Defeated and exasperated, managers of 100.3 SoundFM changed the locks on their doors last Friday.

Earlier that day, students at the University of Waterloo voted down a fee of $2.50 per term to keep the campus radio station afloat, marking the beginning of the end of its 30-year history.

Almost 2,500 students voted against the new fee while just over 2,000 students supported it in a referendum by the Federation of Students at Waterloo.

The results were a mix of student apathy and dissatisfaction, according to Chris Neal, vice-president of administration and finance for the student federation.

“The general statement in the student body is, ‘Why do we need a campus radio station?’” Neal explained. “Within the student population the demand [for radio] has just diminished.”

SoundFM’s closure reflects an overall decline in campus radio support, according to Kevin Matthews, executive director of the National Campus and Community Radio Association.

“It’s becoming harder and harder to convince students to put a few dollars a year into their campus radio station,” Matthews explained, adding student fees were the major cash source for campus radio.

While he hasn’t seen any radical changes to campus radio in 10 years of working in the industry, Matthews noted students no longer understand campus radio’s purpose.

He argued the difference between campus radio and commercial radio is a big one. While commercial radio sometimes has a mandate to represent the community, campus radio is the community representing itself, allowing anyone to have access to the airwaves.

“The benefit is really huge for people who take advantage of the station and get involved,” Matthews explained. “The benefit is secondarily to campus life and the sense of community on campus.”

Western’s campus radio station, 94.9 CHRW, is in better shape than SoundFM, according to Alicks Girowski, promotions director for the station.

She said the tie between CHRW and Western’s University Students’ Council, which provides the majority of the funding through student fees, is stronger than other campuses.

“We’re branching underneath the USC, so I feel like we have a really good rapport with the students’ council compared to other radio stations,” she explained.

After eight years of working at the station as a volunteer and paid employee, she’s seen how the community and programming has changed.

What hasn’t changed, she said, is how valuable the station is to those who participate, including students from the journalism and media programs.

“I think it’s really invaluable for the media here to really get that real-life, practical experience,” she said. “When you start looking at jobs out there, in the media industry, it’s not like it was. You can’t just graduate and become a DJ.”

For her, campus radio should be thought of as a service to students who choose to participate.

Alanna Gurr, a fourth-year student in media, theory and production, started volunteering for CHRW in her second year. Now she hosts a weekly radio show on Wednesday mornings.

“[For] a lot of people here the radio station is a part of their lives, whether they’re volunteering or just listening to it when they wake up,” she said. “How could you not want it?”

She added the fees at Waterloo would be worth it if the population found it valuable, even if it didn’t directly affect her.

Sacha Kumar, vice-president of finance for the USC, said finding consensus about what to do with campus radio is impossible at Western because of its size.

But he said the USC supports media services as part of an overall shift from corporate priorities to service priorities.

“We’re trying to see the entire media group [as] a valuable service that we’re providing to students,” he said. “It’s up to [students] to agree to that or not.”