The Wizard is silenced!

Northeastern Illinois' community radio station, WZRD-FM (88.3), aka "The Wizard," is off the air. The transmitter has been shut down and station volunteers have been locked out of the studios. UDATE (2/7) The saga continues... Alyssa Joy Coiley has resigned from her position as station manager of WZRD, effective last Thursday. The station continues to be off air. UPDATE (2/3) Still no "official" word on how or why WZRD's broadcast license was allowed to expire. There has been very little information released because, according to WZRD music director Dave Pecoraro, the station is trying to keep coverage of the incident to a minimum so that other broadcasters don't try to take advantage of WZRD's situation and try to apply to take over their frequency. (dial space in a market as crowded as Chicago is extremely valuable...thus, word of an opening on that dial would cause any current and would-be broadcasters to swarm on the vulnerable license like sharks) Like station manager Alyssa Joy Coiley, Pecoraro also notes that everyone at the station is working hard to get back on the air as soon as possible. We'll keep you posted here on RFC... UPDATE (2/2): According to an email sent to WZRD volunteers by station manager Alyssa Joy Coiley, station management had recently contacted the FCC about the status of their license and found out that the WZRD was currently operating without a license. This, of course, is in violation of FCC rules and the station was advised to cease broadcasting immediately until the issue is resolved. Coiley then went on to say that they are currently in the middle of an appeals process with the FCC in an effort to restore compliance and legally return to the air. It's not clear at this point whether the station's license had expired due to negligence by WZRD staff or whether the problem occured at the FCC's end.