From its 1976 establishment until October 2025, WCSB operated with a campus radio and free-form format programmed largely by CSU students.
History
WCSB began broadcasting on May 10, 1976, with programming from Cleveland State University students, faculty, and staff members.[2] In addition, members of the Northeast Ohio community not affiliated with the university hosted programs on WCSB.
In 2020, WCSB received a grant from the College Radio Foundation to defray costs of replacing the station's antenna on Rhodes Tower. [3]
At Cleveland State University, WCSB held annual parties and concerts around Halloween. The Halloween Masquerade Ball began in 2009 to show appreciation to the station's listeners and their undying support as a free event offered to the local community. Until 2016, this event was held at the Cleveland Public Theater in the Gordon Square district of Cleveland.
Other events included Radiothon[7], an annual week-long fundraising event in November, and an annual record fair in the summer.
Transfer to Ideastream and switch to jazz
On October 3, 2025, Ideastream Public Media took over WCSB's operations via an eight-year[8]public service operating agreement: Ideastream's "JazzNEO" jazz format supplanted WCSB's campus programming, and Ideastream offered internships and career opportunities for CSU students.[9][10] The transfer was announced by CSU president Laura J. Bloomberg to WCSB management and staff via a Zoom call at 11a.m.[11] Negotiations between the two parties had been in place for several months but bound to a non-disclosure agreement due to the involvement of a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) license[12] and was without input from students or community members.[13] Staff retrospectively told local media of being nervous when scholarships promised to WCSB staff for the academic year did not materialize and keycard locks to the studios failed to work.[14]
WCSB staff were escorted out of the building by university police and WCSB's website was taken offline; coincidentally, the transfer occurred on College Radio Day and came as the station was preparing to celebrate its 50th anniversary.[15] Under police presence, students were given limited time to remove assets, memorabilia, and personal effects.[16] As part of the agreement, Bloomberg received a seat on Ideastream's board of directors[8] and Ideastream obtained right of first refusal to purchase WCSB outright.[17] Ideastream was the recipient of a $1million grant that specified new studio facilities for JazzNEO at the Idea Center several weeks earlier[11][18] but this was claimed to be unrelated to the lease of WCSB.[19]
WRUW-FM (a student-run sister station of the original student-run WCSB, based at Case Western Reserve University) criticized the changeover on its website, saying, "[r]adio, to us, is an act of creative expression that students deserve a right to engage in, regardless of their academic path... it is important to note that students are not solely involved in college radio for career experience".[20] On October 7, 2025 about 200 students, community members, alumni, and former college radio workers attended a silent protest on the CSU campus,[19] on October 6, 2025 an online petition calling for a return to the prior format and the restoration of student control of the station was created,[5] and a subsequent protest took place outside the October 17, 2025 meeting of the City Club of Cleveland, where Ideastream Public Media president and CEO Kevin Martin was participating in a discussion entitled "The Future of Public Media."[21][22]
On October 20, 2025 the members of the Cleveland City Council voted unanimously to adopt Emergency Resolution 1324-2025 (which had been introduced on October 17, 2025), entitled "Supporting the students and station members working to regain access to the 89.3 FM radio frequency and urging Cleveland State University to fully restore WCSB radio to its students."[23][24] According to Council member Kris Harsh, who co-sponsored the resolution, the Council received more than 260 public comments in support of the resolution on its website between October 19 and 20, 2025, which represented the greatest number of comments it had ever received on a single issue in its history.[25][26]
Programming
WCSB currently features a jazz format locally hosted by Dan Polletta, Dee Perry and John Simna; the format originated from, and continues to simulcast over, the second HD Radio subchannel of WCLV,[10] and launched on February 26, 2024.[27]
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