Thanksgiving is coming – Thursday, November 26. The fourth Thursday in November, to be exact. It’s defined as a time for giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest and the preceding year. Well, most of us don’t have a “harvest,” but we at Huntley Community Radio give thanks for the preceding year and the start-up years.
Our station is entering its fourth year of broadcasting. First, streaming as an internet station and now as a licensed FM broadcasting station. We incorporated in Illinois as an official not for profit corporation in 2011, with a four member board, received our IRS tax-exempt 501(c)(3) status in 2011, opened a bank account using the $250 each board member donated, and moved into the Park District rental space. We only needed two things before we could begin: chairs and $25,000 to equip the studio with broadcast equipment. A board member donated the money in memory of her late husband, and we were off! The studio is named after him.
Our mission is to inform and connect to our community. Under the leadership of Allen Pollack, Jim Carollo, Dorothy Litwin and Pat Molohon we established the facts that we would operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with about 15 hours of a diverse mix of locally produced programming. Our programming covers all sorts of subjects from news to talk to finance and funny, followed by roughly 11 hours of every genre of music we could think of. Judging by the comments we receive, we think our community likes 101.5 FM. So we truly give thanks. Pat Molohon was our attorney and prepared all the necessary documents that got us started. Unfortunately, Pat passed away and never got to see our success.
Ann Knipp. (Photo provided)
In past articles, I’ve been introducing some of our “behind the scenes” volunteers. You’ve met Allen Pollack our Executive Director, Jim Carollo our Chief Engineer, Dorothy Litwin, Director of Programming, Ken Czerwinski, our computer whiz. And now I’d like you to meet another “whiz.” She’s Ann Knipp, Director of Youth Programming. She also serves as Treasurer of Huntley Community Radio. But Ann is more than a board member and Director of Youth Programming. She produced one of our earliest kids shows, Schmiggley’s Stories.” This was a show geard towards kids at heart from ages 5 to 100. In addition to producing shows for kids, Ann also produces shows starring kids. “CK Sports” is hosted by Huntley High School students in a round-table style conversation about the latest local, regional and national sports topics. “CK Sports” is currently in production recording its 50th episode on HCR. In addition, Ann produces “KV Radio” otherwise known as “Kinds View”, a show that allows kids in middle school to voice their opinions and play the music that they love best. KV is hosted by two students from Marlowe Middle School and often features local kid musicians, authors or other fans of the show who drop by the studio to share their views.
Ann has a passion for kids and communication. Not only does she strive to teach kids how to speak up and be heard, she also encourages to learn how to say something worth saying. With all the smart phones, apps and technology tools kids have at their fingertips, communicating is their way of life. Because of this, she feels it’s even more important to teach kids of today not only how to express themselves with communication tools, but how to communicate responsibly. Ann believes that when kids can find ways to express their views responsibly, they begin to realize they do not have to be an adult to be taken seriously.
Huntley Community Radio gratefully thanks Ann for all she does for the station.
