Have you ever walked past the recording studio in the Athenaeum and wondered what it gets used for? Wonder no longer. Goucher Radio, for many only a relic of the pre-COVID era, is undergoing a student-led revival. Any current search for “Goucher Radio” returns events and links from nearly a decade ago, with a page about the group from 2017 providing a brief history of how the organization used to operate.
“The foundation of Goucher College Student Radio was put into place in Fall 2001 by then Juniors Oliver Janney, Jeremy Coleman and Erin Foard with massive student body support. Within a matter of months, enough equipment was acquired to begin cable casting on Goucher College’s closed-circuit cable network. Forty students participated as hosts [sic] the first-semester GCSR was in existence. Upon hitting the air, an effort was begun to secure funding for a new studio, equipment and transmission gear. A year later, that funding was acquired and the studio was moved from the Van Meter television production facilities to a location in the heart of the Pearlstone Student Center. When the Athenaeum was constructed, Goucher Radio has moved once again to a brand-new, two room studio. This studio serves as the home to DJ’s and the nerve center for the GCSR community. Goucher College Student Radio continues to provide the campus with intelligent and creative programming and virtually unrestricted content.” (Goucher Events Calendar)
The radio show itself was accessible through its own webpage, goucher-radio.net. It is now only viewable through the Wayback Machine. Students created their own shows, the studio’s remaining posters harkening back to segments for purposes like studying, providing advice for peers, and genre-specific music hours. It reportedly operated as a subset of The Goucher Eye, a now-inactive multimedia student news source.
Goucher Radio is not the only organization to have taken a hit post-COVID, and to be met with renewed interest. The Quindecim itself was briefly dormant before Amita Chatterjee ‘23 took the reins as editor-in-chief. Goucher’s Acapella tradition has only recently received new life, with Charlie Berszoner ‘26 as the new Goucher Acapella Club president. All of these clubs returned due to the passion and engagement of the student body.
In my conversation with Olivia Barnes ‘27, she made the importance of delegation and cooperation in the revival process clear. She identified herself as the radio’s program manager, and one of three students spearheading the new era of student radio. Joshua Haynes ‘27 and Rileigh Ann Raspa, or RAR ‘27 were the others named in discussing leadership. Liv mentioned that most of the equipment in the studio, due to its age, is mostly “cosmetic,” but all functional. “This studio has a lot of mystery to it, and I think when people heard that it was being used, there was a lot of excitement.”
When asked about the direction that the new show will take, Liv said, “What we really need right now is talent.” Referring to her and the other producers, “I think the mentality we’ve taken [as producers] has been very hands off.” She wants to push that “it is independent, which comes with all the good parts and bad parts of that. You’re expected to put it on yourself,” minus the technical side. She mentioned wanting a “two idiots” segment, to have students and friends improvise and be goofy on the air, following the lead of many public radio formats. She also wants people who can “snark about Goucher,” explaining, “it makes good sound.” She continued. “We need people! Our main limit is not having enough people who will put on shows.”
Liv has done podcast-like segments for The Quindecim in the past, but discovered an unaddressed need for audio stories, especially when covering complex topics or longer-form interviews. She has been working on radio journalism, nonfiction and news, but encourages anybody comfortable in front of a microphone to bring their own skills and creativity into the ring. As of now, Goucher Radio is hosting meetings Sundays at 3:15, located in the Mary Fisher Student Publications Office. Episodes are currently available through The Quindecim website.
By Sam Rose ’26
Photo Credit: Sam Rose
