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|'''Office of Broadcast Operations<br />Associate Director of Electronic Media<br />Media Advisor of Lewis University Television Network'''||Mr. J. W. Kilpatrick<br />Adjunct Associate Professor of Communications
|'''Office of Broadcast Operations<br />Associate Director of Electronic Media<br />Media Advisor of Lewis University Television Network'''||Mr. J. W. Kilpatrick<br />Adjunct Associate Professor of Communications
|-
|-
|'''Director's Office of <br />Academic Radio/Television Broadcasting<br />and Broadcast Journalism'''||Dr. S. O. Enyia, PhD<br />Professor of Communications and Director
|'''Director's Office of <br />Academic Radio/Television Broadcasting<br />and Broadcast Journalism'''||Dr. S. O. Enyia, EdD<br />Professor of Communications and Director
|-
|-
|'''Chairman's Office of<br />College of Arts and Sciences Communications Department'''||Dr. D. Anderson, PhD<br />Professor of Communications and Department Chairman
|'''Chairman's Office of<br />College of Arts and Sciences Communications Department'''||Dr. D. Anderson, EdD<br />Professor of Communications and Department Chairman
|-
|-
|'''Dean's Office of<br />College of Arts and Sciences'''||Dr. A. Durante, PhD<br />Professor and College Dean
|'''Dean's Office of<br />College of Arts and Sciences'''||Dr. A. Durante, PhD<br />Professor and College Dean

Revision as of 15:55, 1 April 2008

WLRA
Broadcast areaChicago, Illinois area and greater Joliet, Illinois region
Frequency88.1 MHz
BrandingLewis University's WLRA Radio Station
Programming
FormatVariety
Ownership
Owner
Lewis University Television Network
History
First air date
1972
Former call signs
WFJL, WLCL, WERA
Call sign meaning
Lewis RAdio
Technical information
Facility ID37190
ClassA
ERP140 watts effective radiated power
HAAT40.0 meters
Transmitter coordinates
41°36′10.00″N 88°4′49.00″W / 41.6027778°N 88.0802778°W / 41.6027778; -88.0802778
Links
WebcastListen Live
WebsiteLewis University website

WLRA (88.1 FM) or sometimes called WLRA Radio, or WLRA-FM, is a college radio station broadcasting a Variety format. Licensed to Romeoville, 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 5,200 students.

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 in the 1940s until 1959 [1]. 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 [2]. The new owners of WFJL-FM renamed the call letters to WSBC-FM - from 1959 to 1963, now it is called WXRT-FM. WFJL-FM, under the leadership of Roman Catholic Auxiliary Bishop Bernard J. Sheil of the Archdiocese of Chicago, radio format consisted of religious, educational, news, talk, and CYO Boxing. WFJL's facilities were located at the Lincoln Tower Building, 75 East Wacker Drive, Chicago, 600 feet 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 1971. Robert Feustal and Norb Bora are credited with the inception of WLCL-AM.
  • WERA-AM - (W - ERA - WE're a RAdio station) was the renamed WLCL-AM carrier current radio station to match new FM station license - WERA-AM and WLRA-FM. Studios were built for the station in Fitzpatrick Hall dormitory basement in 1971.
  • WLRA-FM - (W - LRA - Lewis RAdio) went on the air in 1972 on 88.1 in mono, 250 watts of effective radiated power at 90 feet 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, Michael Burlak is credited with all the work getting WLRA licensed and moving its facilities to Fitzpatrick Hall - he graduated before the first broadcast on 88.1fm in fall 1972.

Programming

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[3].

WLRA Radio's diverse programming reflects a traditional college radio format known as variety presented in block style (2-3 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 (radio format), experimental college radio programming, weekly live radio talk shows, Lewis University Flyer[4] 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 [5].

WLRA has broadcasted many radio remotes from as far away as Florida to cover Lewis 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, 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 [6]and Christmas music programming with the United Way of Will County. In March 2008, broadcasting student Mark Seratore broke the WLRA record with a 37 hour non stop on-air marathon called "to kill a DJ"[7], previously held by broadcasting student Jason Brenski in 1993 for non stop on-air marathon of 32 hours, who surpassed business student Edward Vucinic in 1983 for 30 hours. The money raised went to the Family Assistance Fund of Advocate Hope Children's Hospital in Oak Lawn, Illinois.

Technical achievements

Lewis University's WLRA Radio was the first college radio station in the country to become digital. Lewis University received a digital radio project grant in the 1990's from a major communications corporation. The studios, music archives, music scheduling system, audio storage and retrieval systems (including an AES/EBU Audiovault serial number 001 and 002), audio consoles, cd players & recorders, minidisc players and recorders, and DAT), ISDN digital phone system, ISDN remote broadcast codecs, AES/EBU audio processing, AES/EBU broadcast delay, AES/EBU fm exciter, and transmitters were upgraded from analog to state of the art digital AES/EBU type I balanced and AES/EBU 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[8] 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 88.1fm. Lewis University installed a self standing 250 foot radio tower and new digital IBOC or HD Radio ready ERI Rototiler[9] single bay fm antenna in 2000 adjacent to DeLaSalle Hall. WLRA increased the antenna height to 200 feet 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 2007 WLRA began streaming a simulcast of the station over the Internet. WLRA uses an AES/EBU audio processing/encoder for their 64 bit stream.

WLRA departments

2007-2008 WLRA-FM radio station leadership:

Department Director
Office of The General Manager of WLRA Radio Thomas Graham
Office of Programming and Operations R. Brett Mega
Office of Music Shannon Spector
Office of News Catie Cryder
Office of Sports Greg Warnimont
Office of Promotions and Marketing Zoey Mitronis
Office of Production Shannon Flannigan
Office of Technology Larry Linka
Office of The Chief of Engineering Mr. J. Freberg, MS
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Communications
Director's Office of
The Andrew Center of Electronic Media
Media Advisor of WLRA Radio 		Mr. J. Carey, MSIS
Adjunct Associate Professor of Communications
Office of Broadcast Operations
Associate Director of Electronic Media
Media Advisor of Lewis University Television Network		 Mr. J. W. Kilpatrick
Adjunct Associate Professor of Communications
Director's Office of
Academic Radio/Television Broadcasting
and Broadcast Journalism		 Dr. S. O. Enyia, EdD
Professor of Communications and Director
Chairman's Office of
College of Arts and Sciences Communications Department		 Dr. D. Anderson, EdD
Professor of Communications and Department Chairman
Dean's Office of
College of Arts and Sciences		 Dr. A. Durante, PhD
Professor and College Dean

Contact information

WLRA Contact Information
Mail WLRA Radio
Andrew Center of Electronic Media at Lewis University
One University Parkway
Romeoville, IL 60446-2200
Studio Phone Number (815)836-5000
Office Phone Number (815)836-5214
email wlraradio@lewisu.edu
Website www.lewisu.edu

Notable alumni

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

WFJL-FM General Managers:

Years WFJL-FM General Manager
194?-1959 Auxiliary Bishop Bernard J. Sheil
Archdiocese of Chicago

WLCL-AM General Managers:

Academic Years WLCL-AM General Manager
1965-1967 Robert Feustal

Norb Bora

1968 John McCrea

WERA-AM General Managers:

Academic Years WERA-AM General Manager
1969 John McCrea
1970-1971 Dennis Stork
1972 Michael Burlak

WLRA-FM General Managers:

Academic Years WLRA-FM General Manager
1973 Steve Partman
1974 Diane Drinka
1975 Joseph Vercelotti
1976 Robert Best
1977 James Boles
1978 John Mason '80
1979 Kate Dolan
1980 David Dolan
1981 Russell Tulacz
1982 Sandra Janicke

Edward Vucinic

1983 Paul Yedwofski

Martin Albert

1984 Segio Cerda

James Duda

1985 Lauria Skala
1986 Thomas Hehir
1987 John J. Sonnefeldt II
1988 Stanley Wysocki
1989 Anthony Musiala
1990 Calvert N. Coleman

Eric Wilson

1991 Christopher Thelan
1992 Kathy Holland
1993 Steven L. Jordan
1994 Renee Syzomonik
1995 Adam F. Schwake
1996 Candice Foiles
1997 Eugino Garcia
1998 Cindy M. Dardwin
1999 Gennin Bradley
2000 Mara Mishler
2001 Ryan Arnold
2002 Justin Greiner
2003 Patrick J. Brodnicki
2004 Peter J. Turano
2005 Carmen Madia
2006 Ryan Huff '06
2007 Justin Thomas '07
2008 Thomas Graham '08
2009 TBA

WLRA's memberships

References

  1. ^ "WLRA Facility Record". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division.


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