Hinsdale Central Has Radio Station, South Does Not

Darien IL

09 November, 2021

1:38 PM

Description

DARIEN, IL — A Hinsdale South High student is leading an effort to bring back the radio station at Hinsdale South High School. It hasn't operated since the 2018-19 school year. Senior Henry Sullivan and others recently formed the Recording and Broadcasting Club at Hinsdale South. He has set up a GoFundMe page to help pay for new recording equipment and furniture in the school's studio. As of Tuesday, the club has raised $2,730 of its $3,000 goal. In an email to Patch, Chris Jasculca, spokesman for Hinsdale High School District 86, said the district's Radio Club is open to students from both South and Hinsdale Central. He said the South group is focusing more on options and opportunities that exist beyond traditional radio, including podcasts, audio production and recording studios for musicians. On the GoFundMe page, Sullivan said, "Recording and Broadcasting fills a unique yet in-demand gap in the Hinsdale South Community, providing both artistic and journalistic resources for students to create with." Betsy Levy, a Burr Ridge resident whose daughter, Mandy, was involved in the South radio station in the late 1990s, has been encouraging the district to give the station support. In an email this week, Levy told Superintendent Tammy Prentiss that she did not like the idea of a South organization having to "go begging online for funding, while its sister school enjoys full broadcasting privileges via the District-owned radio station." In an August email exchange, Prentiss said the previous radio club at Hinsdale South had suffered declining enrollment and "functioning challenges." South's overall enrollment is about half of Central's. Prentiss said Central's station functions for the whole district. Tryouts, she said, are held each semester and shows are run based on students' interests, whether sports, talk or music. Notices are posted at both buildings, she said. Also in August, Matt McCann, a 1978 graduate of South, contacted school officials by email. He was the manager of South's station from his sophomore to senior years. For years, McCann, now an insurance executive, pursued a career in radio. In his email, he offered to help bring back South's station to what it was in the 1970s. "When you listened to WHSD during that time, it sounded like a radio station ... because it was. The license to operate WHSD is to serve the public interest as a public trustee," he told Prentiss. He continued, "The bigger picture is to provide a learning experience and fun activity that can help students learn real-life skills they can use in the outside world. No, I am not talking just about careers in media. The skills learned are easily transferable to skills needed in the real world. Communication skills, in general, are highly desirable and necessary in many careers." He said there is no excuse for abandoning the South station. "So few high schools have a federally licensed FM broadcast station license," McCann said. "It is time to take advantage of this resource." GoFundMe is a Patch promotional partner.