Delete WardMaking a Public Comment
Council welcomes public comment before regular council meetings. Fill out the online form below for your chance to make a public comment at the next regular Monday Council meeting. Please read the revised rules and procedures.
Registrations can also be submitted:
* In person at Cleveland City Hall, Room 220, 601 Lakeside Ave. NE. Paper forms are available to register.
* If you don't want to fill out the online form below, you can download this form and fill it out, and email it to publiccomment@clevelandcitycouncil.gov or drop it off at Council offices. (Parking at City Hall on the upper lot is free on Mondays after 5 pm when Council is meeting.) If you need assistance, language, or disability, go here to make a request (at least 3 days in advance.)
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Make a Comment Online
If you don't want to speak at a Council meeting, please submit your written comments below.
Public Comments
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For anyone with an FM radio, WSCB offers rich and various experiences, an education. Over years of daily listening, the station has introduced me to incredible music, across many genres, that I would never hear otherwise. The station is also a distinct point of local pride. When people from other places ask what Cleveland is like, I tell them about 89.3 first, even before LJ Shanghai. As is clear in the station’s wake, listening also makes me happier, less stressed out, more tuned in. WSCB makes my life better. As our protests demonstrate, this is true for many other Clevelanders, too.
It is difficult to understand why this radio station, which does so much good, should be cut. As a local educator who supervises student workers, I find CSU and Ideastream's claim that this takeover is in the interest of students' professional development to be unserious, irresponsible, and without imagination. Internships should increase student agency, responsibility, and professional readiness. The shutdown of WSCB demonstrates the superficiality of current CSU and Ideastream leadership's commitment to "true professional growth opportunities" for students.
WSCB has been an important source of good in Cleveland for fifty years. In ending this longtime public good against public will, CSU and Ideastream are acting against the interests of the students and community it's their mission to serve. They have not cared to listen to the people, but I hope they will listen to Cleveland City Council. On our behalf, please vote to pass this resolution.
Cleveland deserves a radio station, our radio station, that reflects its people — not a corporate handoff. Recently, Cleveland State University turned over control of WCSB Radio, the university’s long-running student-led station, to Ideastream, a move that is being universally lambasted. This decision silences one of the most authentic and diverse voices in our city— no doubt, and important reason for the shift.
While WCSB may have been operated under the university’s umbrella, it has always been far more than a Cleveland State thing— it’s a Cleveland thing. It’s been a vital part of our cultural ecosystem — a space where students, community members, and local artists shared ideas, music, and, perhaps most importantly, perspectives that couldn’t be found anywhere else. WCSB’s programming wasn’t just student radio; it was Cleveland radio — raw, local, and real.
Replacing that with a corporate-run feed, even under the banner of “public media,” is a loss for everyone. The student DJs and producers who ran WCSB weren’t just learning media — they were curating the city’s sound, from underground jazz and global music to grassroots reporting on issues that actually matter. Cleveland’s jazz scene, in particular, deserves to be represented by passionate local curators — not a distant organization more concerned with branding than community.
Furthermore, it should be noted that countless artists have used WCSB as their entry point to our city. More times than I can count, I heard an exciting artist on WCSB before catching their show at Happy Dog or Little Rose.
What are we allowing to happen?
I urge (and hope) the City of Cleveland and Cleveland State University leadership to do the right thing, and give WCSB back to the students and by extension, the people of Cleveland.