Despite the great variety, there are some generalizations that can be made about the underlying purposes of most college stations. For many, the primary focus is educational. Colleges may see this role as including educational and informational programming for the community, but it nearly always means that these stations serve academic departments whose scope includes broadcasting or journalism. College radio provides a training laboratory for students in those disciplines, as well as those in business, marketing, and other fields. Some college broadcasters see their mission as providing an entertainment or information service to the listening public, but they usually define themselves as an alternative to professional, tightly formatted stations. Still others exist primarily as a student activity alongside the myriad other extracurricular clubs on campus. These stations generally have a faculty or professional staff adviser, but they are operated as a hobby by and for students. Whatever the station's foremost reason for being, nearly all college stations serve multiple purposes, a fact also reflected in the unique programming and structure of many stations.

     College radio is often associated with programs that do not adhere to the rigid niche format structure of professional, commercial radio. Some stations adopt a free-form approach in which almost anything goes, from classical music to poetry to punk rock, at the discretion of the person on the air. Another popular option is block programming, airing shows in many different styles but at specified times. One might hear a three­ hour heavy metal show, followed by two hours of blues, which then leads into a two-hour mainstream jazz program, and then a half-hour news magazine, followed by a 90-minute sports talk show, two hours of hip-hop, an hour of contemporary jazz, and so on. Limited only by the number of hours in the day and the availability of qualified and interested students, block programming offers the advantage of allowing a station ​​to serve many different constituencies both within the university and among the listening public. Even at stations that do program a single music format, there are often additional programs on the schedule. For example, college radio is often the outlet for play-by-play coverage of a school's athletic teams, particularly at smaller schools or for minor sports at large institutions. Many stations also make a significant commitment to local public-affairs and news programming.

     The most popular single format in college radio is alternative rock. Approximately 70 percent of all college radio stations reportedly program the format; however, the specific execution can vary considerably from one station to another. Some stations concentrate on music far outside the mainstream, deliberately ignoring any release that gets played on MTV or professional radio stations, whereas others sound very much like typical commercial alternative rock stations.

     However individual stations define alternatives, college radio has a reputation for playing an important role in nurturing the careers of many top music stars by providing important early exposure. U2, R.E.M., and the Red Hot Chili Peppers are just a few of the many staples of commercial rock radio that first received attention via college radio. It was probably in the mid-to-late 1970s that the recording industry began to take college radio seriously. Record companies developed college radio marketing strategies and resources, including full-time college radio representatives. Radio and record industry trade press, such as Gavin, began to report college radio airplay, and college programming was of sufficient importance to attract its own trade journal. CM] New Music Report, first published in 1979, is devoted exclusively to college programmers and the record promoters who target that market.

     College radio has more in common with community radio than with professional, commercial broadcasting. However, finance, staffing, and the means of transmission also differ markedly from station to station. Money is a major concern for college radio, because inconsistent funding creates problems for all areas of the station's operation, from programming to engineering.

     Most, but not all, college stations are noncommercial. In some cases, the station is licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as noncommercial in the part of the FM band below 92 megahertz that is specifically set aside for that purpose. Other stations adopt a noncommercial policy by their own choice. Noncommercial stations rely on various combinations of student activity fees, state or college support, listener contributions, and underwriting donations from local businesses to finance operations. College stations that sell commercial time may also rely in part on these other funding mechanisms for a portion of their budget.

     Depending on the station's purpose(s) and budgetary support, a college radio station staff may be all or mostly volunteer; they may have one or more professionals, sometimes a faculty member, involved in a management or advisory capacity; or there may be paid student or professional staff handling day-to-day operations. Students also staff some stations in part or in whole as a requirement in specific classes.

     Acquiring an FCC license and following all the rules that apply to broadcasting are beyond the reach of many schools and student organizations. Therefore, many schools have chosen to take advantage of more affordable, accessible, and flexible unlicensed alternatives. Derisively dubbed "radiator radio," these are not broadcast stations but facilities that use campus electric or power lines to distribute their signal. In most cases, these permit either commercial or noncommercial operation and also free the school from the record-keeping and public-interest programming obligations imposed on all licensed radio stations.

     The FCC's rules explicitly allow some kinds of very low power broadcasting without a license. These include AM car­ rier current using the electrical system of campus buildings as the antenna; micro powered AM transmitters; or "leaky coax," an FM alternative utilizing coaxial cable throughout a building or campus as the transmitting antenna. Acceptable unlicensed signals cover an area measured in yards rather than miles, broadcasting to only a single block or even just a single building. Cable television provides another unlicensed alternative, via cable FM or audio on regular cable television channels (perhaps as the audio background on a college or public access "bulletin board" channel). Some schools provide a signal through a public address system to reach audiences in a building's public spaces, a service dubbed "cafeteria" radio. Finally, the emergence of the internet as a means of transmitting programming presents colleges with an additional unlicensed radio outlet.