Don’t look for Chicago Public Radio’s radical new programming, which is sounding more and more like YouTalk, this month. April was once the target date for the launch of its experimental project on WBEW, 89.5 FM, but that was last year. The new target date is sometime around Memorial Day. Even then, unless you live in northwest Indiana or the far south side of Chicago, don’t bother twiddling your dial yet. CPR got permission to raise the power of 89.5 from 7,000 watts to 50,000 watts two years ago, but the additional tower needed to make that happen still hasn’t gone up. Once the Chesterton-based station is boosted, they say, it will be heard as far west as Oak Park and as far north as Evanston. But right now you’re lucky if you can pick up WBEW, which is currently broadcasting WBEZ’s content simultaneously, in Hyde Park. And if you live in the far north or northwest suburbs, the only place you’ll find it is the Web site.
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But that’s not up yet either. Expected to be fully operational in March, the site is now set for a “soft” launch this month, with an announcement by e-mail. The site needs to go up first because it’ll be the receiving dock for the listener-generated content that, if everything goes as planned, will set this station apart. The idea is that the public will upload audio bits to the site, where they can be heard–and evaluated–by anyone who clicks on them. Those found broadcast-worthy will be groomed and aired by a cadre of 14 producer-hosts, most of them nonprofessionals recruited from the community. The station’s call letters will still be WBEW, but the yet-to-be-announced name Vocalo will serve both the station and the Web site. An interim site used as a buzz machine for the last nine months, secretradioproject.com, has been offering a clue in the form of a big, red letter V; official announcement of the name will come at a party on May 3. That event, which will be open to the public, will also feature a chance to meet the hosts and hear some of the programming, described as a “creative free-for-all, with no shows and no stuffy time slots.” Hours and location aren’t available yet, but reservations are being taken by e-mail atkedar@secretradioproject.com.
CPR general manager Torey Malatia says public radio should serve a broader audience than the 600,000 people who tune in to WBEZ, and that goal is driving the creation of a style that “reaches out, not in.” That reminds me of precedents like CB, ham, or talk radio, but Ash says the picture that comes to mind when he thinks about it is the cross section of people you can see at Millennium Park. “Some of the most brilliant scenes have been when there’s no programming and people are just there, coming together,” he says. “But those people are not necessarily engaged with one another, so take that vision and imagine a virtual space or a radio spectrum that brings that visual but the people are connecting–they’re sharing ideas, they’re sharing poetry, music, opinions.”
