Long Live Independent Community Radio!

If you’ve known me a long time, you might remember that I was a college radio DJ and station manager in the late 80's/early 90’s at Northern Illinois University's student run radio station. In 2010, I discovered CHIRP Radio as a listener and then started volunteering for the station in 2015.

For about 7 years, CHIRP has been my go-to station for discovering new (and old) music. It’s also the one station in town that has a strong focus on local Chicago music. Nowhere else can you hear an eclectic variety of commercial-free music played by live DJs - who select the songs they play - 7 days a week, 365 days a year at chirpradio.org. Very soon we will be broadcasting on the northside of Chicago at 107.1FM!

Why I Volunteer
Volunteering for CHIRP is really important for me because I believe in the importance of independent radio and independent voices - especially in this era of corporate media, fake news, and alternative facts. At CHIRP, I enjoy discovering new music and then sharing it with others each week as DJ. Since July 2016, I have been a DJ for CHIRP on Monday nights from 6pm-8pm and also volunteer as the station's Marketing Director, helping to get the word out about CHIRP.

We are a listener-supported, all volunteer-driven community radio station with 250 volunteers and only two part-time paid staff members. But CHIRP is not just a radio station playing music - we are out there in the community, promoting other arts organizations, tabling at concerts, DJing events and street festivals. CHIRP volunteers have worked for years to get ‘on-the-air’ in Chicago through a low-power FM license. Lobbying Congress, building the station literally by hand from the ground up, getting city permits, and creating a true community radio station in the process… We are getting very close to our broadcast launch at 107.1FM but we've had engineering challenges and the construction costs have risen dramatically. So we need support from listeners, friends, family - YOU - to help us power the broadcast tower!

Please help me reach my personal goal of $250 during this fundraising drive. Anything you can give will help us raise $20,000 for CHIRP and bring us that much closer to 107.1FM. Thank you for your support!

-Kevin

Please make a gift supporting our spring fund drive so we can continue to bring you great music and events! Your gift will also help us launch our broadcast at 107.1FM.

If you would like to make a recurring donation or select a spring campaign thank you gift, please visit CHIRP’s main donation page to make your contribution (and don’t forget to enter the name of the CHIRP Volunteer or DJ in the “How did you hear about CHIRP” section so they can receive credit for your gift!)