WLRA

WLRA Radio

City	Lockport, Illinois
Broadcast area	Chicago metropolitan area and the Joliet, Illinois region
Branding	WLRA 88.1 FM The Start
Slogan	Digital Radio, Press Start on 88.1FM WLRA
Frequency	88.1 MHz, FCC FM Channel 201
First air date	1972
Format	Variety
ERP	140 watts effective radiated power
HAAT	40.0 meters
Class	A
Facility ID	37190
Transmitter coordinates	41°36′10.00″N 88°4′49.00″W / 41.6027778°N 88.0802778°W / 41.6027778; -88.0802778
Callsign meaning	Lewis RAdio
Former callsigns	WFJL 93.1 FM,WLCL 590 AM,WERA 590 AM
Owner	Lewis University (College of Arts and Sciences - Communications Department)
Sister stations	Lewis University Television Network
Webcast
Website	www.wlraradio.com

WLRA (88.1 FM) or sometimes called WLRA Radio, or WLRA-FM, is a college radio station broadcasting a Variety format. Licensed to Lockport, Illinois, USA, the station serves the Chicago/greater Joliet region. The station is licensed to and owned by Lewis University.^[1] Lewis University is a private Roman Catholic and Lasallian university with an enrollment around 6,800 students. The station is a member of the National Association of Broadcasters, Illinois Broadcasters Association, and Broadcast Education Association.

Lewis University's radio station history

WFJL-FM - WLCL-AM - WERA-AM - WLRA-FM

• WFJL-FM – (W - FJL - Frank J. Lewis) (93.1 FM Chicago) went on the air on May 22, 1949 until 1959.^[2] WFJL operated as a non-commercial station by Lewis College of Science and Technology (previous name of Lewis College, now Lewis University). Lewis College sold WFJL-FM in 1958.^[3] The new owner of WFJL-FM, Louis Lee, renamed the call letters to WSBC-FM from 1959 to 1963. In 1964 Lee changed the call letters to WXRT-FM. Dan Lee, Louis Lee's son sold WXRT in 1995; it is now owned by CBS Radio. WFJL-FM, under the leadership of Roman Catholic Auxiliary Bishop Most Rev. Bernard J. Sheil, D.D., of the Archdiocese of Chicago and General Manager Jerry Keefe, radio format consisted of religious,^[4] educational, news, talk, and CYO Boxing. WFJL's facilities were located at the Lincoln Tower Building, 75 East Wacker Drive, Chicago, 600 feet (180 m) ^[5] above the ground and had an effective radiated power of 29,000 watts.
• WLCL-AM – (W - LCL - Lewis College Lockport) AM carrier current radio station on Lewis College, Lockport, Illinois campus. Located in Sheil Hall dormitory basement from its inception until 1969. The station broadcast on 600 kHz to Sheil, Fitzpatrick and Founders Halls. Robert Feustal and Norb Bora are credited with the inception of WLCL-AM and introducing college radio at Lewis.
• WERA-AM – picked up where WLCL left off in the Fall of 1969. It was at this time that the merger with the College of St. Francis in Joliet was announced (the combined school would be called Lewis-St. Francis of Illinois) and the campus radio station at Lewis (the "North Campus") would now serve the two dorms at the "South Campus" as well. A direct feed to the PA system in the Lewis cafeteria was also installed. The Sheil Hall basement facility was upgraded with new QRK professional turntables replacing the old Garrard consumer models AND a pair of Spotmaster tape cartridge machines to handle promos, jingles etc. A used Gates Sta-Level compressor was installed, giving the station a much more professional technical sound. A second studio was constructed for production use with the turntables and mixer module able to be easily removed for "remote" broadcast origination from anywhere on the "twin campuses." Most of the carpentry work during the upgrade was done by Dennis Stork and the studio wiring was done by Mike Berlak. One very late night, while station staffers discussed plans for the new incarnation of the station (around a table at the Pure Oil truckstop on 55), they noticed a dry cleaners' van in the parking lot with the name "New Era" on it. It was a "new era" for both the college and the campus radio station. At that time, the station also changed transmitter frequency to 590 kHz. During 1971, General Manager Mike Berlak began the process of applying for an FCC FM license, which would allow over-the-air broadcasts. In anticipation of this expansion, a completely new broadcast facility was built in the former Fitz Hall Lounge area, opening in the Spring of 1972.
• WLRA-FM – (W - LRA - Lewis RAdio) went on the air in the Fall of 1972 on 88.1 in mono, 250 watts of effective radiated power at 90 feet (27 m) HAAT. WLRA is licensed as a non-commercial- educational radio station. In 1976 WLRA added stereo. Lewis University was annexed from Lockport to Romeoville, Illinois and WLRA's license reflected the change. Although Steve Partman was the first General Manager of WLRA Rado, Mike Berlak is credited with all the work getting WLRA licensed and moving its facilities to Fitzpatrick Hall – he graduated before the first broadcast on 88.1-FM in fall 1972 but came back to do the first show on the new FM station.

Programming

As with most colleges, WLRA included, the music industry and musical tastes of the station's staff and the listening audience change with the times. Colleges and Universities have a diverse student population and audience. The college's radio station has the obligation to meet these challenges. As Cardinal John Henry Newman wrote: "to live is to change... and to be perfect is to have changed often". College radio stations pride themselves by promoting underplayed and under-represented forms of music, the obscure and unique - versus the mainstream. The college radio stations achieve this with the independent music labels and the College Media Journal.

WLRA Radio's diverse programming reflects a traditional college radio format known as variety presented in block style (2-4 hour show).

WLRA Radio, through its creative staff and leadership, has hosted many innovative radio programs over the years. These include an eclectic and Freeform, experimental college radio programming, weekly live radio talk shows, Lewis University Flyer sporting events from around the country, remote broadcasts, and community service events.

WLRA's current programming includes news and sports talk radio, coverage of Lewis University Flyer Sports, local high school football and basketball; music genre formats including: adult album alternative, alternative rock, hip hop, rap, rock and roll, blues, jazz, reggae, religious, country, seasonal Christmas music, and Latina-American cultural immersion.^[6]

In the Fall 2008 semester, WLRA staffed 24 hour with students on air. The station also introduced a Trop Rock format called "The Island" which features calypso, reggae, and Caribbean rock music.

WLRA has broadcast many radio remotes from as far away as Florida to cover Lewis University Flyer Baseball, Las Vegas to broadcast "The Practice Squad" sports talk show; and also the National Association of Broadcasters Convention at the Comrex booth. The radio station has also done broadcast from The House of Blues in Chicago, LaLaPalooza, Jimmy Buffet pre-concert, Ditka's Restaurant in Chicago, and ESPN Zone in Chicago.

WLRA, with a commitment to community service, has produced marathon broadcasts for a local children's hospital^[7] and Christmas music programming with the United Way of Will County. In March 2011, broadcasting student Jodi Steinberg, set a WLRA broadcasting record with a 76-hour non-stop on-air marathon during "To Kill A DJ".^[8] The WLRA Marathon broadcast record holders are the following:

• Broadcasting student Jodi Steinberg, 76 hours, March 2011
• Broadcasting students Courtney Everett and Josh Bowen, 72 hours, October 2010
• Broadcasting student Marc Denson, 55 hours, March 2010

• Broadcasting students Natalie Paul, T’rell Campbell, Brittany Miller, and Anthony Trotter, 48 hours, November 2011* Broadcasting student Joey Preston, 48 hours, November 2009

• Broadcasting student Mark Serratore, 45 hours, March 2009
• Broadcasting student Joshua Bowen, 38 hours, November 2008
• Broadcasting student Mark Serratore, 37 hours, March 2008

• Broadcasting students Breandan Rook and Taylor Tisoncik, 36 hours, November 2015

• Broadcasting student Jason Brenski, 32 hours, 1993

• Broadcasting student David Ridderhoff, 30 hours, November 2013

• Business student Edward Vucinic, 30 hours, 1983

The money raised goes to the Family Assistance Fund of Advocate Children's Hospital in Oak Lawn and Park Ridge, Illinois.

Promotion Slogans

• Radioaction 59 WERA
• You and 88 LRA
• Stereo LRA
• Eight Eighty One FM WLRA
• WLRA - You're Alternative
• The Lock - Lock 88
• The Start - Digital Radio Press Start

Specialty Radio Shows

"The Island" features calypso, reggae, and Caribbean rock music (Friday Midnight - Sunday 3am)
"Route 53 Country" features country music (Sunday 6am-6pm)
"Friday Night Lights" features local high school football games from the Joliet region (weekly - Friday 6pm-10pm)
"United Way of Will County's Christmas Memories for you and your Family" features religious and secular Christmas music (Thanksgiving until January, 24 hours a day)

Technical achievements

Lewis University's WLRA Radio was the first college radio station in the country to become digital. Lewis University received a $350,000 digital broadcasting project grant in the 1990s from philanthropy of The Andrew Corporation, a leading worldwide communications corporation. The studios, music archives, music scheduling system, audio storage and retrieval systems (including an AES/EBU Broadcast Electronics – Audiovault serial number 001 and 002), digital audio consoles, CD players & recorders, minidisc players and recorders, and DAT), ISDN digital phone system, ISDN and IP remote broadcast codecs, Optimod 8700 AES/EBU audio processing, AES/EBU broadcast delay, Harris Digit AES/EBU fm exciter, and transmitters were upgraded from analog to state of the art digital AES3 type I balanced and type II optical. The entire digital project was a joint venture with the Freberg Communications Corporation of Illinois, Harris Corporation of Florida, Pacific Research and Engineering of California, A-Ware Corporation (Musicmaster) of Wisconsin, and Broadcast Electronics Corporation of Illinois. WLRA also added RDS Radio Data System to the FM transmission allowing information about the artist and song to be displayed on a radio tuned to 88.1-FM. Lewis University installed a new self standing 250-foot (76 m) radio tower and new digital IBOC or HD Radio ready ERI Rototiler single bay fm antenna in 2000 adjacent to DeLaSalle Hall. WLRA increased the antenna height to 200 feet (61 m) HAAT and had to reduce the effective radiated power to 140 watts. WLRA moved from the basement of Fitzpatick Hall dormitory basement to new studios and broadcasting center in December 2005. The new broadcasting facility was named The Andrew Center of Electronic Media at Lewis University. The state of the art broadcasting studios and transmitters are located in DeLaSalle Hall on the Lewis University Romeoville campus. In 2005 WLRA began streaming a simulcast of the station over the Internet and in 2008 mobile media APPs for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch.^[9] Simultaneously Apple added WLRA as one of their iTunes Radio Stations under College format. WLRA uses an AES3 Orban Opticodec audio processing/encoder for their 128kbs and 64kbs bit streams. In 2010, WLRA and Broadcast Electronics, Inc. integrated social media automation and Twitter with the newest generation of Broadcast Electronics AudioVault (FLEX) and Message Manager (TRE) RBDS data. The automation allow listeners to be notified of favorite artist being played through tagging. WLRA was the first station to have Broadcast Electronics integrate customer supplied computers, paving the way for other stations to upgrade into new generation Audiovault FLEX. In the Spring of 2012 WLRA was among the first 15 colleges selected to be part of Clear Channel Communication's iHeartRadio for both internet streaming and mobile media apps.

WLRA departments

2016–2017 WLRA-FM radio station leadership:

Notable alumni

• David Ochs, class of 1973, retired Senior Sportswriter, Associated Press Broadcast Services, Washington DC, 1982–2006. Recipient Lewis U Alumni Achievement Award 2004.
• Douglas Bobrowski, afternoon drivetime radio personality "Doug E. Styles" for CBS Radio station WBBM-FM Chicago, Illinois ^[10]
• Derrick Brown, Clear Channel Radio, Chicago Director of Urban Programming WVAZ WGCI WGRB
• Len O'Kelly,Ph.D. Broadcasting professor and advisor for student electronic media, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, Michigan^[11]
• John W. Kilpatrick, 3 time Daytime Emmy Award recipient for nationally daily syndication television program "The Oprah Winfrey Show".
• Anthony Musiala, Grammy nominated A&R director, co-founder of Minty Fresh Records ^[12]
• John V. Strolia, 7 time Daytime Emmy Award recipient for nationally daily syndication television program "The Oprah Winfrey Show". Supervising editor for Harpo Productions.
• Deborah Olivia Brown, Director of Station Relations for NBC WMAQ-TV in Chicago
• John Mason,^[13] television news presenter (News Anchor) for KSTP-TV, Minneapolis
• William Grant-Acquah, Jr. (aka Kwesi Awotwi), radio account executive for WGCI-FM 107.5fm Clear Channel Radio Chicago
• Renee Syzmonick, promotions manager for CBS Radio station WBBM-FM B-96.3fm Chicago
• Angelo Lazzara, television producer, for nationally weekly syndication agriculture television show - "This week in Agra Business" (formerly the Tribune Broadcasting's "US Farm Report") - hosted by Orion Samuelson and Max Armstrong
• Jay Zawaski, executive producer for CBS Radio station WSCR The Score Sportsradio 670 AM Chicago
• Courtney Everett, news reporter for NBC Affiliate television station WEAU Eau Claire, Wisconsin
• Eric Wilson, television news presenter (News Anchor) for WREX-TV, Rockford, Illinois
• Tim Tierney, Good Karma Broadcasting, Janesville, Wisconsin afternoon drivetime radio personality and Program Director of WWHG^[14]
• Mark Serratore, Marketing Manager for the York Revolution professional baseball team and Lewis University LaSallian speaker for 2010 commencement.
• Bret Mega, morning show producer for POWER 96.1fm morning show in Atlanta, GA.
• Brett Lyons, producer at 670 The Score & associate producer at Comcast Sports Net Chicago.
• Josh Bowen, editor at Kurtis Productions.
• Chris Madsen radio personality, KNX, Los Angeles, California ^[15]
• Shane Gustafson, news reporter for CBS Affiliate television station WMBD-TV Peoria, Illinois
• David Collins, radio personality "DJ Cowboy", for CBS Radio station WVEE, Atlanta, Georgia^[16]
• Mike Berlak, Clear Channel Radio, Sacramento Program Director
• Peter Chinderle, radio personality]"Pete Michaels", for station WRXQ,^[17] Joliet, Illinois
• Ryan Arnold, radio personality for CBS Radio Corporation radio station WXRT-FM Chicago, Illinois

Lewis University radio station managers WFJL - WLCL - WERA - WLRA

WFJL-FM General Managers:

WLCL-AM General Managers:

WERA-AM General Managers:

WLRA-FM General Managers:

WLRA's memberships

• NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) member station
• ILBA (Illinois Broadcaster's Association)
• BEA (Broadcast Education Association)

References

External links

• Query the FCC's FM station database for WLRA
• Radio-Locator information on WLRA
• Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for WLRA
• Google Aerial map of Lewis University campus
• Official Lewis University website