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.)
Make a Comment in Person
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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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My name is Jarett Theberge and I'm writing to implore city council to support resolution 1324-2025 and restore 89.7 WCSB back to it's student run programming.
As a former college radio host for Black Squirrel Radio at Kent State, I can confidently say that being a part of college radio was not only the best thing I did in college, but also paid dividends for my professional development. As a content creator and professional communicator, college radio gave me the confidence to find my voice and audience. Additionally, college radio provides a platform for unbridled creativity and diversity in programming.
But since Ideastream took over the frequency, we are all left without these voices. A true sense of community and tradition up-rooted for the sake of a single genre of music. I worry that future students and community members will never have the opportunity to enjoy the gift that is being involved in college radio the way it was meant to be. Avant garde. Informative. Eclectic.
Since I was in high school, tuning into WCSB at any given time of day allowed me to discover new genres of music and voices from the community that wouldn't have otherwise. A true stream of ideas, if you will.
I would like to thank my councilman, Kris Harsh, for supporting this measure and once again implore the rest of council to do the same for the students and the community.
Thank you,
Jarett Theberge
WCSB showcases diverse views and tastes. It will be a tragic loss and waste of a wonderful, unique local resource to hand it over to the bland entity IdeaStream, which is already widely available. We have so much to lose on this sudden move and very little to gain. PLEASE, do not allow Cleveland to suffer this loss.
Thank you.
Merrit Keeper
Additionally, a podcast (as the administration had suggested) is not an FCC regulated station and would not provide the same learning experience for students who have successfully ran the station for what would have been half a century this coming May. Thank you for your consideration.
I have been listening to WCSB since I was 13 years old. I wouldn't say I grew up with a terrible amount of culture in my community of Brook Park. When I discovered the left of the dial, it took me to a place that literally transformed me from white working class Brook Park to cultures I didn't even knew existed. Plseseing punk rock from the UK, NYC, Los Angeles, to music from Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Europ, and all the way to the Middle East.
I relentlessly tape recorded so many shows, and would dissect these tapes each evening, saving up money to purchase recordings all over the city. I did this until I started working in the record stores themselves.
I can't even begin counting the number of friends I have made who essentially did the same exact things I did. The path that this station was responsible lead me to working for nonprofit organizations, particularly those in tune with social services and the arts.
Today, I serve the community as Director of Marketing and Community Engagement. I love a nice life, with my partner and our two daughters. I frequently take both of our daughters to culture centers of Cleveland.
Simply put, had I not discovered WCSB I am 100% certain my life would have turned out differently. The culture I was a part of through the WCSB community most likely wasn't going to present itself elsewhere.
I know so many people share this similar sentiment. Please do the right thing and reverse this terrible decision and bring these programs back to our community.
Thank you.
Tom Sarago
Lakewood, Ohio
I’d like to thank Councilperson Kris Harsh for getting behind WCSB and its unfortunate takeover by Ideastream and Cleveland State University.
For CSU and Ideastream to collaborate on hijacking the station on national College Radio Day was cruel enough, not to mention the manner in which they did it - closed door meetings, NDAs, $1M donated from wealthy jazz fans directly to Ideastream, and a 15 minute Zoom call to let the station staff know that the station signal and studio locks were actively in the process of being changed over.
Cleveland has always been known for having great college radio, and ‘CSB was such a big part of that. For it to be stripped away in such an unceremonious manner makes Cleveland a whole lot less cool! 49 years of culture - GONE - in the interest of jazz. And, while subjective, I have to say it’s not even GOOD jazz like the stuff you could hear on the real 89.3!
My hope is that Cleveland City Council will pass resolution 1324-2025 and shed some light on this situation. Perhaps it will compel CSU and Ideastream to do the right thing and return this resource to the people who made it amazing for 49 years.
Thank you,
Adam LaSota