WLRA
WLRA 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. 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 - went on the air on May 22, 1949. WFJL operated as a non-commercial station by Lewis College of Science and Technology. The station's license was cancelled in 1956. WFJL, 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, educational, news, talk, and CYO Boxing. WFJL's facilities were located at the Lincoln Tower Building, 75 East Wacker Drive, Chicago, above the ground and had an effective radiated power of 29,000 watts.
- WLCL-AM - AM carrier current radio station on Lewis College, Lockport, Illinois campus. Located in the Sheil Hall dormitory basement from its inception until 1970, 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. In 1969, 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. News, weather and sports information now came to the station via a United Press International teletype machine. A direct feed to the PA system in the Lewis cafeteria was also added.
- WERA-AM - picked up where WLCL left off in the Fall of 1970. It was at this time that the merger with the College of St. Francis in Joliet was announced and the campus radio station at Lewis would now serve the two dorms at the "South Campus" as well. A direct feed was installed to the newly remodeled Student Union. 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 Station Manager 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, 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...and that was the inspiration for the new call letters, WERA. At that time, the station also changed transmitter frequency to 590 kHz. At the start of the Fall 1971 semester, the station conducted its biggest promotional push, "weraweek!" Highlights included the WERA YesterHop and a flight of the WERA Beer Bomber During the 1971-72 school year, 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 - went on the air March 4, 1973 on 88.1 in mono, 250 watts of effective radiated power at 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 in Spring 1973 but came back to do the first show on the new FM station.
Programming
WLRA Radio's diverse programming reflects a traditional college radio format known as variety presented in block style.
WLRA Radio 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.
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 Buffett 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 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".
Specialty radio shows
"The Island" features calypso, reggae, and Caribbean rock music"Route 53 Country" features country music
"Friday Night Lights" features local high school football games from the Joliet region
"United Way of Will County's Christmas Memories for you and your Family" features religious and secular Christmas music
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, 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 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 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 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. 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 and Message Manager 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's memberships
- NAB member station
- ILBA
- BEA