OREANA — Several priests, deacons and a religious sister joined local Catholic radio station organizers Dec. 7 to bless the future site of WDCR 88.9’s radio tower. The station is set to premier March 1 on Central Illinois airwaves.
“This is a citywide project for all the Catholic community in the Decatur and Mt. Zion area,” Jim Comerford, board president of Decatur Catholic Radio, said. “We are close to meeting our $300,000 capital campaign to fund construction and operation of the station.
“St. Mary’s Hospital is the agency behind us, supporting us until we get up and on the air. This allows us to be a nonprofit immediately, and be tax exempt.” The WDCR recording studio will be located on the St. Mary Hospital campus.
Concrete for the tower was been poured recently, and Comerford said he and other organizers are hopeful things are now moving into high gear for the radio station which has been under planning since 2006.
“With the good Lord willing, by the end of next week, the tower will be up, the building will be in place and we’ll be able to order and start building the actual transmitting equipment,” Comerford said to the group gathered on the snow-dusted site just outside Oreana. “We owe a great deal of gratitude to the Catholic community for the generosity to help us build this and make it happen.”
Participants in the ground blessing included: Father Richard Weltin, pastor, of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish and of St. Thomas Parish; Father Joseph Molloy, pastor, Holy Family Parish; Deacon Jim Ghiglione, parish life coordinator, and Deacon Denny Baker, both of Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Parish, Mt. Zion; and Sister Jocelyn Serwotka, OSF, pastoral associate at Our Lady of Lourdes.
The new station has access to a choice of free programming from Eternal Word Television Network and from Relevant Radio, a Wisconsin-based group. A few hours of local programming are also planned, starting in the evenings and on weekends.
“One of our goals will be to bring a church setting to those who are unable to attend church services,” Comerford said.