How do people choose which music to listen to? If you never get exposed to something, you'll never know if you like it. This book talks a lot about how college radio helped expose people to great new music.
This book might not be for everyone because there is so much detail. This is really well researched and organized. It felt kind of overwhelming because of how much information there was, but as someone who was listening to college radio during the times they talk about, this was fascinating. It's interesting too because things are changing so much right now, with music being online and even more widely available. The narrator keeps it even and interesting.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this

Live from the Underground: A History of College Radio by Katherine Rye Jewell is a fascinating exploration of the evolution of college radio. Jewell’s thorough research and engaging writing bring to life the cultural impact and unique stories behind these influential stations.

The book covers key moments and figures in college radio, highlighting its role in promoting new music and alternative voices. Jewell skillfully balances historical detail with lively anecdotes, making the narrative both informative and enjoyable.

While the depth of information might be overwhelming at times, the book remains a compelling read for anyone interested in music history and media.

I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this one as much as I did! It was super interesting to learn the history of college radio. I had little knowledge about it beforehand, but this was a great way to dive into it. Narration was great as well. Very informative with a cool vibe. Thanks so much to NetGalley for this opportunity to listen and review Live From the Underground by Katherine Rye Jewell.

This was an extremely interesting topic, especially as someone who was part of college radio. The book has a very academic feel to it, and might not appeal the general public, but is perfect for those interested in media studies, college student vs administration dynamics, community and college interactions, as well as radio and music industry history. It did seem a bit repetitive at times. Once I even stopped, and skipped ahead thinking my player had gotten screwed up, only to realize that I hadn't listened to that part already it was just restating information given multiple times before. I little more editing, especially in the first half of the book would have benefited the overall product.

The narrator was extremely easy to listen to, but a bit slow in delivery. Using 1.25 speed was a better pace in my opinion.

A wonderful dive into college radio! This was not a topic that I was previously familiar with but this book captured my attention and provided a great introduction to the topic! I also thought the audiobook was well-produced. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

I was really curious about this book, but unfortunately it needs a lot of work if it’s ever going to appeal to a broader audience.

Some books seem to exist more for the sake of being written than to be read, and that’s the biggest problem with this one. I don’t mind long and I don’t mind dry when reading nonfiction, but this reads like an encyclopedia, and it’s about four times as long as it needed to be, which tells me it needed a lot of editing that it didn’t get.

I certainly won’t take issue with the research or thoroughness here, which is extensive and extremely well done. But at the end of the day, someone needs to want to read it, and it’s going to be difficult to find an audience for this at its current length and with non-narrative nonfiction writing.

Live from the Underground - A History of College Radio written by Katherine Rye Jewell and narrated by Natasha Soudek was an interesting journey through the evolution of American college radio in the 80s and 90s. As a GenXr, I was intrigued although it was not quite what I was expecting. There were very marked differences between the UK and US scenes and as such, it was intriguing to listen to the differnet sociocultural aspects and impacts

The audiobook was read beautifully in the soothing tones of Natasha Soudek, and the only thing that distracted me was describing the images in the eBook/ Print copy. I totally understand why, audio narrative is great for accessibility, but in this case, it is slightly distracting from the narrative (I don't think I missed a pre-warning about visual description?) It's a great thing, just easier if you are expecting it. It was also very brief so I could not really visualise the images, it seemed more of an encouragement to read the physical copy in tandem with the audiobook and in all honesty, the pictures may accentuate the narrtive, but the narrative is strong enough in its descriptions without them. However, in the spirit of inclusion, I get it and I celebrate it

Thank you very much to Netgalley, Tantor Audio, Katherine Rye Jewell and the Narrator Natasha Soudek for this very interesting insight into the scene over the pond in this immersive ALC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own

A extremely through look at the way college radio shaped our musical understanding as a nation. Felt like a very long NPR episode in both a really comforting and interesting way and also at times too academic.

Overall - interesting with a great narrator