Cleveland State University and Ideastream Public Media cemented the handoff of the university’s beloved student-run radio station WCSB by inking two official agreements.
According to public records requested by Signal, leaders at both institutions and Cleveland State’s general counsel all signed a Program Service and Operating Agreement and a Memorandum of Understanding on Oct. 3 (read those documents in full below).
The documents offer some insight into how the relationship works between two institutions, which are located just steps away from each other in the city’s downtown neighborhood. Ideastream now controls WCSB’s programming, while Cleveland State keeps the station’s license with the Federal Communications Commission.
These agreements include many details about the transition, including how Ideastream will reimburse Cleveland State for “ordinary and necessary” station-related expenses. The agreement will automatically renew after the initial eight-year term expires unless there’s an objection from either side, per the documents.
No money was exchanged between the organizations, according to the records. Signal, however, reported Wednesday that these agreements show Cleveland State will receive thousands of promotional spots over the lifetime of the deal. Plus, the university’s president will become a member of Ideastream’s Board of Trustees.
Cleveland State students will also get more professional educational opportunities, such as internships, something current president Laura Bloomberg touted as a major selling point for the university. But neither agreement mentions a set number of opportunities that will be made available to students each year.
Ideastream, meanwhile, gets to expand its previous online-only jazz music offerings by putting that programming out over WCSB’s broadcast radio signal, 89.3 FM, according to a news release issued earlier this month.
WCSB supporters publicly mourn station
The pushback to the Oct. 3 announcement about WCSB’s future was swift, including from former WCSB workers who said they were given no advance notice before the station shut down.
Supporters held a protest at the university last week. Another is planned ahead of Ideastream CEO Kevin Martin’s appearance at the City Club of Cleveland Friday.
In an Oct. 10 interview with Signal, Alison Bomgardner, the station’s most recent student general manager, said she’s had repeated conversations with Bloomberg.
Though she declined to share more details about the nature of those talks, Bomgardner did say students and supporters are exploring “every single possibility” of how the station – which they’ve rebranded as XCSB – may continue either with or without the university.
Bomgardner, 21, is majoring in Spanish, international relations, and political science. She said she’s not interested in pursuing any potential internship opportunities at Ideastream that the deal provides.
“The idea of WCSB was to be on-air to express yourself,” she said. “When you move expression into an occupation, you don’t have those same liberties, or the same feeling, or the same idea, of what it means to be in the media space.”