WONU
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| City | Kankakee, Illinois |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Kankakee, Illinois / South Suburban Chicago |
| Branding | "Shine.FM" |
| Slogan | Stronger Families, Stronger Communities |
| Frequency | originally 88.3, now, 89.7 MHz(also on HD Radio) |
| First air date | January 1967 |
| Format | Christian Contemporary Hit Music |
| ERP | 35,000 watts |
| HAAT | 126 Meters |
| Class | B |
| Callsign meaning | "W Olivet Nazarene University" |
| Former callsigns | WKOC (W Kankakee Olivet College) |
| Owner | Olivet Nazarene University |
| Sister stations | WTMK, WHZN |
| Webcast | Shine.fm ShineRock |
| Website | www.shine.fm |
WONU is a FM Station broadcasting on 89.7 MHz in Bourbonnais, Illinois south of the Chicago metropolitan area. It is a non-profit, listener supported station owned and operated by Olivet Nazarene University from Bourbonnais, Illinois.
From its humble beginnings on the 4th Floor of Burke Administration in February 1947 to its own state of the art facility on the Olivet Nazarene University campus, along with stations in both Michigan and Indiana, Olivet Radio, now known as Shine.FM, has come a long way in its programming, music, & training the next generation of broadcasters.
The first station, WONC AM 640, was a low power radio broadcasting endeavor under the direction of Professor George Snyder. With a staff of only a handful of students, in the 1st semester on air, 1,000 hours of programming was produced.
Around 1951, WONC was discontinued until The 25th Reunion of the ONU Class of 1941 raised the funds needed to bring radio broadcasting back to the ONU Campus. As part of this new venture, Olivet Alumnus, Dr Ray Moore was brought in from Kansas City to oversea what would become WKOC FM 88.3, a 10 watt mono signal.
In January 1967, WKOC FM would officially begin broadcasting, this time from studios located on the 2nd floor of Ludwig. Moore would move back to Kansas City in 1968, leaving the station in the capable hands of dedicated broadcasting students such as Russ Bredholt. Around the spring of 1971, Dr Moore would make a return trip to Olivet to resume as the Director of Broadcasting.
By the spring of 1977, it was documented that from WKOC's inception in 1967, over 250 FCC radio licenses were granted to Olivet Students that successfully completed testing for such. By the time this decade would end, Olivet's commitment to radio broadcasting was further strengthened with the hiring of Professor Don Toland.
Under Toland's leadership, 1978–1988, was perhaps some of the greatest growth in ONU's Radio Ministry. Included in his tenure was a move from Ludwig to the 3rd floor of Benner Library; updated equipment; TWO power increases to 420 watts Stereo and later to 35k watts Stereo; a frequency change from 88.3 FM to 89.7 FM; Share A Thon Fundraisers would begin on air to help Olivet Radio become more self-supporting; broadcast day would increase to 18 hours a day and later would become a full 24 hour broadcasting day; remote broadcasting for Olivet Football & Basketball Games; & Olivet Radio's 1st affiliation with a National News Network.
Dr Henry Smith would become the Director of Broadcasting during the Summer of 1988. One of his major accomplishments was leading the charge of getting Olivet Radio's Call Letters changed to WONU AM & FM. He would also help to further streamline the music format for both the AM Carrier Current Station as well as the FM Station.
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Wikipedia