On the same weekend that Chicago hosted the country’s largest independent music festival, radio station WLUW-FM 88.7, the city’s biggest broadcast radio outlet for “independent thought and expression” was stunned to learn that operations of the station would revert from its community radio partner WBEZ-FM 91.5 to the station’s license holder, Loyola University, leaving the future of its programming in question.
Since 2002, the station’s day-to-day operations, along with its fundraising, hiring and volunteer program have been run by WBEZ, the Chicago Public Radio outlet, in a joint agreement with Loyola University, which controls the station’s license and assumes all responsibility for transmission of the station’s signal. Either the university or WBEZ has the right, under the operating agreement, to terminate the relationship, with nine months notice. On Thursday, notice was given to WBEZ and WLUW by the university. An FAQ on the change was later posted on its website.
In an interview, John P. Pelissero, Vice Provost, Division of Academic Affairs, said that Loyola terminated the operating agreement because it is “looking at utilizing WLUW as an instructional piece for students in the communication field.” The decision was made by Michael Garanzini, the university president, in consultation with Provost John Frendreis, who left the university in June. The station will continue to operate under the current agreement, with no change in programming, until May of 2008 when the university will assume control. A report about the change appeared in the column of Chicago Sun-Times TV/radio writer Robert Feder the next day. Pelissero speculated that a member of WBEZ leaked the information to Feder.
When asked whether Loyola would retain any current WLUW staffers or programming after it assumes control of the station, Pelissero said that “nothing has been determined at this point.” A group comprised of faculty within the communications department and those within the office of academic affairs is currently meeting to determine what changes in programming and staffing will occur to accommodate this change. “We want to find a way to integrate [the students’] learning with aspects of WLUW,” he said. The decision to terminate the agreement was not a “judgment about the content or format. It’s an academic decision that we’re making.”
According to its website, WLUW “is dedicated to offering a broad array of music, news, and issue- and arts-oriented programming that cannot be found elsewhere on the radio.” The station’s current programming is largely music-based representing a variety of genres including avant jazz, blues, dubstep, country, and punk. In addition, the station offers talk-oriented programming on political, religious, and LGBT issues.
According to Program Director Shawn Campbell, volunteers who wish to be on the air at WLUW must undergo 26-30 hours of training. This training takes the form of workshops (seven are offered, and volunteers must complete at least five) on various aspects of the station from digital editing to music reviews. Then volunteers must complete three on-air shifts with a current DJ of two to three hours in length before they will be considered for on-air work by the Program Director. Introductory meetings are held three times a year, and Campbell says the station “always based things around the Loyola semesters.” “I went to a school that had a really strong radio program,” said Campbell. “What I really learned at that school is the way to be good on the air, is to be on the air. That was the philosophy I had here [at WLUW].”
Campbell says about 15 senior staff members, including herself and General Manager Craig Kois, who are considered employees of Chicago Public Radio, make decisions about the station’s programming and operation. In addition, the station is also staffed with 200 volunteers. Campbell estimates that half of these volunteers are Loyola University students. Kois is listed on Loyola’s web site as an adjunct faculty member in the school’s communications department. Pelissero noted that other WLUW staffers taught at Loyola on a part-time basis. Pelissero said he had no knowledge as to whether any discussions were had about integrating additional student training into WLUW’s current operations, without severing the agreement. Campbell said that when the agreement was signed in 2002, it was beneficial for both sides. Loyola, for its part, “didn’t understand why they were in the radio business.” According to her, the agreement with WBEZ was an effort by the university to cut costs. For the first three years of the agreement, Loyola and WBEZ would split any budget deficits incurred by the station. WBEZ assumed all deficits after 2005. In the latest fiscal year, WLUW had its first balanced budget.
Campbell was initially concerned that WBEZ would use the station to broadcast its own shows, but that turned out to not be the case. “They had a real belief in what we were doing,” she said. “We really try to stay in touch with the community.” WLUW has been a frequent sponsor of several community and music-related events including this weekend’s Pitchfork Music Festival. With respect to student involvement, Campbell said that “no student who ever wanted to be on the airwaves was told they couldn’t.” She said that WLUW is now staffed with more student volunteers than at any time since she joined in 1999.
While stressing that no decision about format change had been made, Pelissero said that in the last three years, the university has developed three new majors within the communications school: journalism, public relations and advertising. “Under the management agreement, WBEZ determines format,” he said. “We need to have the opportunity to shape that as we develop [additional] majors.” Any changes in programming would come after the advisory group determined how the station could best serve the university’s academic needs. “We know that the audience is largely based in the Rogers Park area. It’s connected also to Loyola and friends of Loyola. We expect to serve a similar population.” As for Campbell’s future with the station, Campbell says she “won’t be involved” as she’s been offered a job with Chicago Public Radio. A report on Chicagoist notes that Kois will also be leaving the station. For her part, Campbell’s reason for leaving is that it would “be hard to oversee the deconstruction of what we built.”
this blowz
Thank you, gutless illiterate. B-L-O-W-S–or is illiteracy cool and alternative?
Hi, I am Jenny, host of WOW on WLUW. I am also a Loyola grad who became involved in the station as a student, and stayed involved after I graduated many years ago. I have been through several turnovers with WLUW in the last eleven years, so I suspect a widescale drastic change may be unlikely (who knows, I could be wrong). However, the firing of Shawn Campbell and Craig Kois, two people who have run the station during and prior to BEZ’s tenure, is extremely concerning. If Loyola wants students to learn from the best, Shawn and Craig are the best - no one cares more about community radio than they do, and they are a loss to us volunteers personally and professionally as well as any future students who will never have the chance to learn from them.
Many of my fellow volunteers have vowed to continue doing what we do for the next nine months we are under BEZ’s management - the consensous is that we owe it to our listeners as well as to Craig and Shawn’s legacy. If you want to support us, please continue to listen to WLUW’s programming - we’re sticking it out for you. If you’d like to express your concerns to Loyola administration, I encourage you to be polite and emphasize the benefits of a station that showcases diverse music, news and discussion that can’t be heard anywhere else on the radio - WLUW’s mission does embody Jesuit values of social justic and service learning, so we believe we are only an asset to the university. Contact info is at http://www.luc.edu
Finally, there is a new bill which would allow for low power FM radio stations in urban areas. If this bill passes, there would be the opportunity to create a very similar radio station to WLUW, and WLUW volunteers are already organizing towards this goal. I encourage you to sign the petition at http://www.freepress.net/lpfm/
Guys - LUW always supported local/indy music way before the “community” designation. I seriously doubt that’s going to stop simply because the University is opting out of its contract with BEZ. History would tell you that just 5 years ago BEZ’s involvement was considered the worst thing to ever happen…the same types of outrage, blogging and petitions you’re seeing now, were out there then decrying the association between the two.
Sean and Craig, while seemingly great stewards of the station, are just the most recent in a long line of faculty and staff that have given their hearts and souls to the students and listeners… The station has been around for 30 years.
Change happens. The University finally realized what an asset they were holding, and quite frankly, the infighting and general lack of comportment and “bi-partisanship” during the last major change (way before BEZ entered the picture) did real, long-term damage to the Dept of Communication both in their internal dealings with each other and how they were perceived in the greater university community. People lost their jobs or were forced out. Students who complained were subtly threatened in ways way beyond acceptable behaviors from Dept Heads. Tenures were denied and those educators moved on.
With a “New” Dept of Communication (whatever that means) in the works, maybe it made sense to take the entire thing back under control. History would show that in previous incarnations the station was a very real draw for students of both broadcasting and community affairs. There are professionals in the industry all over the US that are Loyola/LUW grads – go to Wikepedia and look at the VERY small number of Alumni listed. I can add another 20 to 30 working at what they love off the top of my head.
We all know about the groups like “Friends of WLUW” If you’re interested in the flip side of some of the goings on over the last several years, take a look at http://www.wluw.blogspot.com/
Having said all that – I’m taking a wait and see attitude.
I am an organizer with Chicago Media Action and have been working on problems like this since way back. What we have here is a big, fat media reform issue.
Allow me to highlight the following, from Loyola Vice Provost John P. Pelissero in the article above:
“While stressing that no decision about format change had been made, Pelissero said that in the last three years, the university has developed three new majors within the communications school: journalism, public relations and advertising.”
public relations… advertising… are your security alarm’s lights and sirens activated now? ads? wluw might be FINED for those things!
read my blog entry and take additional action on this stuff if you like:
http://www.chicagomediaaction.org/news.php?id=557
my suggestion is to not give up, get organized, and develop a strategy to embarrass and hold Loyola management accountable.
and yes - work to pass the lpfm legislation, etc. and don’t forget about the FULL power educational licenses that the fcc will assign this october. including for the collar counties in chicago maybe.
“A report on Chicagoist notes that Kois will also be leaving the station.”
That’s it??? Some balanced report this is! After 16 years of dedication to the station Craig Kois was terminated without so much as a single discussion about this decision or the future of the station. Craig is one of the nicest, most accomodating people around and he would certainly have supported whatevr decision the university made about the station, had they even asked him. Back in 2003 when management went to WBEZ, Craig agreed to devote much of his time to fundraising, and has met all the goals and balanced the budget. Craig has done everything that Loyola and WBEZ asked him to do, all the while creating a fabulous station that has been honored publicily, only to be summarily removed without notice, AND they won’t even let him teach the classes he was scheduled for in the fall! This has been a shock and a slap in the face to a great guy who always supported whatever changes the university have placed upon him. Yesterday was his last day. It is a travesty.
While Jim in his comment tries to provide a broader context/perspective, and I can appreciate his “wait and see” attitude, he misses the details about the huge improvements in the management and programming of WLUW made in the past ten years. When I began volunteering as a co-host of “Live from the Heartland” ten years ago, there was a solid community programming component, but I rarely listened to the station because the majority of its programming was geared toward the Chicago House music scene and was an alternative to B96. While I can appreciate the local house music scene, I was thrilled as the music programming diversified, featuring more independent and local music of a variety of genres. We participated in and were thrilled at the evolution of the station, as it became more than communty-based but really a tool for organizing and building community. And it became an important outlet for all kinds of alternative media, from news such as “Democracy Now” and the long-running “Labor Express” to arts media like “Wordslingers” and “Open Books” and “Think Pink.”
This is not to say that it is all going away, but the evolution of the station really was the vision and brilliant work of Craig Kois, who has always had a strong vision for community and savvy for community building, as well as Shawn Campbell, who excels at building and managing an enormous volunteer network as well as organizing events. Without the facilitation, stewardship, dedication, and vision of these two people, I become enormously concerned about the station’s future.
Hopefully the university will have the vision and foresight to recruit equally brilliant, creative, dedicated people to manage the station so that it can continue to grow. But given the history of the Loyola’s management, I am not optimistic.
I am excited to see the fire going in new directions for more community-based media.
Doesn’t LUW seem to be getting better now that the big change is coming? Those of you who love it now have to get behind CHIRP. LUW will remain a great memory (does anyone remember Antedote Radio?)
I worked at WLUW as a LUC student right after it made its transition from High Energy dance music to an Independent format. I fail to see what the big issue here is. Loyola is not seizing the station from BEZ, it is simply reclaiming the station as allowed by the contractual agreement signed by the two interested parties five years ago. There seems to be a misconception that WLUW only became what it is today because of BEZ. Certainly from an active fund raising standpoint, that is accurate , but WLUW was unapologetically invested in independent/small label/local artist music and community programming well before BEZ was ever involved. The piece about this being the first year WLUW has had a balanced budget is less relevant when one realizes that it never needed one before as it was completely supported by the university. There used to be no fundraising, and I assume that will be what it will return to as it reassumes its full place at the university. I do not, nor does it seem that anyone else does, know if the format will change. I personally think a move away from the greater community with a greater focus on the Loyola community makes a lot of sense. As a graduate of the communication department I don’t understand why it would not be used as an excellent resource for those students. The sad truth is WLUW has never been embraced by all but a very small percentage of the 15,000 + students, staff and faculty that make up the Loyola community. I would argue that Loyola has a greater responsibility to serve their needs (particularly with tuition alone in the $30,000 range) than the greater Chicago Area. If they can do that in a manner that makes WLUW a greter centerpiece of campus life for the average student by changing the format, than I am all for it. Shawn Campbell already has a position. I don’t understand the piece about Craig, and I feel bad for him. I also, like almost every one else, don’t have all the information. He is a WBEZ employee and has been for the last 5 years. They suggest it was their mutually agreed upon choice to not have Craig work there in the interim. It sounds from thr Chicagoist article that he was not on board for the change so it is not shocking to me that Loyola would not extend itself to bring him back to the University full time. My guess is that there is some bad blood from both the recent decisions as well as the funding issue that necessitated BEZ’s involvement 5 years ago. I can say this, Craig is a very nice man and John Pelissero is not. The bottom line for me is this, Loyola made a very bad choice five years ago to stop funding the Radio Station. It was made by an interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences as a cost cutting measure. It did not make sense at the time. At the end of 2002 Loyola was in the midst of record enrollment and was starting an ambitious new construction campaign. It was on the other side of the financial issues that plagued the university in the late 90s. The move to cut loose the station was political and probably had more to do with a fractured and dysfunctional communication department than anything else. I believe the decision to legally reclaim the station as their mutually agreed upon contract allows is simply righting a past wrong. I can understand why other people may have feelings about it, but they have to appreciate that WLUW has always been part of Loyola University Chicago ans should be used in the manner that best serves its students and constituents.