High School Radio

High school radio within the United States is almost as old as radio broadcasting itself. Simply defined as a radio station, with its studios located at a high school and usually operated by its students with faculty supervision, stations fitting this description existed in the mid-1920s. Little is recorded about these stations, but like other low-powered stations of the era, their programming would tend to be sporadic, with music and readings performed live by the station's performers – the era of playing records would not be established until the 1950s. The combination of the Great Depression of the early 1930s and new restrictions enacted by the Federal Communications Commission forced all of the high school stations off the air by 1934.

It would not be until the late 1940s, with the advent of the 88–108 MHz FM Radio band that renewed interest was shown in HS radio. Because the 88-92 MHz region was dedicated to non-commercial broadcasting, this allowed for schools to fairly easily obtain licenses from the FCC. The oldest HS station on FM is WNAS in New Albany, Indiana, which started broadcasting in May 1949. The station is still broadcasting today. As the FM band increased in listenership in the next few decades, the number of HS stations increased with it. By the 1970s, there were over 150 HS stations across the country. In addition to this number, there have always been untold numbers of unlicensed stations using carrier current (popular through the 1970s), extremely low power or "Part 15" stations, and closed circuit broadcasting. Many of the licensed stations are assigned to suburban school districts in a few large metro areas: Chicago, Indianapolis, Detroit, Boston, Philadelphia, Seattle and to a lesser extent San Francisco and Cleveland. There have historically been very few H.S. stations in the Southeast.

While some HS stations became important training grounds for students who would go on to careers in broadcasting, the perception of HS stations as poorly programmed and supervised helped contribute to the downfall of many stations. After a steady decline in their numbers in the 1980s and '90s, the availability of LPFM licenses has renewed interest in HS radio, at least in rural areas where the LPFM license is most readily available.

Today's HS stations, particularly in rural areas, serve as de facto community radio stations when classes are not in session.