Gooooood morning, Huntley!

Huntley Community Radio, which for the last two years has been broadcasting over the Internet airwaves, has received its low-power FM license from the Federal Communications Commission to officially broadcast as WHRU-LP on 101.5 FM, turning what was once an idea for co-founder Allen Pollack into a reality.

The news came in the form of an email. HCR Executive Director Pollack, who was meeting with other directors on Oct. 14, happened to glance at his email and noticed an alert from the FCC notifying him that the radio station received its license.

HCR intern Greg Hill broadcasting his show ‘Greg’s Classic Jams’ at HCR studios in Dieke Park. Hill is one of six HCR interns. (Photo by Chris LaPelusa/Sun Day)

“I was so pleased. Not only were we among the first group of stations to receive the approval, but we were the first in Illinois,” Pollack said. “I was gleeful and felt like I was on cloud nine. We broke out a bottle of champagne and toasted, as it was a wonderful step of accomplishment.”

Though Pollack said the initial goal was to possess the license by the end of the year, he was hopeful they would receive it by the end of the month for a Halloween special.

The special is a rebroadcast of “The War of the Worlds,” the 1938 radio broadcast, as well as a studio tour for trick-or-treaters and their parents. Pollack said some children will also have the opportunity to record announcements for the station, which they will then broadcast “for the next month or so.”

“We had until the middle of next year [to get the license],” Pollack said. “But I simply stated I wanted to see it go at the end of this year, so we wouldn’t wait…that we wouldn’t wait until the last minute and realize we were forgetting something or needed something else.

“It’s so we would be aggressive in our effort to try and raise the funds needed in order for all the equipment to be purchased, implementing the antenna on top of the water tower. It was a date I thought was somewhat optimistic.”

Given the radio station’s already two-year history, Pollack said he believes that puts them in the right direction once the launch occurs.

“I think we’re in a good position,” he says. “Simulcasting [on the Internet] was absolutely the best thing for us to do. It allowed us to develop the infrastructure, to develop the talent that we have. It’s allowed them to become more skilled and more comfortable in what they do.”

He added that simulcasting has also allowed the station’s programming schedule to develop over the last couple of years to where “we not only offer 35-plus programs in addition to our automated music that plays in the wee hours” of the morning, but the station now knows it can take that and broadcast it over the air while avoiding “sounding like a start-up.”

“If you listen to the transitions we have been the programs, the promotional messages, the content we have… it’s a really good offering to the community that’s never heard us before,” Pollack said.

HCR will continue to simulcast over the web, so anyone who does not live in the transmitter’s 8- to 10-mile radius can still hear the station. That will not change, Pollack said.

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