88.1 FM WELH Providence

A high school student's idea 37 years ago to create a campus radio station in a teacher's small office closet has grown after three decades into an internet broadcasting program providing music, sports, and public affairs programming for The Wheeler School community and others in Rhode Island. Wheeler radio traces its roots to 1984 when student (now State of RI attorney) John E. Corrigan (’87) proposed the creation of a school radio station through Wheeler’s Aerie Program (a department for academic enrichment at the School). The station was started with the support and encouragement of Wheeler teacher Mark Harris and a Headmaster’s Grant of $1,500 in “seed money” from then Wheeler Head William C. Prescott, Jr. The station was initially launched in 1986 when it broadcast from a studio at the School to Providence and North Providence over the facilities of Dimension Cable Television. The operation was then known as WELR and was programmed exclusively by Wheeler students. ​ Corrigan continued to develop and expand the station after high school graduation, applying to the Federal Communications Commission for a permit to build a 150 watt non-commercial, educational FM station on 88.1 FM (the last available FM frequency licensed to Providence). The permit was granted in 1992, and Wheeler took to the air in December of 1994 with WELH, broadcasting from a transmitter at the Wheeler School Farm Campus in Seekonk, Massachusetts. In the years since, Wheeler programmed WELH with a mix of its own students and select partnerships with other area schools and organizations, including Latino Public Radio, Rhode Island College and Brown University. ​ Today, the station operates at 4,000 watts following a power increase granted by the FCC and the construction of a new transmitting facility at the Farm. The station is managed by a full time broadcast professional, David Schiano, who has been involved since the station signed on as WELH.