Posted on August 22nd, 2008 by yaw.etse

Slope Radio Founders Fall 2006

Slope Radio Founders Fall 2006

When we founded Slope Radio in 2006 we never could have imagined the incredible outpouring of support and positive feedback the Cornell community would lend us.  Slope Radio began as a simple idea; to fill the void of an on-campus, 24 hour, 100% student-run and operated radio station.  We would play what we wanted to hear, let DJs say what they wished, and manage the station in the way we as students saw fit.  As we expanded from our roots, and merged ideas from the minds of people already adept at running television shows, radio content, and computer programs, we built the foundation of a station that not only represented everything we wanted in our original plan, but everything the average student at Cornell could hope for in a college organization.

While the organization initially began solely as a radio station, Slope Radio rapidly expanded throughout its flagship year with over thirty completely original radio shows, a charity event completely funded by the station members, a groundbreaking concert at Cornell’s Barton Hall featuring rock groups, The Head Set and Tigercity, and numerous interviews from artists including: Tommy Ramone, Girltalk, The Strokes, One Be Lo, and a variety of others.  Slope Radio’s success was featured in a Businessweek article chronicling the rise of the small start up, several Cornell Daily Sun pieces, and a number of spots in Cornell’s own Cornell Chronicle newspaper.  Co-Founder Alex Zahn was also a participant in Cornell Professor Deborah Streeter’s, eClips collection which details the successes of entrepreneurial ventures around the world.  By the end of its first year Slope Radio had expanded from the original concepts of its core founders, to a fully integrated media group featuring college radio, college television, and a music based magazine, all serving the Cornell community and beyond.

With the user-friendly nature of the site, the free-form ability for DJs to play music and conduct shows in whatever nature they desire, and the launch of a television station geared towards the average college student, we had seen our vision of a fully useable college radio station at Cornell come to fruition and then some.  As with Slope Radio and now Slope Media, we hope to see even more of a presence around Cornell with the launch of Slope Radio Magazine, the start of Slope TV, the first Cornell radio show ever broadcast from our campus in Doha, Qatar, and the triumphant return of Slope Radio.

With over 3,000 listeners daily in countries ranging from the United States to Qatar, thousands of weekly podcast downloads, and one of the biggest groups of people in any organization on the Cornell campus, we can only hope for great things from Slope Radio and the Slope Media Group’s following years on campus.  As always, Slope Radio only works with help from you, our listeners.  With this being so, if you ever have any suggestions to make Slope Radio better please feel free to call in, write in, and do everything possible to make us a better station for you.  Thanks for being there for us at the beginning and we’ll make sure to be the best station available to you until the bitter end.

A thousand thanks for the immeasurable love and support,

The Original Founders:

Alex Zahn, Jeff Bookman, and Yaw Joseph Etse

For more information on the founding of Slope Radio follow these links: