HYDE PARK — Jazz DJ Erick Hampton first stepped into the WHPK 88.5 broadcasting booth in 2015, on the recommendation of a mutual friend. As a lifelong Chicagoan and professional DJ of 15 years, Hampton had listened to the University of Chicago student-run radio station all his life.
The autonomy WHPK offers its DJs, students and community members was the main appeal, Hampton said. It’s a station that is “not financially motivated,” he said.
“One of the draws to working on WHPK for me, personally, is just the freedom to create meaningful content. … You’re not held to playing 12 songs an hour and repeating them the next hour. You are not held to any advertisers’ whims, playing commercials to promote a certain product for their financial gain,” Hampton said.
But WHPK’s long-term financial stability was dealt a blow earlier this year when a University of Chicago student government panel slashed the radio station’s operating budget. Out of a proposed budget of $57,000, WHPK received only $20,600.
The station would not be able to make crucial equipment repairs and risked going silent on-air, station manager Christian Bird told Block Club at the time.
A series of appeals from WHPK leadership — backed by hundreds of student, alumni and neighbor signatures — reached University Dean Melina Hale, who agreed to grant WHPK the $17,000 dollars it needed to replace a failing mixing board.
But that money is just a stopgap measure, said Alex Tao, the new program director and former treasurer. The station’s future is still “up in the air,” he said.
Most urgently, the station needs to raise $11,000 dollars by April to replace a dying transmitter, according to a maintenance timeline produced by Watson and shared with Block Club.
Paying station technician Len Watson for typical maintenance would “account for essentially our entire budget,” Tao said.
“If something were to go wrong, we wouldn’t be able to pay Len and replace any equipment,” Tao said.
Historically, WHPK has stayed tied to its South Side neighbors throughout Woodlawn, Hyde Park and Kenwood by hosting free community events and concerts, Bird said. Station leaders will have to reimagine their approach with less money.
“We just can’t afford anything — like, to book artists — so we’ve had to get creative,” said station manager Dean Bilinker, who took over from Bird this fall. “Fortunately, we have been resourceful so far, and we have plans to continue to be resourceful.”
To draw in student DJs, WHPK dragged beat-up couches and chairs out of their second-floor broadcasting studio and onto the quad, inviting first-year students at a start-of-the-year club fair to hang out in a makeshift lounge and talk music with current DJs. They also spun records at a free outdoor concert on the Midway Plaisance.
So far, the unorthodox approach has proved successful, Tao said. Along with the rest of station leadership, he has over 100 DJ applications to sift through for the start of the year, he said.
But the need for funding looms large over the events WHPK plans to host, Bird said. These events include sets played by WHPK DJs at Chicago area bars and clubs, Bird said.
“We’re taking donations at the events coming up whereas previously we wouldn’t really expect anyone to give any money,” Bird said.
Previously, WHPK had provided funding to community DJs to host their own events, including dance classes and live performances. This tradition has now been put on hold, “the most substantial impact on community engagement” so far, Bird said.
Although Bird is no longer part of the station’s formal leadership, he’s working on applying for grants that would bypass the student government panel that previously cut the station’s funding.
Bilinker said early fundraising efforts have been challenging.
“It’s just hard to get people to give money to radio in 2023. … It’s more and more of a struggle to convince people that we deserve to exist,” he said. “I think that’s part of what happened with the funding process. … You know, the allocations committee was like, ‘Why the hell does this radio station need all this money? Like, who listens, who cares about radio?’”
Unlike other radio stations in the digital age — many of them broadcast by satellite or over the internet — WHPK is “still plugged into” its neighborhood, Hampton said.
“We are more connected with our community and invested in our community” than other radio stations, Hampton said. “Other radio stations may come to Chicago, hold events, and they leave and go away, only to maybe come back the next year.”
But the funding cuts will “greatly impact the station” and its role in the community if new money isn’t found soon, Hampton said. He hopes that money will come in and allow him to continue spinning jazz from the corner of 57th and University.
“A lot of DJs have come through WHPK that have been instrumental in my growth and development,” Hampton said. “It’s good to know that I’m at a station where Kanye West, Common Sense, NWA have all stopped by and come into the studio.”
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