WEFT in Champaign, Illinois (Photo: J. Waits)
My Spinning Indie radio station field trip series is one of my favorite projects because it gives me an excuse to visit radio stations all over the country. Over the summer I was particularly ambitious and set foot in six radio stations in Illinois and Indiana during my trek to the mid-west for the Grassroots Radio Conference (you can see my overview of that trip on Radio World and read Paul’s account here on Radio Survivor). Two of those stations are community radio outlets in Champaign-Urbana.
WEFT is a long-time community radio station and holds a special connection since my fellow Radio Survivor Paul Riismandel spent many years volunteering there. He arranged my visit to the station in July and even did an impromptu radio show with me.
WRFU Studio (Photo: J. Waits)
In addition to WEFT, I also did a self-guided tour of Radio Free Urbana (aka WRFU-LP). Housed in the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center, WRFU was easy to visit since it was in the same location at the Grassroots Radio Conference. I was charmed by its cozy studio at the entrance of the old historic post office.
Read more about WEFT and WRFU and see all 35 of my radio station field trip reports on Spinning Indie.
