WMTH-FM, located in Park Ridge,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

, was among the first FM

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 ...

stations in the United States when it was licensed in 1959. Established by the Student Council at Maine Township High School, now

Maine East High School Maine East High School, or Maine East, and officially Maine Township High School East, is a public four-year high school located at the corner of Dempster Street and Potter Road in Park Ridge, Illinois, a northwest suburb of Chicago, in the Unite ...

, the station went on the air during December

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

. The station became known as "The Voice of Maine Township". The

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 radi ...

was built by electronics teacher, Theron Whitfield, and electronics students in the school. WMTH-FM has studios at all three existing Maine Township High Schools;

Maine West High School Maine West High School, also known as Maine West or MWHS, is a public four-year high school located in Des Plaines, Illinois, a northwest suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is part of Maine Township High School District 207, w ...

Des Plaines Des Plaines is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 60,675. The city is a suburb of Chicago and is located just north of O'Hare International Airport. It is situated on and is named after the ...

and

Maine South High School Maine South High School (officially known as Maine Township High School South) is a public four-year high school located in Park Ridge, Illinois, a northwest suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is part of Maine Township High Sch ...

in Park Ridge. There was also a studio at the former

Maine North High School Maine North High School (officially was known as Maine Township High School North) was a public four–year high school in Des Plaines, Illinois, United States, located northwest of Chicago. Maine North was located in unincorporated Maine Townshi ...

. Maine East, South, and West currently broadcast from about 8:30 AM - 5 PM on Weekdays, with East broadcasting on Mondays, South on Tuesdays, West on Wednesday, and the schools rotating Thursday and Friday every week. The call letters were chosen "MTH" as in Maine Township High (school). The WMTH-FM antenna is located on the highest point of the school building at Dempster and Potter Roads in Park Ridge. The studio from 1959 through 1970 was located in room 147B, across the hall from the auditorium. When the center courtyard building opened in the fall of 1970, the radio station relocated and the first WMTH-TV television studio was built. The original power of the station was 16 watts

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would h ...

at a frequency of 88.5 MHz. This continued from 1960 until 1983 when the frequency was changed to 90.5 MHz and the power reduced to 10 watts. This leaves it as one of the lowest powered FM stations in the United States, and one of few remaining under the now-discontinued Class D license. WMTH-TV is another section of WMTH, they broadcast a mixture of school news, school sports events, and other programs of local interest. All of the broadcast events are streamed on their respective YouTube channels. In addition, all events broadcast are staffed by WMTH Club Members and the broadcasts are in care of their respective instructors.

Famous alumni

* Harrison Ford (1960) Actor and film producer * Marshall Seese (1960) TV Weather meteorologist on

The Weather Channel The Weather Channel (TWC) is an American pay television channel owned by Weather Group, LLC, a subsidiary of Allen Media Group. The channel's headquarters are in Atlanta, Georgia. Launched on May 2, 1982, the channel broadcasts weather foreca ...

(retired 2008) * Steve Goodman (1963) Musician and composer *

Rich Koz Rich Koz (born March 12, 1952) is an American actor and broadcaster best known for his portrayal of horror-movie host Svengoolie, as well as his early '90s children's cartoon showcase ''The Koz Zone''. Koz is also the host of the syndicated '' S ...

(1970)

Svengoolie ''Svengoolie'' is an American hosted horror movie television program. The show features horror and science fiction films and is hosted by the eponymous character Svengoolie, who was originally played by Jerry G. Bishop from 1970 to 1973, before ...

Chicago and Me TV TV celebrity * Michael Walcher (1970) TV News anchor, reporter * Joseph Passarella (1972) Broadcasting Executive, Voice-over artist * Scott Cohn (1978) CNBC TV journalist * Janet Shamlian (1980) national correspondent

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...

* Countless others are at television stations, radio station, cable-TV, and satellite radio stations

References

1. WMTH on the air December 1959

External links

*
WMTH-FM online via StreemaWMTH Alumni blog and online museum websiteWMTH on-air schedule
{{coord, 42.037164, -87.858291, display=title High school radio stations in the United States MTH Radio stations established in 1959 1959 establishments in Illinois