College rock is rock music that played on student-run university and college campus radio stations located in the United States and Canada in the 1980s and 1990s. The stations' playlists were often created by students who avoided the mainstream rock played on commercial radio stations.
Michael Stipe (left) and Peter Buck (right) of R.E.M., a band which was among the first successful college rock acts.
The Replacements, pictured in 1984, came from the Minneapolis alternative scene.
Campus radio is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. Programming may be exclusively created or produced by students, or may include program contributions from the local community in which the radio station is based. Sometimes campus radio stations are operated for the purpose of training professional radio personnel, sometimes with the aim of broadcasting educational programming, while other radio stations exist to provide alternative to commercial broadcasting or government broadcasters.
Recording booth at KSPC, a college radio station in Claremont, California