.jpg)
WELY Radio is giving local listeners a tiny taste of what is yet to come, as the local station prepares to return to the air full-time for the first time since late-2022.
The station’s AM signal, at 1450, has been broadcasting music for several days while work continues on the FM’s transmitter and antenna.
If all goes as planned, the station could be fully operational within weeks with broadcasts both on the AM side as well as FM 94.5.
“We’re still shooting for mid-to-end of May, but it’s all in the hands of weather, crews and delivery people,” said Kory Hartman, vice president of broadcasting for Wisconsin-based Civic Media.
Civic, which owns 21 stations in its home state, bought WELY from Mike Oberg, who bought the station from the Bois Forte Band two years ago, but never returned the station to the airwaves.
The company announced in late February that it intended to resume broadcasting “as soon as possible,” and staff and work crews have been working behind the scenes toward those goals.
That included bringing the AM airwaves back to life, and the music broadcasts the last week have been akin to “keeping the seat warm if you will,” Hartman said Thursday.
“It’s back when we’re able to run it,” he said “There’s a new transmitter racked up there, but I believe we’re still using the old one. The FM as mentioned previously is going to take a little bit longer. We’ve got tower crews lined up, equipment ordered, a new transmitter and a new antenna that has to go on the tower.”
WELY is also moving forward on other fronts, securing studio space downtown on First Avenue East, in the former home of Wildlife Liquor.
Hartman said the station has been overwhelmed by “the continuing outpouring of support from the community.”
“It has been amazing,” said Hartman. “People have bought us everything from chair mats to whatever. And we continue to get support from radio stations and engineers around the country. We were out at the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Vegas and people walked up to us and said ‘You’re the people putting Ely back on.’” WELY is currently looking for staff, posting job openings for a station manager and part-time air staff on its website.
Civic Media operates news/talk, country, oldies and adult hits format stations across Wisconsin, including a cluster of stations near Hayward, and Hartman cited his familiarity with issues that resonate locally.
According to a news release issued when the change in ownership went public, listeners should expect stronger signals and popular music formats featuring local news, weather, sports, and information, Trading Post with Trader Craig, the Polka Show, Twins Baseball, a new website, a station newsletter, podcasts, social media interaction, and the ability to listen everywhere on the Civic Media App and on smart speakers like Alexa.
The Bois Forte Band owned and operated WELY for 17 years, before ceasing operations on Dec. 1, 2022.
Bois Forte cited financial losses of roughly $1.7 million when it announced its intent to close the station in June 2022. The band later agreed to operate the station for another six months while efforts were made to find a buyer.
A sale to Oberg, who owns a group of small radio stations in western Wisconsin, was announced when WELY went off the air. Plans to resume broadcasting never advanced.
WELY was first broadcast in October of 1954 and for decades operated on AM 1450 and from a station “on top of the hill” on Central Avenue across from the golf course.
It shut down twice previously because of financial struggles, once in the late-1980s and again in 1995.
WELY was revived in mid-1995 when CBS Broadcaster Charles Kuralt bought the station just months after the second closure and operated it until he died in 1997.
An FM signal was added and later moved to 94.5 on the dial, and WELY later moved downtown to Chapman Street and Bois Forte purchased it from previous owner Janice Erickson.
