As local governments respond to the coronavirus pandemic, universities are closing and large public gatherings are being banned in an effort to quell any further spread of the disease. As many colleges are pivoting from in-person to online courses, student-run radio stations across the nation are making efforts to stay on the air.

Depending on the severity of the outbreak, some stations are letting DJs host their shows remotely. In the worst cases, stations have fallen back on automated bots or have temporarily shut down entirely. Here’s how some major college radio stations are reacting in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Boston College has suspended all classes and ordered all students to vacate the campus by March 15. WZBC had announced plans to keep the station going, but starting Tuesday March 17, the station launched a DJ crowdsourced automation system that runs 24 hours a day.

UC Berkeley has transitioned to remote classes. According to a tweet from KALX, the radio station will remain “live on the air 24/7 until further notice, with the possibility of some automated programming.” All appearances from bands and studio guests have been canceled.

Connor Simpson, general manager of WCSB, shared the following statement with Pitchfork: “Like other stations, we have an overnight automation system to keep us on the air during late night slots that are unfilled. As the campus began closing and canceling events, we met to discuss establishing remote access so that our automation team could program content away from the station in case we were told to close down. We got the call to cease on-air programming as we finished sending out access to our team and have been automated since that evening. Members are sending in archived shows dating back several years and others are recording new programs to air during their timeslot. We have also received recordings of shows from community listeners to add to our library of automation programming. We are hoping that our entire automation schedule will reflect our regularly scheduled programming soon.”

As University of Georgia temporarily suspended classes for two weeks, the WUOG facilities closed down as well. “We are fortunate enough to be able to maintain our operations as a station via our automation system, so we can stay in compliance with our FCC licenses,” WUOG general manager Claire Torak told Pitchfork. “Essentially, we're still on the airwaves, just without DJs.” Torak said they’re hoping to reopen the studio after classes start back up, but can continue automated playback for a longer period if needed.

Georgia Tech’s classes have been canceled until March 29, and remote classes will begin after March 30. Students have been strongly encouraged to leave campus. WREK Atlanta announced that regular operations have been suspended. “We will continue to broadcast music, however, your favorite specialty shows will not be on air until normal operations resume,” the station announced. “We will notify the community once we are able to resume normal operations. Thank you for your continued support during this time.”

As all CUNY classes have been called off until March 18 and online classes begin on March 19, WHCS has been closed until March 23. The station’s board have announced that the station may reopen “in a limited capacity” after March 23. The board is currently weighing the option of allowing DJs to conduct remote broadcasts.

The university in College Park, Maryland has canceled all in-person instruction and meetings, and its radio station WMUC has canceled all shows until April 10. “Do not go to the station until we get it properly cleaned,” the station announced to its DJs on March 11.

MIT’s WMBR halted station operations, including broadcasting, on Sunday, March 15 at 2 p.m. Eastern. Listeners can check out shows from the past two weeks in WMBR’s archives. The station also has a catalog of recent playlists.

The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor has canceled in-person events and all classes have begun to meet on a remote basis. WCBN announced that they would be “temporarily halting live broadcast operations” on March 11, and the campus station is closed to all student and volunteer DJs. WCBN is currently rebroadcasting radio from its archive via a bot for the foreseeable future.

Although the university has moved all classes online, NYU’s long-running station will continue to broadcast as planned. “We decided that we owe it to our community and our listeners to continue to provide them with the type of content that they have been getting from WNYU for decades, as long as we are physically capable of doing so,” said program director Kelly Drake. “We have our DJs curating playlists remotely that I will be able to broadcast, and we also have our news team working remotely to produce updates about COVID-19 at NYU, in the city, and beyond.”

University of Oregon has ordered that forthcoming spring term classes will all meet on a remote basis. The school has also canceled all “nonessential events and gatherings of more than 50 people.” Its station KWVA has announced that all live sessions have been postponed, but all of the DJs’ shows will be broadcast as usual.

As in-person classes have been suspended for the rest of the spring quarter, Seattle U’s KXSU has announced that all live DJ shows will be suspended as well.

It’s unclear how KXSC will continue to broadcast, if at all, during the coronavirus pandemic. “As of now, we are not requiring DJs to go on air during their time slot, especially if they are feeling sick or have recently traveled. With so much uncertainty, we are really unsure of how to proceed with programming after spring break ends (March 23) and online classes begin,” general manager Olivia de Witt shared in a statement.

“We also have an automated playlist on our server that we have as a backup in case we can no longer have live programming for the rest of the semester.... It's looking like we may have to shut down the station until the university gives us further instruction later in the semester. Though this is something we do not want to do, we have to keep our DJs’ safety and health first.”