WHPK
Encyclopedia
WHPK-FM is a radio station
based in Chicago, Illinois
. In addition, this frequency is also used by several local high schools in the Chicago metropolitan area.
The University of Chicago
owns the station's FCC
license. WHPK is an all-volunteer community radio station staffed by both students and non-students, who are mostly on-air deejay
s and other program hosts and substitutes. Programming blocks are divided into formats: classical, dance
, folk
, jazz
, public affairs, rap, and rock formats — along with a few specialty shows outside any of the formats. WHPK's station manager and program director are elected by the station's student members and must be students themselves. The station's broadcast engineer
is paid by the university.
WHPK broadcasts at 100 watts. Its studios and tower are both located on the University of Chicago
campus.
WHPK's slogan is "The Pride of the South Side." The letters HPK stand for Hyde Park
and Kenwood
, the Chicago
neighborhoods around the university.
WHPK is the successor to the university's earlier carrier-current
station, WUCB, which was founded in 1946 by students who had gained experience with radio
serving in World War II
. In 1959, WUCB's studios were relocated from Burton-Judson Courts on 60th Street to Mitchell Tower in the Reynolds Club building on the southwest corner of 57th Street and University Avenue, a space that had previously been home to the university's Radio Office. WHPK's antenna is located on the roof of Pierce Tower, a University of Chicago dormitory on 55th street and University Avenue. Its transmitter room is on the tenth floor of Pierce Tower, in Shorey House.
WHPK came into being in 1968 when the campus secret Society of the Owl and Serpent disbanded and donated its funds and Reynolds Club office space to a student radio group. WHPK also assumed the adjacent WUCB studios. WHPK started broadcasting as a 10-watt FM station at 88.3 MHz on March 22, 1968. In 1985, WHPK upgraded to a 100-watt transmitter and moved to the current frequency of 88.5 MHz.
WHPK, mainly through the work of JP Chill and Ken Wissoker, was the first radio station in Chicago to broadcast rap music. The station has been home to many aspiring rappers throughout the years, including Common
, who, in his song Nuthin' to do, stated that "HPK was the only station that would fuck with rap."
In 2008, WHPK was awarded "Best College Radio Station" by Chicago Reader.
The host of the long-running Saturday night Blues Excursion, Arkansas Red, has received mainstream media attention for his eccentric mix of blues and gospel records (that he often sings over), phone calls from listeners and on-air attacks on other blues DJs.
News From the Service Entrance hosted by Chicago poet and educator/activist Mario can be heard Thursday afternoons from 2:00pm - 4:00pm. The Chicago Journal says about News From the Service Entrance "Mario's broadcasts regularly feature angry rants, a conspiracy theorists take on current events and a schizophrenic selection of music that ranges from 70's album-oriented rock to progressive jazz to current political hip hop".
Erika, the Sultan's Favorite does an hour long show every Thursday 6-7 p.m. Central Time, playing music of the Middle East.
On The Dusties Party a 3 hour weekly program that airs every Thursday evening from 9pm - Midnight CST, a rotating cadre of DJs play the best in soul, jazz, blues, funk, and other so-called 'dusties' from the 60s and 70s. In 1993, an airing of Rudy Ray Moore
's "The Sensuous Black Man" on The Dusties Party caused local controversy, leading Alderman Robert Shaw of the 9th Ward to call for a federal investigation of WHPK.
The show Jazz in Flight http://www.jazzinflight.com/ is hosted by husband and wife team of Zimbabu and Phoenix Hamilton ("The Ladybird of Song"), both Chicago area jazz musicians. The show focuses on the evolution of Jazz that took place in the 1970s and the progression that has occurred since. Zimbabu Hamilton is a noted drummer, instructor, and founder/leader of Zimprov, a jazz/funk band.
Tomorrow with Alex Beinstein
is a Chicago radio show on WHPK that tackles current political issues relevant to the youth. Beinstein typically discusses current issues such as Free Trade, Education and the Darfur conflict.
Generally, the show features two to three interviews per show. Guests have included Jesse Jackson, civil rights activist; Fareed Zakaria, International Editor of Newsweek; John Bolton, former US Ambassador to the UN; Mike Gravel, former Senator from Alaska and 2008 Democratic Primary candidate; Greta Van Susteren, host of On the Record; Walter Isaacson, President of the Aspen Institute; Rick Tyler, Newt Gingrich's spokesman; Nicholas Kristof, New York Times Op-ed writer; Jeffrey Sachs
, author of the End of Poverty; Michael Oren, Middle East historian; and Tucker Bounds
, John McCain's spokesman.
Stacey Staskus hosts Chicago Tessitura: Music and Musings from the Opera Canon featuring things operatic. Opera seria, opera buffa, opera giacosa modern opera and vocal music presented by local organizations. Works performed by Lyric Opera of Chicago, Chicago Opera Theater, Da Corneto Opera Company, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, U of Chicago Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company, often have representative interviewed on air to discuss their work. Opera luminaries such as Sherrill Milnes and Ana Maria Martinez and renowned scholars such as Mr. Philip Gossett have appeared on the show. Recently interviewed were Maestro Fracesco Milioto, Director Partizia Acerra, Choreographer Alka Nayyar who recently presented Bizet's Djamileh sponsored by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. Future programming includes more of the same with Opera and Jazz and How to Be A Supernumerary.
Derick Anderson hosts the open forum political talk show The Radio Soapbox, Which features informative guests and insightful analysis of local and national issues. The Radio Soapbox airs every other Monday from 3-4 pm
Chicago Fire Department Director of Media Affairs, Larry Langford started his long Chicago radio career doing a weekly news program on WHPK for a short time in 1968. Langford went on to have a 40+ year career in Chicago radio as a news reporter and anchor before retiring from the air in 2000 to take media positions with the City of Chicago.
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
based in Chicago, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
. In addition, this frequency is also used by several local high schools in the Chicago metropolitan area.
The University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
owns the station's FCC
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
license. WHPK is an all-volunteer community radio station staffed by both students and non-students, who are mostly on-air deejay
Deejay
A deejay is a reggae or dancehall musician who sings and toasts to an instrumental riddim .Deejays are not to be confused with disc jockeys from other music genres like hip-hop, where they select and play music. Dancehall/reggae DJs who select riddims to play are called selectors...
s and other program hosts and substitutes. Programming blocks are divided into formats: classical, dance
Dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
, folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, public affairs, rap, and rock formats — along with a few specialty shows outside any of the formats. WHPK's station manager and program director are elected by the station's student members and must be students themselves. The station's broadcast engineer
Broadcast engineering
Broadcast engineering is the field of electrical engineering, and now to some extent computer engineering and information technology, which deals with radio and television broadcasting...
is paid by the university.
WHPK broadcasts at 100 watts. Its studios and tower are both located on the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
campus.
WHPK's slogan is "The Pride of the South Side." The letters HPK stand for Hyde Park
Hyde Park, Chicago
Hyde Park, located on the South Side of the City of Chicago, in Cook County, Illinois, United States and seven miles south of the Chicago Loop, is a Chicago neighborhood and one of 77 Chicago community areas. It is home to the University of Chicago, the Hyde Park Art Center, the Museum of Science...
and Kenwood
Kenwood, Chicago
Kenwood, located on the South Side of the City of Chicago, Illinois, is one of the 77 well-defined Chicago community areas.Kenwood was part of Hyde Park Township, which was annexed by the City of Chicago in 1889....
, the Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
neighborhoods around the university.
History
Carrier current
Carrier current is a method of low power AM radio transmission that uses the AC electrical system of a building to propagate a medium frequency, AM signal to a relatively small area, such as a building or a group of buildings...
station, WUCB, which was founded in 1946 by students who had gained experience with radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
serving in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. In 1959, WUCB's studios were relocated from Burton-Judson Courts on 60th Street to Mitchell Tower in the Reynolds Club building on the southwest corner of 57th Street and University Avenue, a space that had previously been home to the university's Radio Office. WHPK's antenna is located on the roof of Pierce Tower, a University of Chicago dormitory on 55th street and University Avenue. Its transmitter room is on the tenth floor of Pierce Tower, in Shorey House.
WHPK came into being in 1968 when the campus secret Society of the Owl and Serpent disbanded and donated its funds and Reynolds Club office space to a student radio group. WHPK also assumed the adjacent WUCB studios. WHPK started broadcasting as a 10-watt FM station at 88.3 MHz on March 22, 1968. In 1985, WHPK upgraded to a 100-watt transmitter and moved to the current frequency of 88.5 MHz.
WHPK, mainly through the work of JP Chill and Ken Wissoker, was the first radio station in Chicago to broadcast rap music. The station has been home to many aspiring rappers throughout the years, including Common
Common (rapper)
Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr. , better known by his stage name Common , is an American hip-hop artist and actor....
, who, in his song Nuthin' to do, stated that "HPK was the only station that would fuck with rap."
In 2008, WHPK was awarded "Best College Radio Station" by Chicago Reader.
Notable radio personalities
DJ JP Chill has had a rap and hip hop show on WHPK since 1986. It was one of the earliest rap shows in the country. WHPK's first rap show was hosted by Ken Wissoker and Patrick Moxey, and JP Chill's show was added shortly thereafter; these were the first hip hop shows on the air in Chicago. In 1996, JP Chill and former WHPK Station Manager Rick Wojcik founded Dusty Groove America, considered one of the best record stores in Chicago.The host of the long-running Saturday night Blues Excursion, Arkansas Red, has received mainstream media attention for his eccentric mix of blues and gospel records (that he often sings over), phone calls from listeners and on-air attacks on other blues DJs.
News From the Service Entrance hosted by Chicago poet and educator/activist Mario can be heard Thursday afternoons from 2:00pm - 4:00pm. The Chicago Journal says about News From the Service Entrance "Mario's broadcasts regularly feature angry rants, a conspiracy theorists take on current events and a schizophrenic selection of music that ranges from 70's album-oriented rock to progressive jazz to current political hip hop".
Erika, the Sultan's Favorite does an hour long show every Thursday 6-7 p.m. Central Time, playing music of the Middle East.
On The Dusties Party a 3 hour weekly program that airs every Thursday evening from 9pm - Midnight CST, a rotating cadre of DJs play the best in soul, jazz, blues, funk, and other so-called 'dusties' from the 60s and 70s. In 1993, an airing of Rudy Ray Moore
Rudy Ray Moore
Rudy Ray Moore was an American comedian, musician, singer, film actor, and film producer. He was perhaps best known as Dolemite , the uniquely articulate pimp from the 1975 film Dolemite, and its sequel, The Human Tornado...
's "The Sensuous Black Man" on The Dusties Party caused local controversy, leading Alderman Robert Shaw of the 9th Ward to call for a federal investigation of WHPK.
The show Jazz in Flight http://www.jazzinflight.com/ is hosted by husband and wife team of Zimbabu and Phoenix Hamilton ("The Ladybird of Song"), both Chicago area jazz musicians. The show focuses on the evolution of Jazz that took place in the 1970s and the progression that has occurred since. Zimbabu Hamilton is a noted drummer, instructor, and founder/leader of Zimprov, a jazz/funk band.
Tomorrow with Alex Beinstein
Tomorrow with Alex Beinstein
Tomorrow with Alex Beinstein is a Chicago radio show on WHPK that tackles current political issues relevant to the youth. Beinstein typically discusses current issues such as Free Trade, Education and the Darfur conflict....
is a Chicago radio show on WHPK that tackles current political issues relevant to the youth. Beinstein typically discusses current issues such as Free Trade, Education and the Darfur conflict.
Generally, the show features two to three interviews per show. Guests have included Jesse Jackson, civil rights activist; Fareed Zakaria, International Editor of Newsweek; John Bolton, former US Ambassador to the UN; Mike Gravel, former Senator from Alaska and 2008 Democratic Primary candidate; Greta Van Susteren, host of On the Record; Walter Isaacson, President of the Aspen Institute; Rick Tyler, Newt Gingrich's spokesman; Nicholas Kristof, New York Times Op-ed writer; Jeffrey Sachs
Jeffrey Sachs
Jeffrey David Sachs is an American economist and Director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University. One of the youngest economics professors in the history of Harvard University, Sachs became known for his role as an adviser to Eastern European and developing country governments in the...
, author of the End of Poverty; Michael Oren, Middle East historian; and Tucker Bounds
Tucker Bounds
Tucker Bounds is a public relations professional, who has been active in Republican politics. He served as a spokesperson for the McCain-Palin 2008 presidential campaign...
, John McCain's spokesman.
Stacey Staskus hosts Chicago Tessitura: Music and Musings from the Opera Canon featuring things operatic. Opera seria, opera buffa, opera giacosa modern opera and vocal music presented by local organizations. Works performed by Lyric Opera of Chicago, Chicago Opera Theater, Da Corneto Opera Company, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, U of Chicago Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company, often have representative interviewed on air to discuss their work. Opera luminaries such as Sherrill Milnes and Ana Maria Martinez and renowned scholars such as Mr. Philip Gossett have appeared on the show. Recently interviewed were Maestro Fracesco Milioto, Director Partizia Acerra, Choreographer Alka Nayyar who recently presented Bizet's Djamileh sponsored by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. Future programming includes more of the same with Opera and Jazz and How to Be A Supernumerary.
Derick Anderson hosts the open forum political talk show The Radio Soapbox, Which features informative guests and insightful analysis of local and national issues. The Radio Soapbox airs every other Monday from 3-4 pm
Chicago Fire Department Director of Media Affairs, Larry Langford started his long Chicago radio career doing a weekly news program on WHPK for a short time in 1968. Langford went on to have a 40+ year career in Chicago radio as a news reporter and anchor before retiring from the air in 2000 to take media positions with the City of Chicago.
External links
- WHPK official website
- Jazz in Flight
- http://illinoisentertainer.com/2008/07/30/college-stations-terrastrial-radios-last-frontier/print/