WDGC-FM

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WDGC
Broadcast area Downers Grove, Illinois
Slogan "The biggest variety of music with no commercials. And that's a promise."
Frequency 88.3 FM (MHz)
First air date 1968
Format Variety
Callsign meaning Downers Grove Community
Owner Downers Grove Community High School District 99
Website WDGC Homepage[1]

WDGC is a high school radio station located in Downers Grove, Illinois.

The station runs commercial-free 24-hours a day and is shared between the Downers Grove North and Downers Grove South school studios, with the transmitter residing at the North building. It primarily consists of regular scheduled student programming. The station also features newscasts, school news, live local band performances, live sporting events and community interest programming. When student DJs are not on the air, a computer program that plays songs on shuffle, station identifications, and public service announcements can be turned on until the next scheduled DJ takes over.[1]

Contents

[edit] History

WDGC was founded by Fred Moore in 1965, with its first station having been a janitor's closet and the first transmitter having been built in a shoebox. It was created from a drama club experiment and funded by parental donations.[2]

In 1966, it was on the airwaves, but just barely. It was then known as WDGN (most likely for its Downers Grove North roots) and ran on only one watt of power. The WDGN transmission used the PA system to broadcast. The signal was so weak it could only be heard on 600 AM and if a listener placed their radio by a PA speaker. After numerous phone calls to Washington D.C. and two rejected applications to contact the FCC, WDGC was granted a construction permit which in turn allowed the station to be broadcast to Downers Grove and other surrounding communities.[2]

In 1968, the station was finally approved and was broadcast with 10 watts of power on 88.3 FM.[2]

In 1972, the station bought a used transmitter and re-tuned it, bringing the station to 250 watts of power. Four years later it made the final jump to stereo.[2]

In 1981, the station was granted a room to be turned into a classroom/studio at Downers Grove North where it still presently remains. The locally popular "Chris and Dave Smorgasbord" program aired on Friday and Saturday nights from 1982-1984.[2]

In 1997, the old transmitter was replaced with a new 250 watt transmitter.[2]

In 1998, the station purchased digital Pacific Research and Engineering Airwave consoles for both studios. The cart machines at the North studio were replaced with Sony minidisc systems and a non-linear computer based audio editing program.[2] North teacher John Waite and DGN student Stuart Allard played a major part in building the station's minidisk library.

In 2007, the studio at Downers Grove South was renovated, creating a less cluttered environment in the main studio and adding on two sub-studios for the adjacent classroom to practice in.[3]

Over the course of WDGC's forty-plus year history, only three people have been general manager/faculty advisor of the North studios: Moore (1965-1995), Beth Carter (1995-1999), and John Waite (1999-present), all of whom were at one time or another English teachers at the school.

[edit] Plans for the Future

The station plans to replace its JAMPRO directional antenna located at the North station. This replacement will help achieve a greater listening experience through better signal and sound quality for the WDGC listeners.[2]

[edit] Student DJ Requirements

Student DJs were previously required to take a full semester of the class Radio I but due to lack of enrollments in the class, standards have been lowered so that all one must do is sign up for participation at the begininning of the year. Applicants will be accepted based on schedule flexibilty and academic integrity (however, in order to ensure a sense of maintenance and functionality, applicants are usually paired with a student who has actually taken the class. This new policy of open applicants was instituted for the 2007-2008 school year.[4]

[edit] Communities Served

Besides primarily reaching the community of Downers Grove, WDGC has been picked up in the Illinois towns of:

[5]

[edit] See also

Downers Grove North
Downers Grove South
List of radio stations in Illinois

[edit] External links

[Coverage Map][[*[2]]]

[edit] References

  1. ^ New Page 1
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h history
  3. ^ tour
  4. ^ curriculum
  5. ^ demographics
v • d • e
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