WEPS (88.9 FM) is a

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

licensed A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

to serve

Elgin, Illinois Elgin ( ) is a city in Cook and Kane counties in the northern part of the U.S. state of Illinois. Elgin is located northwest of Chicago, along the Fox River. As of the 2020 Census, the city had a population of 114,797, the seventh-large ...

, United States. The station is owned by the

Elgin Area School District U46 Elgin Area School District U46, often referred to as "U-46", is a unit school district headquartered in Elgin, Kane County, Illinois. Covering , the district serves portions of eleven communities in the northwest suburbs of Chicago in Cook, Du ...

and licensed to Board of Education School District U-46. Founded in 1950, WEPS is the oldest

non-commercial educational A non-commercial educational station (NCE station) is a radio station or television station that does not accept on-air advertisements (TV ads or radio ads), as defined in the United States by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and was or ...

radio station in the state of Illinois. WEPS broadcasts a

public radio Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing ...

format as a member of

Wisconsin Public Radio Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR) is a network of 34 public radio stations in the state of Wisconsin. WPR's network is divided into two distinct analog services, the ''Ideas Network'' and the ''NPR News & Music Network,'' as well as the ''All Classi ...

. WEPS also airs programming from

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and the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

History

Originally licensed in 1950 to broadcast at 88.1

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...

, WEPS originally broadcast instructional programs to the Elgin Public Schools, local high school sporting events, and was partially staffed by students to give them experience in

high school radio High school radio are radio stations located at high schools and usually operated by its students with faculty supervision. The oldest extant high school AM radio station is AM 1450 KBPS in Portland, Oregon. Portland radio station KBPS, first li ...

station operation. The effort to bring WEPS on the air was led by Ernest C. Waggoner, director of audio-visual education for the school district. The station originally had an ERP of 10 watts. In 1960, the station's frequency was changed to 90.9 MHz, and its ERP was increased to 380 watts.History Cards for WEPS
fcc.gov. Retrieved February 11, 2019. In 1977, the station began sharing time on the frequency with

WDCB WDCB (90.9 FM) is a public radio station broadcasting a jazz format, serving primarily the Chicago area, and beyond through its streaming audio. The station is licensed to and owned by College of DuPage, in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, United States, ...

. WEPS moved to its current 88.9 MHz frequency in 1987, after reaching an agreement with WDCB, which allowed WDCB to begin full-time operations.Bagnato, Andrew.
College Station Clears the Air Over Frequency
, ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

''. September 2, 1986. Retrieved February 11, 2019.
Broadcasting/Cablecasting Yearbook 1988
', Broadcasting/Cablecasting. 1988. p. B-86. Retrieved February 11, 2019. The station became an affiliate of Wisconsin Public Radio's Ideas Network on September 28, 2005. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

throughout 2020 and early 2021, it was effectively a full-time feed of the network due to the closure of U-46 facilities.

2004 license renewal objection by outside party

On July 28, 2004, the Elgin School District filed a routine license renewal request, as required by FCC regulations. On November 1, 2004, a non-profit educational organization with Christian religious ties known as "RB Schools" based in

Keene, Texas Keene is a city in Johnson County, Texas, United States. The population was 6,106 as of the 2010 Census, up from 5,003 at the 2000 census. Geography Keene is located in central Johnson County at (32.392860, –97.327501). It is bordered to th ...

, filed an application to force WEPS to share time on the 88.9 MHz frequency with a new non-commercial station as part of a larger filing against

stations across the United States. The school district filed a petition to deny this application on April 27, 2005, RB Schools filed its opposition to the petition on May 12, 2005, and the district replied on May 24, 2005. The application was ultimately dismissed and the WEPS license was renewed on May 26, 2005. RB Schools filed a petition for reconsideration on July 1, 2005, and the school district filed its opposition to the petition on July 13, 2005. After due consideration, the petition was granted in part but mostly denied by the FCC on June 29, 2006. RB Schools filed an application for review on August 23, 2006. The district filed its opposition to this application on September 5, 2006, and RB Schools replied on September 15, 2006. The station is currently licensed to the district until December 1, 2028, and all of the RB Schools time-share requests were dismissed by the FCC on September 24, 2008.

References

External links

WEPS U-46 websiteWEPS schedule at Wisconsin Public Radio
* * * {{NPR Illinois EPS High school radio stations in the United States NPR member stations Wisconsin Public Radio Radio stations established in 1950 1950 establishments in Illinois Elgin, Illinois