Community Outreach

WLOY Loyola Radio strives to use its influence to reach out and give back to the community in and out of the station. In the studio, we’ve created the What Happens Next? radio program in which elementary school students get to go a step beyond their classroom resources, improving their creative writing skills while getting an inside look at radio broadcasting.

WLOY reaches out to the Baltimore community, hosting summer radio boot camps for Middle Grades Partnership students, the CHOICE Program for high schoolers and more.  WLOY additionally places programs directly in public schools for students through the Radio Edu program.

WLOY regularly hosts guests such as Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, Webelos and more. Our staff also visit area schools to talk about radio, audio and paths to college.

Our community programs and alumni were recently highlighted in the Loyola alumni magazine which can be found here.

Below are some of the programs at WLOY as we work year-round to benefit the community with more than just great music:

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Baltimore Outreach Programs

“What Happens Next?” Program – Home school, public and private school kids come to the station weekly for the main program. Since 6/08 – weekly

“What Happens Next?” Field Program. WLOY provides installations of ProTools digital audio systems and equipment to run small radio studios at Baltimore City Public Schools (free) to develop additional programs for WLOY broadcasts. Installation sites are run by teachers within the schools with WLOY staff training and support. Since 6/08

“Both Feet In: Conversations With People Experiencing Homelessness” – Interviews with homeless, formerly homeless, advocates and service providers, including City administration in Baltimore City. Since 2/10 – weekly

Word on the Street – WLOY helped to found, and funded the first year of operations for a new homeless newspaper in Baltimore. Sales of the paper go directly to the homeless and recently homeless vendors and the entire staff are volunteers. Since 3/12 – quarterly.

Radio Boot Camp – every summer with 15-20 Middle Grades Partnership program 8th graders. Over 2 weeks we give them a radio experience including on air, story development and recording. Since 7/07 – summers

“Roland Park Radio Plays” – working 2x per year with students from Roland Park Middle School to record and produce radio plays created in their class. This fall we’ve teamed students at Kennedy Krieger High School with the RPMS students to create the sound effects for all the plays. 1 group per semester of ~ 20 students since 3/11.

Radio Boot Camp/Mini-Session – working with students in the Choice program, through CCSJ to provide a 1 or 2 day session on radio, including on air and production experiences. Since 3/10 – on demand

Radio Boot Camp/Sessions/Support – working with students at Kennedy Krieger High School to develop their weekly podcasts, experience studio recording and assist in the development of their digital media vocational track. Since 2/11

The President’s Cup Citywide High School Baseball Tournament. WLOY was host station, providing on air live coverage, play-by-play, recording, DJ and PA services, and game archives for this public/private school event.  The event was converted to a single All-Star game in 2014, held at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.  WLOY continues to provide live play-by-play and archives of the event. Since 2011 – annual.

Baltimore Community Radio Coalition. WLOY co-founded and incubates programs for the BCRC, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. This includes support for new program ideas, ongoing projects and special events. WLOY provides technology as well as training.

Radio Edu Project.  WLOY provides Macintosh computers and Adobe Audition software, along with all additional equipment for recording and production.  Jonathan Prozzi (Loyola ’08, WLOY alumnus) provides in school training and education of 5th grade students in audio science, recording and production work.  Began 10/13 in Eutaw Marshburn Elementary School, with expansion discussions under way around Baltimore.

The Baltimore Furniture Bank. WLOY provided incubation to launch this project connecting recently housed members of the community with good used furnishings at no cost. Collection of goods at Loyola was coordinated with the Good Stuff Campaign on campus and additional furnishings were gathered from Loyola after dormitory refurbishing. Incubation 2018-19, 501(c)(3) started under Fusion Partnerships, multiple grants achieved.

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Community/Public Affairs Programming

“What Happens Next?” – children’s literacy program, as above, weekly since 6/09

“Both Feet In: Conversations With People Experiencing Homelessness” – Interviews with homeless, formerly homeless, advocates and service providers, including City administration in Baltimore City. Weekly since 2/10

“Centsable Finance” – A weekly program centered on financial information for all ages, highlighting Baltimore and Maryland resources for education, finance, and law. Guests come from a wide spectrum and the host is a retired professional financial advisor. Weekly 10/04 – 6/13. On hiatus as long time host has retired.  Past shows are archived online for playback and/or download.

“Explore Baltimore” – 6x per week 1 minute highlight feature that provides information on interesting options in the city of Baltimore. Features are posted to the website and run as daily 1 minute pieces as well. Segments are “Museum Monday”, “Tourist Tuesday”, “Wacky Wednesday”, “Theater Thursday”, “Food Friday”, and “Sports Saturday”. All posts are collected online in a special section.

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Community Events

Honfest 2007-present. WLOY provides press coverage and maintains a booth at the event with considerable traffic and visibility. Since 2014, WLOY has run an entire stage with 15 bands over the 2-day event with huge success!

Hampdenfest 2009-present. WLOY provides press coverage and maintains a booth at the event with considerable traffic and visibility. We have been asked to carry the event live in 2012 with coverage from our tent and throughout the day.

Kidstock 2010. WLOY provided press coverage and maintains a booth at the event with considerable traffic and visibility. and ran a What Happens Next? program at the site for any interested children. Although the event no longer occurs WLOY was invited to run What Happens Next? live at the Chessie Jam in 2014 with a large group of kids at Pier Six Pavilion.

Lauraville Fair 2008-11. WLOY provided press coverage and maintained a booth at the event with considerable traffic and visibility.

The Mayor’s Annual Christmas Parade 2010-present. WLOY was the only non-commercial media represented at the parade, by invitation. We gave out over 600 candy canes in 2010 and a huge stuffed bear and still get compliments in Hampden on our changing float designs.  Although the parade was cancelled by heavy snow in 2013, WLOY completed it’s float and held a solo parade in Hampden handing out gifts and candy for several hours!  The parade resumed in 2014 and WLOY remains an annual presence.  We gave out 2,500 candy canes in the 2015 parade!!

The President’s Cup Citywide High School Baseball Tournament 2011-present. WLOY hosted the tournament, provided live play-by-play, archived games and a documentary for the inaugural tournament, including live play-by-play of the championship at Camden Yards.

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Charity Fundraising

2016 – The Book Thing Thing fundraising concert and direct donations total over $10,000

2013 – art auction for Word on the Street raised $4,000.

2012 – continued financial support of Word on the Street, raised $2,500 at art auction and funded additional printing

2011 – $2,400 support fund to found Word on the Street homeless newspaper, covering 1 full year of expenses & printing

2010 – $22,000+ for Haitian Earthquake Relief

2008 – $3,000+ for Middle Grades Partnership – BCPS student support

2006-2013 average $1,800/yr for Relay for Life

2005 – $10,000+ for Xavier University Louisiana – Katrina Relief

ongoing annual support via smaller charity donations to many organizations