WLRA

Infobox Radio station
name = WLRA Radio


city = Romeoville, Illinois(former city of license was Lockport, Illinois)
area = Chicago metropolitan area and the Joliet, Illinois region
branding = Lewis University's WLRA Radio Station
slogan = "Digital Radio, Press Start on 88.1FM WLRA"
frequency = 88.1 MHz
airdate = 1972
share =
share as of =
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format = Variety
erp = 140 watts effective radiated power
haat = 40.0 meters
class = A
facility_id = 37190
coordinates = coord|41|36|10.00|N| 88|4|49.00|W|region:US_type:city
callsign_meaning = Lewis RAdio
former_callsigns = WFJL, WLCL, WERA
owner = Lewis University
licensee = College of Arts and Sciences - Communications Department
sister_stations = Lewis University Television Network
webcast = [http://www.lewisu.edu/wlra Listen Live]
website = [http://www.lewisu.edu Lewis University website]
affiliations =

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. [ cite web|url=http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/fmq?call=WLRA |title=WLRA Facility Record |work=United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division ] Lewis University is a private Roman Catholic and Lasallian university with an enrollment around 5,200 students. The station is a member of the National Association of Broadcasters, Illinois Broadcaster's 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 in 1947 until 1959 [http://www.angelfire.com/zine/forty2/radiohistory.html] . 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 [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,821045,00.html?promoid=googlep] . 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 Most Rev.Bernard J. Sheil, DD 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 and college radio at Lewis.

* 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 Berlak is credited with all the work getting WLRA licensed and moving its facilities to Fitzpatrick Hall - he graduated before the first broadcast on 88.1fm 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 [http://www.cmj.com] .

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 (radio format), experimental college radio programming, weekly live radio talk shows, Lewis University Flyer [http://www.flyersports.com] 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 [http://www.lewisu.edu/news/newsarticle.htm?PArticleID=2361] .

During the Fall 2008 WLRA staffed 24 hour with live student disc jockies. Also, WLRA will began introducing a new Saturday format called "The Island" which features calypso, reggae, and Caribbean rock music.

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 [http://www.lewisu.edu/news/newsarticle.htm?PArticleID=2181] 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" [http://media.www.lewisflyer.com/media/storage/paper638/news/2006/11/24/News/real-World.Brad.Returns.To.Lewis-2471284.shtml] , 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.

pecialty Radio Shows

"The Island" features calypso, reggae, and Caribbean rock music (Saturdays 6am-midnight)
"Un Poco de Todo" features latina music from Brazil, indigenous, Afro-Caribbean (Sundays 6pm-9pm)
"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 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 [http://www.a-ware.com/] 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 [http://www.eriinc.com/] 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

2008-2009 WLRA-FM radio station leadership:

WLCL-AM General Managers:

WLRA's memberships

* NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) [http://www.nab.org] member station
* ILBA (Illinois Broadcaster's Association) [http://www.ilba.org]
* BEA (Broadcast Education Association) [http://www.beaweb.org]

References

External links

*FMQ|WLRA
*FML|WLRA
*FMARB|WLRA
* Google Aerial map of Lewis University campus [http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&rls=com.google:en-US:official_i&gfns=1&sourceid=navclient&um=1&q=Lewis+University,+1+University+Pkwy,&near=Romeoville,+IL&fb=1&cid=0,0,4157639779383764670&sa=X&oi=local_result&resnum=1&ct=image]
* Official Lewis University website [http://www.lewisu.edu]