WLRA - Lewis University's Radio Station History

Lewis University's Radio Station History

WFJL-FM - WLCL-AM - WERA-AM - WLRA-FM

• WFJL-FM -- (W - FJL - Frank J. Lewis) (93.1 FM Chicago) went on the air in 1947 until 1959. WFJL operated as a non-commercial station by Lewis College of Science and Technology (previous name of Lewis College, now Lewis University). Lewis College sold WFJL-FM in 1958. The new owner of WFJL-FM, Louis Lee, renamed the call letters to WSBC-FM from 1959 to 1963. In 1964 Lee changed the call letters to WXRT-FM. Dan Lee, Louis Lee's son sold WXRT in 1995, it is now owned by CBS Radio. WFJL-FM, under the leadership of Roman Catholic Auxiliary Bishop Most Rev.Bernard J. Sheil, D.D., of the Archdiocese of Chicago and General Manager Jerry Keefe, radio format consisted of religious, educational, news, talk, and CYO Boxing. WFJL's facilities were located at the Lincoln Tower Building, 75 East Wacker Drive, Chicago, 600 feet (180 m) above the ground and had an effective radiated power of 29,000 watts.

• WLCL-AM - (W - LCL - Lewis College Lockport) AM carrier current radio station on Lewis College, Lockport, Illinois campus. Located in Sheil Hall dormitory basement from its inception until 1969. The station broadcast on 600 kHz to Sheil, Fitzpatrick and Founders Halls. Robert Feustal and Norb Bora are credited with the inception of WLCL-AM and introducing college radio at Lewis.

• WERA-AM - picked up where WLCL left off in the Fall of 1969. It was at this time that the merger with the College of St. Francis in Joliet was announced (the combined school would be called Lewis-St. Francis of Illinois) and the campus radio station at Lewis (the "North Campus") would now serve the two dorms at the "South Campus" as well. A direct feed to the PA system in the Lewis cafeteria was also installed. The Sheil Hall basement facility was upgraded with new QRK professional turntables replacing the old Garrard consumer models AND a pair of Spotmaster tape cartridge machines to handle promos, jingles etc. A used Gates Sta-Level compressor was installed, giving the station a much more professional technical sound. A second studio was constructed for production use with the turntables and mixer module able to be easily removed for "remote" broadcast origination from anywhere on the "twin campuses." Most of the carpentry work during the upgrade was done by Dennis Stork and the studio wiring was done by Mike Berlak. One very late night, while station staffers discussed plans for the new incarnation of the station (around a table at the Pure Oil truckstop on 55), they noticed a dry cleaners' van in the parking lot with the name "New Era" on it. And THAT is the real story of where the WERA call letters originated. It was a "new era" for both the college and the campus radio station. At that time, the station also changed transmitter frequency to 590 kHz. During 1971, General Manager Mike Berlak began the process of applying for an FCC FM license, which would allow over-the-air broadcasts. In anticipation of this expansion, a completely new broadcast facility was built in the former Fitz Hall Lounge area, opening in the Spring of 1972.

• WLRA-FM - (W - LRA - Lewis RAdio) went on the air in the Fall of 1972 on 88.1 in mono, 250 watts of effective radiated power at 90 feet (27 m) HAAT. WLRA is licensed as a non-commercial- educational radio station. In 1976 WLRA added stereo. Lewis University was annexed from Lockport to Romeoville, Illinois and WLRA's license reflected the change. Although Steve Partman was the first General Manager of WLRA Rado, Mike Berlak is credited with all the work getting WLRA licensed and moving its facilities to Fitzpatrick Hall - he graduated before the first broadcast on 88.1-FM in fall 1972 but came back to do the first show on the new FM station.