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{{short description|Radio station at William Rainey Harper College in Palatine, Illinois}}
{{Infobox radio station
| name                = WHCM
| city                = [[Palatine, Illinois]]
| area                =
| branding            = Harper Radio
| frequency           = 88.3 [[MHz]]
| airdate             = 2002 (on air)
| format              = College radio
| power               =
| erp                 = 100 [[watt]]s
| haat                = {{convert|17.1|m|ft|sp=us}}
| class               = A
| facility_id         = 163899
| coordinates         = {{coord|42|4|54|N|88|4|23|W|region:US-IL_type:landmark_source:FCC|display=inline,title}}
| callsign_meaning    =
| owner               = [[Harper College|William Rainey Harper College]]
| licensing_authority = [[Federal Communications Commission|FCC]]
| licensee            =
| sister_stations     =
| webcast             = {{listenlive|https://streamdb9web.securenetsystems.net/cirrusencore/WHCM}}
| website             = {{URL|www.harperradio.com}}
}}
'''WHCM''' (88.3 FM) is a student-run [[campus radio]] station at [[Harper College|William Rainey Harper College]] in Palatine, Illinois.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://goforward.harpercollege.edu/services/whcm/|title=Harper College WHCM page|website=Harper College}}</ref>  WHCM offers [[Freeform (radio format)|freeform]] music, news, talk and public affairs programming 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. WHCM is part of the college's Division of Liberal Arts and Department of Communication Arts.
==History==
After seven years, the Harper College application for a new FM station in Palatine was approved by the FCC on November 6, 2000, with a license to cover filed in December 2002. The station, however, had broadcast on campus prior to going on air. WHCM was to share time with Arlington Heights-licensed [[WCLR (Arlington Heights, Illinois)|WCLR]], originally to be owned by the Church of Christian Liberty but sold to the [[Educational Media Foundation]] before going on air. WHCM operated Monday through Thursday during the school year, with WCLR allotted Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and full-time during school breaks.<ref name="abv">[https://licensing.fcc.gov/cdbs/CDBS_Attachment/getattachment.jsp?appn=100668891&qnum=5040&copynum=1&exhcnum=1 BAPED-20030617ABV Asset Purchase Agreement, WCLR]</ref>
In March 1998, while the station was only broadcast to the student lounge and cafeteria, it was shut down for a week by a staff administrator for "music choices, volume control, and 'lewd' comments by disc jockeys." It began broadcasting again on March 25, after students agreed to adopt a new contract, and to keep their office neat.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://dailyherald.newspaperarchive.com/arlington-heights-daily-herald-suburban-chicago/1998-03-26/page-15/|title=Arlington Heights Daily Herald, March 26, 1998, p. 15|work=Arlington Heights Daily Herald}}</ref>
On May 17, 2017, EMF and Harper College reached an agreement in 2017 by which EMF would surrender the license for WCLR to allow WHCM to go full-time on 88.3&nbsp;MHz.<ref>[https://licensing.fcc.gov/cdbs/CDBS_Attachment/getattachment.jsp?appn=101757947&qnum=5000&copynum=1&exhcnum=2 BMLED-20170530ABT License Modification, End Time Share Agreement - WHCM]</ref> Harper College paid $13,600, representing EMF's outstanding obligation on the WCLR tower lease, and up to $5,000 in EMF's legal fees. WHCM went full-time on June 29, 2017.
On October 1, 2019, WHCM added a Radio Data System [[Radio Data System|(RDS)]] to identify song and artist, and upgraded their [[Streaming media|streaming]] encoder to improve sound quality.
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
* {{official website|www.harperradio.com}}
* {{FM station data|72720|WHCM}}
{{Chicago Radio}}
[[Category:Radio stations in Illinois|HCM]]
[[Category:College radio stations in Illinois|HCM]]
[[Category:Radio stations established in 2003]]
[[Category:2003 establishments in Illinois]]