Huntley radio station to air first live remote broadcast at game
A year after getting the funding and capability to broadcast on local FM radio, Huntley Community Radio will do its first live remote broadcast Oct. 2 of Huntley High School's homecoming football game against Jacobs High.
The station received a $9,000 grant from the McHenry County Foundation to purchase the necessary equipment for remote broadcasting, said Dorothy Litwin, a Sun City-Huntley resident and a radio station board member and program development director.
"We can do more sporting events at the high school, but also community events like a big parade or something special," Litwin said.
The volunteer-run nonprofit radio station, founded in 2004, serves Huntley and surrounding communities. It has been live streaming shows on the Internet 24 hours a day and seven days a week since September 2013. Programs include talk, music, nostalgia and children's shows.
Last year, organizers raised funds online to purchase and build the equipment necessary to broadcast on local FM radio - an antenna and radio transmitter atop a tower in Huntley.
The Federal Communications Commission granted the station a construction permit in spring of 2014 - the first step toward obtaining a license to operate a low-powered station on FM radio. The station has been broadcasting since last October reaching listeners within 10 miles of Huntley.
"We needed $25,000 just to get on the air," said Litwin, who donated that sum to build a professional broadcasting studio. "We are not allowed to sell advertising, so we have to depend on sponsorships, grants and donations, and that's what we've been living on."
The station does not accept funding from tax-supported agencies, but accepts tax-deductible donations at huntleyradio.com.
Litwin said there are only three or four low-power radio stations in the area, including one in Marengo and Round Lake Beach.
The Huntley station leases space in a building at Huntley Park District's Deicke Park, off Route 47 south of Main Street. Its staff comprises more than 50 volunteers. Programs are produced and hosted by community residents from 14 years old to 88 years old.