things streaming, her strategy sounded surprisingly old-school and hyperlocal: reading NYU’s riot grrrl zine archive, going to nearby shows and asking friends for recommendations.
“ We went to GIRL NOISE this weekend, and that's all grrrl music, and so that was super fun,” she said.
The students’ other big discovery method, as was the case for previous generations of college radio DJs, is to wade through piles of submissions that come through the mail. Franny Wilson, a senior who hosts a psychedelic funk and soul show and serves as the station’s general manager, said upwards of 35 students get together on Wednesday nights and listen to submissions.
But for all the analog ways these DJs discover and select new music, the way they broadcast it is increasingly digital. NYU now shares its FM frequency, 89.1, with Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey, so WNYU only airs on the radio from 4 p.m. until 1 a.m., Monday through Friday. The rest of the time, it streams only online.
Ben Dibb, a sophomore double-major in philosophy and politics with a minor in animal studies, hosts a metal and hardcore show called “Br00tal Beats to Study/Relax To” on Tuesdays at noon. I asked him if he gets some good feedback from the audience despite his lack of FM airtime.
“In terms of the anonymous people in the computer? Not too much,” he said. “In terms of my friends and family, it’s pretty good.”
He then cued up Plague Thy Child’s “Autumn,” off their 2001 self-titled album. “It’s one of the first OG deathcore albums ever released,” he said into the mic.
The phenomenon of universities selling off their FM licenses — and forcing student radio stations to go online-only — has been building for more than a decade. Wilson, WNYU’s general manager, said she was proud her station at least remained 100% student-run.
“ I've talked to general managers at other college radio stations, and the way that the organizational structure is set up is half of them are students and half of them are professional broadcasters, or [they have] professional general managers,” she said.
Sophomore music technology major Diana Littlepage has one of the station’s more coveted roles: the Tuesday host of “The New Afternoon Show,” WNYU’s longest-running program, which is dedicated to playing rock music released within the last 12 months. She’s also a second-generation college radio DJ.
“ My parents actually went to University of Wisconsin-Madison, and they have a huge college radio station there,” she said. “I was like, ‘Oh, that sounds so sick, just being able to have, like, a grown-up job in college and playing all of this music.’”
For most of the DJs we met, having the opportunity to get a little weird and play their music — for themselves, for their friends, for their moms listening at home — seemed to be the exciting part. No one during our tour mentioned “audience growth” or “weekly cume,” not that I’d expect them to. (I had a great time hosting “Morning Breath,” but I’m glad as hell no one heard it.)
Now, as we march towards some kind of streaming AI muzak apocalypse, it’s a little reassuring to know that someone’s in a dorm basement excited to hit play on Screenager.
Littlepage, who grew up in New York City, admitted that she hadn’t even listened to WNYU until she got to college.
“We didn’t have a radio,” she said.
Tagged
looped in
James Ramsay
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE arts-entertainment
A Queens prop shop shutters, bunnies find a home uptown, and more openings and closings
Highlights of shifts in the city's business landscape.
By
Hannah Frishberg
Published Oct 22, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. ET
A new film invites you to eavesdrop on one of the greatest conversations in NYC history
In 1972, legendary documentarian William Greaves filmed a party he threw for Harlem Renaissance luminaries. With help from his family, "Once Upon a Time in Harlem" brings that decades-old footage to theaters.
By
Sonia Rao
Arts & Entertainment
A new film invites you to eavesdrop on one of the greatest conversations in NYC history
In 1972, legendary documentarian William Greaves filmed a party he threw for Harlem Renaissance luminaries. With help from his family, "Once Upon a Time in Harlem" brings that decades-old footage to theaters.
By
Sonia Rao
The Knicks are NBA champions. Now they have to start dressing the part.
By
Sonia Rao
Will Barnes and Noble in the East Village spell doom for smaller shops? It's complicated.
By
Sonia Rao
Can eligible NYC singles find love with 30 minutes and some really spicy food?
By
Elizabeth Shwe
and
James Ramsay
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .