Group Aims To Launch Radio Station By Year's End

Two years ago, Huntley Community Radio founder Allen Pollack and development director Dorothy Litwin only could dream of starting a low power FM radio station in Huntley, but now that dream is close to becoming a reality.

By year's end, Litwin said she hopes to have Huntley Community Radio up and running on the Internet. By 2012, Litwin said she wants it broadcasting on the radio throughout Huntley.

“If we can get on the Internet and make our mistakes by the end of the year, that will be a beginning,” Litwin said. “It’s going to be an evolving project.”

Talk of the radio station began a few years ago after Pollack found out about low power FM radio through an elderly community in Florida. After years of planning, several meetings, and January’s passage of the Local Community Radio Act, which makes it possible for communities like Huntley to receive a noncommercial license, Pollack and Litwin are working with various organizations and groups to pull the project together.

According to Litwin, Huntley Community Radio will broadcast a variety of news, talk, music, and other programs appealing to the community’s interests. She said Huntley Community Radio’s mission is to keep the community informed and connected.

“It’s going to be interesting because we can do remote broadcasts from the football games, from the concerts at the high school, from a board meeting; we can go to all that stuff,” Litwin said.

However, the station will not just closely benefit the community, it also will serve as a teaching tool for adults and high school students alike.

Litwin said she is speaking with  to see if Huntley Community Radio somehow can be included in the curriculum.

Litwin and  Executive Director Thom Palmer said they also have discussed several ideas, including the possibility of holding classes to teach adults how to do radio.

“If the park district enters into a relationship with community radio, we would want to provide them with opportunities through our recreation brochure where they can offer their classes,” Palmer said. “And being in that type of relationship, we hope that there’s opportunities for them to sing our praises over the radio waves. It really is a win-win situation.”

 Executive Director Patrick McDonald said he has been speaking with Pollack and Litwin about how the library can pitch in as well.

“As a library, we’re all about sharing information,” McDonald said. “So anything that is going to facilitate shared community information is a great thing. I think this could potentially do that. As a library we are very interested in participating.”

Right now Litwin said there is still a lot to be done before the official launch. The group is raising money through sponsorships to buy basic equipment such as microphones. She said the group needs $25,000 in pledges to begin broadcasting. She stresses it’s important to understand the radio station will be a nonprofit corporation. This means the station will not be able to raise money through advertising, just sponsorships.

“We have to remember, we’re not ABC, we’re not WBBM, none of those,” Litwin said. “We’re starting with no audience and we have to teach the audience where to find us on the Internet.”

But even though Litwin said she feels the start-up will be a challenge, there’s one thing holding it together.

“I see a lot of support and interest from the community here,” Litwin said. “Because it’s local, local businesses and things of that sort, I think there will be support.”

If you’d like more information about the station or would like to get your organization involved, contact Litwin at dlit1014@yahoo.com or Huntley Community Radio Promotion Manager Gary Krewer at gkrewer@sbcglobal.net.