By Sarah Isabel Lavers, News correspondent

Many local college radio stations have seen cuts in university budgets and declines in listener contributions, underwriting support and fund raising profits due to the recession.
Despite these fiscal cutbacks, the stations continue to run their regularly scheduled programs with little impact from the economy. For many, they have only lost funding for promotional items and other bonuses.
Luckily, these budget cuts do not seem to drastically affect the music played or the number of listeners, either. Largely, stations have been able to continue their shows as scheduled.
Disc jockeys at Northeastern’s radio station, WRBB, housed in the Curry Student Center (CSC), said they hadn’t been directly affected by budget restrictions the station has faced so far.
‘The honest truth about it is ‘hellip; what I do is kind of a free thing, for me and my listeners,’ said junior communication studies major and WRBB DJ Kevin ‘K-Fro’ Lehner. ‘I’ve personally have seen an increase in the listeners.’
At Wentworth Institute of Technology’s online radio station, WIT WIRE, advertising items have been cut almost entirely from the budget, said Promotions Manager Tyler Rachel. Last year, their funds from the university covered posters, events, give-aways and even bright yellow WIT WIRE personalized condoms. With this year’s budget, however, that won’t be the case.
‘Because of the recession, Wentworth has cut funding to all clubs to some extent,’ Rachel said. ‘It hurts a little but we still have enough funding to function.’
WIT WIRE is sponsored by the school and, in the past, has allocated money from the budget on their own terms without guidance from the university, Rachel said. However, this year, money for promotional items and sponsorship for conferences were specifically cut by WIT.
WRBB has also experienced a reduction in university support but has not experienced major financial problems. One way WRBB has dealt with the budget cuts is by focusing on underwriting support. The station is commercial-free but receives donations by allowing underwriters to sponsor certain shows.
‘Recently, we’ve had to line-by-line go over budgets,’ said WRBB’s General Manager Dan Germain. ‘[Before,] funding depended on how you budgeted it as a student group based on what you thought was a priority. ‘hellip; Now, certain things can’t even be included in the budget.’
The university has decreased funding for admittance and travel to national music conferences, Germain said. Previously, the station had enough money budgeted for two conferences. This year, the budget will only pay the cost of admission to the music festival South by Southwest, and will not cover expenses like airfare and food.
Some stations are affiliated with, but do not receive funding from their schools. These stations, like WERS at Emerson College and WHRB at Harvard University, have also felt the crunch of the economic recession. Although they don’t have to deal with university budget cuts, drops in sales and underwriting support have become apparent during the last year.
‘We’ve seen a slight drop in sales ‘hellip; and we’ve had to look for other fund-raising efforts,’ said WHRB President Christa Hartsock. ‘It’s something we’ve noticed in the last fiscal year.’
Erica Allen, a coordinator at WERS, said the station has seen a major drop in underwriting donations, affecting the station in general. WERS is a non-commercial, member supported station and typically receives most funding from underwriting sponsorship.
‘The station in general has been affected,’ Allen said. ‘In terms of finances, it was a sudden drop.’
Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s commercial-free station, WMBR, has seen the effect of the recession in terms of fund-raising. Approximately 10 to 20 percent of their budget comes from the school itself, but WMBR is forced to rely on revenue from fund-raising events to account for the other 80 to 90 percent.
To cover, WMBR hosts an annual week-long fund-raising drive where pledges are received in exchange for ‘tokens of appreciation’ like WMBR paraphernalia.
‘Generally, in the three years I’ve been here, fund raising has been strong,’ said WMBR’ general manager Jack Murphy. ‘I would say that given the general economic climate at the moment. ‘hellip; This year we made [less] in listening contributions.’
Despite these new fiscal barriers in light of the recession, college radio stations reported the cuts haven’t affected operations and most have only lost a few perks.
‘WRBB is [primarily] based on student contribution and interest,’ Germain said. ‘We continue to service the community into Roxbury and some of the surrounding areas.’