Harvard’s all-volunteer radio station 101.3-FM celebrates 10 years on air

The on-air talent at Harvard‘s WHIW 101.3-FM radio station all love local, small-town radio.

They have to. As a low-power FM station that received its broadcast license through the Local Community Radio Act of 2010, WHIW has to be a nonprofit organization.

“It is an all-volunteer radio station, and it is community-driven,” morning show host and station manager Henry Stevens said.

Now celebrating its 10th year on the air, it’s a continuation Harvard’s former AM station that went off the air in 2008.

Stevens had just finished his morning radio show at WMCW 1600-AM in Harvard on May 3 of that year when he found out his job was gone.

“I had a call from the program director. He said ‘Your services are no longer needed,’” Stevens remembers from that rainy Saturday morning.

Founded in 1955, the local AM station – its call sign stood for Milk Capital of the World, as Harvard boasted – had signed off for the last time.

Just a few months later, Stevens and another former employee at the station, Dave Gardner, had an idea. They were able to get access to the radio station on Ayers Street and the equipment that was left behind.

“We jumped on the internet and started Harvard Community Radio over the internet. We were ahead of our time,” Gardner said.

It took a few more years to get the FCC small-market broadcasting license through, but the new station – its call sign now standing for Harvard, Illinois and Wisconsin – went on the air on May 17, 2015.

Much of the station’s airtime is automated, playing music from the 1950s through the 2000s. But there are local radio personalities too. Ron Hutchinson goes by “Phil the Weather Guy” on the air. The station is special, and residents should tune in “because it is local,” Hutchinson said.

It broadcasts local high school sports, has a monthly show with Harvard Mayor Mike Kelly and the on-air personalities talk about what’s going on in Harvard and the small towns around them.

Stevens has a morning show Monday through Friday, a “Best of Broadway” hour on Wednesdays and a weekend show on Saturdays.

Michelle Faler is a librarian at Harvard Diggins Library, and has a master’s degree in literature and film studies. She hosts “Cinema Talk” and is the station’s entertainment reporter.

Mike Broyer is a news guy who’s covered area breaking stories for the station. Jim McClure is a former broadcast TV and public relations person. They all are part of the on-air crew.

The community wants community radio, Gardner said. “It is more and more popular because people are tired of cookie-cutter radio. They want something outside of the box and original.”

What WHIW needs, however, is funding.

As a nonprofit station, there are underwriters instead of advertisers. They can talk about those sponsors on the air, but not promote their sales or special events, Gardner said.

The station relies on grants and fundraising to keep its equipment and other costs – from insurance to music rights – paid for. An equipment outage, like one that took place last year, can take WHIW off the air for a week, Gardner said.

There is a for-profit, online sister station on their website, whiwharvard.com, and the Facebook page offers livestreams and updates on what is happening in town, such as community events, to bring in the audience. But money is tight.

“We need folks to support any not-for-profit, but a radio station, too. We ask for nothing because we do it for the love of radio and the community,” Gardner said, adding that donations are necessary. “They are the only way we operate.”