Carl Sandburg High School's new radio station, Steel Eagle debuts

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: Steel Eagle hits the airwaves : Sandburg Web-based station debuts this month : By Carmen Greco Jr. : Special to the Tribune : November 13, 2009 : Carl Sandburg High School's new radio station, the Steel Eagle, soon will hit the airwaves �� or to be more precise, student laptops. : Budding student DJs nervously are polishing their diction, frantically putting together music lists and tirelessly promoting the Internet-only station to other teachers and students at the Orland Park school, preparing for its full launch this month. : "We're doing research and trying to get the inside track on what everybody wants to listen to," said sophomore Alexandra Rubi. Eventually the station at thesteeleagle.org will carry remote streams of school sporting events, simulcast live concerts and feature other school and community events. : "We're still working on the programming," said science teacher and faculty adviser Christopher Milo. There are no plans to seek a spot on the FM radio band, home of long-established high school stations such as Lyons Township High School's WLTL-FM 88.1 and Homewood- Flossmoor High School's WHFH-FM 88.5, Milo said. : The reason: Keeping the station Web-based eliminates the need for expensive radio towers and satellite dishes, or potential fights with other broadcasters seeking a radio frequency. : "The Chicagoland airwaves are jammed with stations, and doing a frequency search is expensive," Milo said. "There usually is a long waiting list to get an FM frequency, and Federal Communication Commission rules are tight." : Though Milo said FCC regulations for Internet-based radio generally are less stringent, students will not have free reign on the Steel Eagle, named after the school's mascot. The noncommercial station is licensed with the FCC and will be held to similar standards as larger commercial stations. : Students had to pass three FCC-sponsored tests to help ensure they uphold community standards of decency and offer programming that serves the public interest, Milo said. : "We have to follow all the rules applied to programming at the larger stations," he said. "When the kids go on the air, we're making sure that they act responsibly." : At first the 24-hour station will feature live student Webcasts on Mondays and Wednesdays, from 3:30 to 6 p.m., and stream music on a continuous loop during the remaining hours of the day and night. : One of its models is Homewood-Flossmoor's WHFH, which operates at 1,500 watts and has a potential listening audience of 2.5 million people. It is one of the largest high school radio stations in the country. : Besides hosting music programs and sporting events, students anchor local news reports and compile reports on world and national events from The Associated Press. : Senior Jessica Yohay, the station's public relations director, said the staff is particularly proud of their original public affairs programming, such as the hourlong "Politics Now" segment every Thursday night. : "Students take different political positions and debate topics such as Immigration and health care," Yohay said. : WHFH was an early training ground for several Chicago-area broadcasters, including Ben Bradley, a reporter and anchor on WLS-Ch. 7, and Chuck Garfien, a sportscaster on Comcast SportsNet Chicago. : Lyons Township High School, which operates 180-watt WLTL, has graduated a similar roster of radio notables, including sportscaster Dave Juday of WMVP-AM 1000. : Chris Thomas, WLTL's faculty adviser, said students broaden the station's appeal outside the high school community with feeds from CNN and international stations such as Radio Canada and Radio Netherlands. : "If everybody tuned in, we'd reach potentially about 100,000 people," Thomas said. "There's not many high school stations that can reach that many people." : WLTL also streams online, so the potential audience, theoretically, extends across the globe. : Milo said he does not expect to reach many listeners outside the immediate school community in Community Consolidated District 230, which also includes Stagg High School in Palos Heights and Andrew High School in Tinley Park. : But audience penetration is not the Steel Eagle's mission. Producing a future stable of top-notch broadcasters also is not the point, though Milo said he hopes some students go on to future careers in broadcasting. : What the station will do is impart technical skills that students can apply to many careers later in life, and help teach public speaking, leadership and community involvement. : "There's so much learning that can be done outside the four walls of a classroom," Milo said.

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