First air date 1995 (WAJW) ERP 4000 watts Class B1 NCE Frequency 89.5 FM Owner Chicago Public Media Branding Vocalo "Real Life Radio" | Format User-generated content HAAT 181.9 meters (597 ft) Facility ID 3248 City of license Chesterton Area Chesterton Sister stations WBEZ | |
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WBEW is a non-commercial educational (NCE), Class B1 public radio station on 89.5 MHz at Chesterton in Northwest Indiana. Since June 2007, the station has been the broadcast element of Vocalo, broadcasting primarily uploaded or e-mailed user-generated content; other Vocalo content is on the web but not broadcast over the FM station. It is owned by Chicago Public Media and is a sister station to WBEZ in Chicago.
Contents
Vocalo.org hosts play content that listeners upload to the Vocalo.org website (which includes: personal stories, news items, music, interviews, commentary, fiction, poetry, comedy, etc.), by encouraging submissions through community training programs, providing access to equipment, and by teaching people how to use their telephones to record and submit pieces to the station.
WBEW broadcasts in the HD Radio format.
History
WBEW came on the air in 1995 holding the call letters WAJW, and was owned by Auricle Communications. WAJW aired a Freeform radio format, largely simulcasting WFMU 91.1 in East Orange, New Jersey. In November 2002 WBEW was purchased by Chicago Public Media and its call letters were changed to WBEW. Chicago Public Media simulcast 91.5 WBEZ on the station from November 2002 until June 2007.
Vocalo
Originally titled The Secret Radio Project, the website was created by Chicago Public Media in an attempt to create "radically public radio" that reached a more racially diverse and younger audience than NPR. The station adopted its current format on June 4, 2007. While created by Chicago Public Media, Vocalo.org is not marketed as a public radio station, does not broadcast nationally produced public radio programs and also does not openly use on-air pledge drives as a funding source.
In January 2013, Vocalo began simulcasting on 90.7 FM WRTE in Chicago's west side. The WRTE signal was previously the youth driven bilingual (Spanish-English) community radio project called "Radio Arte" The signal was purchased from the National Museum of Mexican Art and subsequently moved to the 90.7 FM frequency and expanded.
Daily hosts
Jesse Menendez, Brian Babylon, Molly Adams, Luis Antonio Perez, Jill Hopkins
Specialty programming hosts
Ayana Contreras, Audra Wilson, Catalina Maria-Johnson, Richard Steele