[vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1559944233967{margin-top: 80px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1/6″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”2/3″][lab_heading title=”About”][/lab_heading][vc_column_text]WNUR is a non-commercial, listener-supported radio station broadcasting at a frequency of 89.3 MHz FM and a power of 7200 watts. The WNUR studios are located in the Barbara and Garry Marshall Studio Wing of Louis Hall, on the campus of Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. Our station produces a signal that can be heard by nearly 3 million listeners throughout the Chicagoland area. Our programming also streams on the Web to listeners around the world. Although WNUR is student-run, its roster of DJs comprises both students and members of the WNUR community.
WNUR is licensed to Northwestern University and its operations are subject to the authority and oversight of Northwestern University’s Board of Trustees and its Officers.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/6″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/6″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”2/3″][lab_heading title=”Mission”][/lab_heading][vc_column_text]Through its programming, WNUR strives to provide a forum for underrepresented music and ideas. WNUR promotes musicians, musical genres, news, public affairs issues, and athletic events often overlooked by major media outlets.
We aim to provide an inclusive space for people to learn and express themselves by exploring and promoting underrepresented content, and in turn sharing that knowledge with others.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/6″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/6″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”2/3″][lab_heading title=”History”][/lab_heading][vc_column_text]WNUR is an institution that has served the counter-cultural communities of Northwestern University and Chicago for nearly 70 years. The station started operations with a 100-watt transmitter in the spring of 1950, reaching the communities of Northwestern, Evanston and eastern Skokie. From 1950 to 1977, programming was split between music and news, both attempting to emulate what could be heard on commercial radio stations of the time. In 1977, WNUR acquired a 7200-watt transmitter, and in doing so, cemented its place in the Chicago radio landscape. At the time, no other independent radio station in Chicago reached as many ears, and with this new power also came a change in broadcast philosophies at WNUR. Armed and fueled by the emerging underground musical movements following the breakout of punk rock in England and New York City, younger DJs began to make waves of change at WNUR.
During such a fertile time of new rock music, WNUR was able to stay ahead of commercial behemoths, featuring then-relatively unknown bands that would eventually become popular in the mainstream American radio market. In 1982, WNUR also began to focus on and support the local Chicago music scene with shows like Airplay dedicated to local acts and partnerships with venues like Metro. Over the years, these shows— Rock Show, Streetbeat, Airplay, Jazz Show, News, WNUR Sports and Freeform, not to mention the community DJ dominated weekend programming— have become their own alternative institutions containing histories of themselves.
Always in opposition to what was going on in the Chicago radio market, WNUR DJs helped push the station into more esoteric territory, leading to an eventual 1995 rebranding to “Chicago’s Sound Experiment.” This renewed commitment toward providing the people of Chicago with a true alternative to the mainstream bled into every show at WNUR, injecting obscure Chicago house and juke into the airwaves on Streetbeat and free jazz and improvised music on the Jazz show. These trends, and more importantly, the rigorous commitment DJs and show producers gave toward educating each other and pushing a higher standard of programming and musical knowledge led WNUR to gain national recognition in 2004 from SPIN magazine as one of the best college radio stations in America. In the last five years, WNUR has renewed a commitment to the Chicago music scene with programs like the Birdhouse Jazz Series, Sonic Celluloid and Transference Fest. While periods of commitment have ebbed and flowed, there always remains a core of individuals at the station committed to both honoring the past of WNUR and facing the challenges of the future.
Beyond the institutional history, the one constant for WNUR over the past 70 years has been its people. The students who gathered at WNUR over the years created what they couldn’t find elsewhere and directed their energies into the cultural communities of Chicago and beyond. There are, of course, famous alumni, but most of the people who have played a role in making WNUR what it is today are individuals you have likely never heard of. But the station is not just comprised of students- WNUR is a community station indebted to our incredible community members. Most importantly over the last 70 years, though, are listeners like you who have continued to come back to WNUR in its many forms and phases. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your support and are excited to bring you 70 more years of underrepresented music and ideas![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/6″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row disable_element=”yes”][vc_column width=”1/6″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”2/3″][lab_heading title=”Executive Board”][/lab_heading][lab_team_members layout_type=”titles-inside” columns_count=”4″][lab_team_members_member image=”5369″ name=”Team member 1″ sub_title=”Founder”][lab_team_members_member image=”5362″ name=”Team member 1″ sub_title=”Founder”][lab_team_members_member image=”5360″ name=”Team member 2″ sub_title=”Manager”][lab_team_members_member image=”5320″ name=”Team member 2″ sub_title=”Manager”][/lab_team_members][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/6″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/6″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”2/3″][lab_heading title=”Awards”][/lab_heading][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]2008 | First Place (WNUR Sports) – Sports Play-By-Play
Broadcast Education Association: Festival of Media Arts Student Audio Competition
2008 | Finalist (WNUR Sports) – Best Sportscast
College Broadcasters, Inc.: National Student Production Award
2008 | Award Winner (WNUR-FM) – Best College Radio Station
Newcity Media: Best of Chicago 2008
2008 | First Place (WNUR-FM) – Outstanding Radio Newscast
SINBA Student News Competition
2006 | Third Place (WNUR News) – Radio Newscast
Broadcast Education Association: Festival of Media Arts Student Audio Competition
2006 | Award Winner (WNUR-FM) – Best Regularly Scheduled Program
College Broadcasters, Inc.: National Student Production Award
2006 | Second Place (WNUR-FM) – Outstanding Radio Newscast
SINBA Student News Competition
2005 | Award Winner (WNUR-FM) – Best Regularly Scheduled Program
College Broadcasters, Inc.: National Student Production Award
2005 | First Place (WNUR News) – Mark of Excellence Award for Radio Newscast
Society of Professional Journalists
2003 | Finalist (WNUR-FM) – Best Media Website
College Broadcasters, Inc.: National Student Production Award
2003 | Finalist (WNUR News) – Best News Reporting
College Broadcasters, Inc.: National Student Production Award
2003 | Award Winner (WNUR News) – Best Newscast
College Broadcasters, Inc.: National Student Production Award
2003 | Finalist (WNUR News) – Best Newscast
College Broadcasters, Inc.: National Student Production Award
2003 | Finalist (WNUR Sports) – Best Sports Play-By-Play
College Broadcasters, Inc.: National Student Production Award[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]2003 | Award Winner (WNUR-FM, ‘My Kid Brother, Dan’) – Best Technical Production
College Broadcasters, Inc.: National Student Production Award
2003 | Award Winner (WNUR-FM) – Best U.S. College Radio Station
Spin Campus Awards
2002 | Award Winner (WNUR Sports) – Best Sports Reporting
College Broadcasters, Inc.: National Student Production Award
2002 | Finalist (WNUR Sports) – Best Sports Play-By-Play
College Broadcasters, Inc.: National Student Production Award
2002 | Award Winner (WNUR News) – Best Newscast
College Broadcasters, Inc.: National Student Production Award
2002 | Award Winner (WNUR-FM) – Outstanding Radio Newscast
SINBA Student News Competition
2001 | Award Winner (Primordial Soup, WNUR News) – Outstanding Radio News Program
SINBA Student News Competition
2001 | First Place (WNUR-FM) – Mark of Excellence Award for In-Depth Radio Reporting
Society of Professional Journalists
2000 | Award Winner (WNUR-FM) – Outstanding Radio Newscast
SINBA Student News Competition
2000 | First Place (WNUR-FM) – Outstanding Radio Newscast
SINBA Student News Competition
2000 | First Place (WNUR-FM) – Mark of Excellence Award for In-Depth Radio Reporting
Society of Professional Journalists
1999 | Award Winner (WNUR-FM) – Outstanding Radio Newscast
SINBA Student News Competition
1998 | Community Spirit Award (WNUR-FM)
Lifesource Blood Services
1997 | Award Winner (WNUR-FM) – Outstanding Radio Newscast
SINBA Student News Competition
1991 | Award Winner (WNUR-FM – ‘No. 1 Radio Station in Chicago’
Details Magazine[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/6″][/vc_column][/vc_row]