WRTE (90.7 FM) is an American radio station broadcasting 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 ...

/ jazz

format Format may refer to: Printing and visual media * Text formatting, the typesetting of text elements * Paper formats, or paper size standards * Newspaper format, the size of the paper page Computing * File format, particular way that informatio ...

. It is licensed to Chicago, Illinois, United States, and serves the city of Chicago. The station is owned by

Chicago Public Media Chicago Public Media (CPM) is a not-for-profit media company that operates as the primary National Public Radio member organization for Chicago. It owns three non-commercial educational FM broadcast stations and one FM translator, and produc ...

. WRTE broadcasts in the

HD Radio HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for an in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. It generally simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD Radio is used ...

format.

History

WCYC

WRTE signed on in 1970 as WCYC, owned by the Boys Clubs of Chicago on 88.7 MHz. In 1988, the station's frequency was changed to 90.5 MHz. The station aired an urban contemporary format and was staffed by teenage volunteers."Hanging Out: Teens are making waves—radio waves—at WCYC in the heart of gang land", '' Chicago Tribune''. May 18, 1988. Section 7, p. 4. DJs were not allowed to say their last names, nicknames, or street names on the air, after a volunteer DJ was shot by someone who was waiting for them outside of the studio. Some of WCYC's volunteers went on to work as DJs at WGCI-FM. The station also carried ''

The Lutheran Hour ''The Lutheran Hour'' is a U.S.-based Christian radio program produced by Lutheran Hour Ministries. The weekly broadcast began on October 2, 1930, as an outreach ministry of the Lutheran Laymen's League, part of the Lutheran Church–Missouri S ...

''.

Radio Arte

The Boys and Girls Clubs sold the radio station to the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum (now National Museum of Mexican Art) in 1996, and its call sign was changed to WRTE on July 1, 1997. It was branded "Radio Arte", and aired a bilingual format, with Spanish and English language programming, as well as Spanish-language rock. In the final years of the National Museum of Mexican Art's ownership of the station, it underwent fundraising challenges, and in the spring of 2011 the station was put up for sale.

Chicago Public Media ownership

On June 22, 2012, it was announced that Chicago Public Media would purchase WRTE for $350,000 cash, plus program announcements over four years, valued at $100,000. The sale was consummated on December 31, 2012. On July 31, 2012, Chicago Public Media applied to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to move WRTE's transmitter site from 2801 S. Ridgeway in Chicago, to University Hall on the East campus of the University of Illinois at Chicago. On September 28, 2012, the FCC granted Chicago Public Media a construction permit to move the station's transmitter site to its new location. On October 12, 2012, Chicago Public Media applied with the FCC change the station's frequency to 90.7 MHz FM. On November 15, 2012 the FCC granted a

construction permit Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building perm ...

for the move to 90.7 MHz. The effective radiated power decreased to 6 watts and the HAAT increased to 107.3 meters. On February 11, 2013 WRTE moved to 90.7 FM, and it began simulcasting

WBEW WBEW (89.5 FM) is a non-commercial educational (NCE), Class B1 public radio station at Chesterton in Northwest Indiana. Since June 2007, the station has been branded Vocalo, initially airing listener submitted content and later airing an urb ...

's "Vocalo" programming. In May 2016, an agreement was finalized for WRTE to simulcast Glen Ellyn jazz station WDCB, strengthening the western suburban station's coverage in the city of Chicago, and ending the Vocalo simulcast.

References

External links

* {{Chicago FM Jazz radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1970 1970 establishments in Illinois RTE