Craig Reptile: Your Sunday Sonic Sundowner writesWhy I Volunteer: Craig Bechtel

After years of wandering in the radio wilderness, I have found a home. Like a lot of my colleagues, I was a college radio person, and dabbled in professional radio too. But after college, I went in a different professional direction. A friend from the Chicago Indie Rock Fans Meetup Group introduced me to CHIRP at a fundraiser a few years back. I got involved because I loved the concept of Low Power FM radio stations and what they could offer to Chicago, and loved the idea of sharing my love of music with listeners. CHIRP cares about Chicago, playing great music whether it’s new or old, local or international. Non-profit, community based and operated by a volunteer staff, no other radio organization does it better, and no one else is as passionate as CHIRP.

CHIRP was instrumental in getting the Local Community Radio Act passed. The software CHIRP created to run the station online and our website are both state of the art, so much so that other stations and aspiring community broadcasters look to us for ideas and solutions. And if that weren’t enough, CHIRP was voted "best overall radio station" by the Reader and Chicago magazine. There’s no question that CHIRP Radio online has been a great success, and we will continue that effort, but our overall goal is to finally obtain a broadcast signal, and we need your help to get there. Please visit www.chirpradio.org/donatenow and make a contribution today. Thanks! -- Craig Bechtel (Volunteer)