For more than 50 years, WKKC 89.3 FM, based at Kennedy-King College in Englewood, has served as a training ground for aspiring broadcasters and a launchpad for Chicago’s Black radio talent. The student-run station is the only radio outlet operated by City Colleges of Chicago and has played a role in introducing new music genres to local audiences.
Marcella Jones began her three-decade career at WKKC after persistently requesting that then-program manager Reggie Miles play her church choir’s song on air. Her efforts eventually paid off, leading to roles both behind the scenes and on-air before she returned as program manager in 2023.
Jones works alongside Station Engineer Emmett Kevin Brown and Director of Operations Abe Thompson to guide students through the basics of radio broadcasting. They aim to prepare students for an evolving media landscape shaped by social media influencers and digital content creators.
“Radio opens doors. It gives you five jobs in one, and you won’t even be tired of doing it,” said Kyle Calloway, a current student who hosts a midday talk show at WKKC.
Brown’s association with the station dates back to the late 1970s when he was a student at Kennedy-King’s former campus. He helped expand WKKC’s broadcast reach from 10 kilowatts to 250 kilowatts, enabling it to serve wider audiences and invest in equipment that gave it a distinctive sound comparable to commercial stations.
“You had a lot of suburban kids that wanted that booming sound in their car, the subs and everything. We purchased a piece of equipment called the Orban which gave us that urban sound. So we were an educational station with an urban sound with that deep bass. We used to have people from WGCI come by and say, ‘Man, what y’all doing up there?’” said Brown.
Thompson joined WKKC in the mid-2000s after working at other major Chicago stations. “The station is lucky in a number of ways, because it impacted the broadcast industry in a big way, in a community way in that it was an educational vehicle,” said Thompson. “When you talk about the other stations, they don’t even compare. The impact that KKC has had on education, on media, on radio, is bigger in some cases, than the commercial radio stations.”
WKKC was among the first stations to play house music regularly during the early 1980s—preceding others like WBMX—and featured influential DJs such as Mike Dunn and Farley “Jackmaster” Funk. DJ Pink House also contributed significantly by promoting local artists including Do or Die and Common when mainstream outlets would not.
The station maintains strict guidelines against explicit content despite Federal Communications Commission rules permitting college stations greater leeway; this policy remains part of its identity today.
WKKC also hosted public affairs programming such as “Report to the People,” once led by former Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White. The show connected listeners with state resources over its decade-long run at WKKC.
Veteran host Darryl Dennard reflected on his time training future broadcasters: “The most rewarding aspect was having an extremely popular program that attracted students from across the city, and seeing them get hired at stations here in Chicago.”
Students like Calloway credit their experiences at WKKC with building skills beyond broadcasting: “Nobody can stop you once you realize that you are the platform,” said Calloway. “WKKC makes you understand how much of a voice you are…So once you learn that, the rest is easy.”
