Copyright Chicago Tribune
As senior communications specialist for School District U-46, Alec Barlow is doing his part to breathe fresh air into WEPS, which at 75 years is Illinois’ oldest operating noncommercial FM radio station owned by a school district and one of the first high school radio stations in the United States. “It’s an exciting medium. It’s more accessible than television. You don’t need to be good looking or to put on makeup or have a big studio,” Barlow said. “All you really need these days is a microphone and a good personality. There’s something special about that.” Barlow grew up in Bartlett and graduated in 2018 from the district’s Beacon Academy of Media & Digital Arts at South Elgin High School. After getting a degree in film and television from DePaul University in Chicago, he landed his U-46 job. Barlow’s duties include being chief operator of the low-frequency radio station launched on Jan. 13, 1950. The WEPS call letters stand for Elgin Public Schools, the district’s name before U-46, and its antenna and studio are located at 335 Chicago St., which once was Elgin High School. On its first day on the air at 88.9 FM, its broadcast schedule included live play-by-play of a varsity basketball game between Elgin High School and Joliet High School. A pamphlet from the WEPS dedication spoke of the “tremendous influence” radio had on the American people. It read, “A forward-looking educational program must … not only adapt itself to ongoing changes in the world outside the classroom, but it must also incorporate into its instructional program the best teaching tools that invention and research have developed.” That effort continues, with Barlow leading the most recent adaptation of how the station operates post-COVID. The district’s involvement in WEPS was put on hiatus in 2020 due to the pandemic. It remained on the air, though, thanks to an agreement with Wisconsin Public Radio and since 2005, the station has been broadcasting WPR content to fill airtime it doesn’t produce locally. During the 2024-25 school year, Barlow oversaw a soft launch of bringing back radio shows made by students and U-46 staff. From newspaper articles in the station’s archives, Barlow learned about the up-and-down history of the station. For a time, WEPS offered practical hands-on training and the district offered radio classes that could be taken as high school electives, he said. Sports, teacher lectures, musical performances, student-made radio dramas and news were parts of the programming at various times. In decades past, particularly the 1970s, students would deejay their own shows, spinning tunes on turntables from the station’s extensive music library. Budget cuts in 1988 throughout the school district “hit the station hard, eliminating the funds that paid to bus a teacher and 50 students in to run the station,” according to a story in The Courier-News. Barlow noted that in the 1980s, the district did away with radio classes in favor of radio clubs for high school students. Old articles, too, show that for quite a few years WEPS had programming produced by adults outside of the district that included shows featuring jazz and big band music, gardening and an hour-long program in Spanish. These days, Barlow is working with students in clubs at Washington Elementary School and Larkin HIgh School, both in Elgin. About a dozen students between the two are making content at their schools that they send electronically to Barlow. It’s included in programming that can be heard from 7 to 8 a.m., 4 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday; and 7 to 9 a.m., 4 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. Fridays during the academic year. In October, WEPS introduced “Spark/Chispa,” a short English- and Spanish-language show hosted by Barlow about the district. Its first guests were district Superintendent Suzanne Johnson and Athletics & Activities Coordinator Marc Spacone. Communications staff also produce “Books, Blankets and Bedtime,” in which chapters from a children’s book are read aloud and broadcast evenings Monday through Thursday. All three are available to listen to as podcasts on Spotify as well. In fact, in addition to working to get more schools to have radio clubs, Barlow said he hopes his efforts can lead to student-made podcasts. “That’s what they listen to,” Barlow said. Beyond that, he’d like to get students involved in station operations again and show there is a real world application to what they are learning and doing. “Working with the radio club helped me develop my confidence and has been an amazing experience,” said Diana Absalon, a Larkin junior and second-year radio club member. Washington 5th-grader Matteo Fausto made a video with his principal, Ryan Corcoran, about being a club member. “Being on air is the best part about being in the radio club,” Fausto said in the clip. “You get to express yourself during that time. … Once you get the hang of it, you’ll feel a little confident.” Mike Danahey is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
