High school radio stations in the United States unite for one day of celebration called High School Radio Day. There are only about 190 high school radio stations nationwide which is less than 1% of the approximately 24,000 high schools in the country. We hope that High School Radio Day will raise a greater awareness of the ones that are still broadcasting over the air and those new ones that are
online stations. A website has been created to publicize the activities planned by participating stations: www.highschoolradioday.com. Other information can be found on our Twitter account: . High School Radio Day comes on the heels of College Radio Day that started October, 2011. Though College Radio Day does allow high school stations to register, we felt that high school stations should have their own day. High School Radio Day Founder Pete Bowers (former Station Manager, WBFH-FM, Bloomfield Hills, MI, now retired) decided to hold the day in May the first year in 2012 since the first U.S. HSRD was moved to April in 2013 and has been in April ever since. Station advisors connect through email, Facebook groups, Twitter and Instagram. Advisors decided to extend the celebration of high school radio by creating National High School Radio Week with High School Radio Day being the Wednesday of that week. Bowers estimates that there are only about 190 high schools in the nation with either a terrestrial over-the-air non-commercial, educational FM radio station or an internet-only radio station. “That’s why we need to unite on High School Radio Day and make the public aware of what we do, how we do it, and the service we provide our communities,” he said. Bowers is thrilled that High School Radio Day has become an annual event. Participating high school stations are listed on www.highschoolradioday.com. Students and advisors at those stations will be reaching out to potential listeners in their broadcast area and online to give them a listen and be prepared to hear creative programming not heard on commercial stations.
