While doing research for 35000 Watts, we’ve found a lot of great resources that anyone can use to learn more about college radio history (or maybe just take a walk down memory lane). One of the best is World Radio History (worldradiohistory.com), a massive database of radio- and broadcast-related publications from the earliest days of the industry. You could spend weeks poring through all the copies of Billboard, Radio & Records, etc. but for our purposes, the archive of CMJ issues has been invaluable.
CMJ New Music Report was arguably the most important print publication in the world of college radio, and digging through the pages of issues from forty years ago results in a deep, deep dive into the music and culture of the time. The charts, the ads, the commentary all create amazing snapshots of college radio’s ascendance in the music industry.
This is an amazing (and free) resource and anyone with an interest in college radio will enjoy taking a trip back in time through the pages of CMJ. You visit the archives here: https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/CMJ_New_Music.htm