This article first appeared in Sunday's Wisconsin State Journal.
VIROQUA — The morning began with classical music from Franz Joseph Haydn and J.S. Bach, segued into gospel and then bluegrass before a locally produced, serial comic drama called "Sleepy Coulee" took a six-minute turn on the broadcasting schedule.
For two hours on Thursday, there was talk about honey bees.
WDRT-FM (91.9) has been on the air for just over a year but has quickly become a part of the cultural fabric of this region known for its artisans, organic farmers and independent spirit.
The nonprofit station accepts underwriting from businesses but doesn't air commercials. It has just three part-time employees but more than 100 volunteers who provide programming, keep the station running and help raise funds to cover the $85,000 annual operating budget.
Rent is a thing of the past. Earlier this year, the station received a $120,000 donation from one supporter so it could buy the former farm implement building that now houses studios, banks of electronic equipment and some of the most diverse, entertaining and unusual radio programs in the state.
"The nice thing about our station is that we don't have to be real slick," said Jim Hallberg, who helped found the station. "What's happening here is pretty amazing."
The 500-watt station, located on South Main Street, is one of 200 community-supported radio stations in the country and one of just a handful in Wisconsin.
Madison, Rhinelander, Eau Claire and Hayward have stations. Madison's WORT-FM, founded in 1975, was used as a model for WDRT.
And even though it's been just a year, WDRT is now helping other community-supported stations get on the air, including one in Ames, Iowa, and another in White Earth, Minn.
"I'm sure there'll be more," said Eddie Nix, president of the board of directors and owner of a used bookstore in an old tobacco warehouse in Viroqua. "There are a lot of people who send us queries."
The Federal Communication Commission gives a station three years to get on the air once a station is issued a construction permit. WDRT did it in half the time. Now, combined with WORT, motorists on Highway 14 can hear community-supported radio from Madison to Viroqua. As one station fades, the other becomes stronger.
The programming for WDRT got its start on the Internet in 2004. When the station got approval for a frequency, volunteers raised $91,000 within the first two weeks and the station now has 420 subscribing members. Most pay $60 a year but others pay as little as $1. Some contribute hundreds of dollars a year.
The goal for the station, which covers five counties, is to have about 1,000 paying members. By comparison, the Viroqua Food Cooperative has 2,500 members, Nix said.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Vernon County has a population of almost 30,000 people and a median annual household income of $40,644.
The Census Bureau doesn't measure passion. If it did, Hallberg may be near the top of the list.
He makes a living by running the organic lunch program for the Pleasant Ridge Waldorf School in Viroqua and he farms 11 acres of squash, beets, cabbage and other vegetables. For the past year, Hallberg has risen at 4:45 a.m. each weekday to host "Driftless Morning," a show with little talk but a wide range of music, from 6 to 8 a.m.
The only news is an occasional mention of the time and temperature and maybe a little information about the apple harvest or an upcoming community event, like Kickapalooza, the station's major fundraiser scheduled for Saturday. After his show, it's off to the school, but he typically returns to the station for a few hours each afternoon.
"I have a full life," Hallberg said. "This is a wonderful opportunity."
Viroqua has three commercial radio stations owned by the same company. WVRQ-AM offers oldies music and WVRQ-FM, country. Both provide local news and high school sports coverage, while WPKO-FM has local news and a mix of music.
But on WDRT, the daily offerings differ by the hour. About 60 percent of the programs are locally produced, the remainder come from national networks or syndication services.
On Mondays and Wednesdays, local actor Margot Hippwell reads the columns of Pearl Swiggum, a former columnist for the Crawford County Independent in Gays Mills and the State Journal.
Matt Rothschild, editor of the Progressive Magazine in Madison, has a 30-minute show once a week.
Paul Fairchild hosts "The Train," two hours of acoustic, folk, rock and what he calls "Old-Timey," music on Tuesdays.
On Thursdays, from 10 a.m. to noon, Genie P. Nordskog and Ed Holahan host "Life: On the Radio." Last week, their talk show featured husband and wife beekeepers, Jody and Jordan Bendel of Westby. The Bendels' young children played in the lounge of the station as Nordskog and Holahan peppered the couple with questions about honey, how the couple met at a beekeepers meeting, the care of bees, safety and the impact of pesticides on bee colonies. The discussion was far from scripted, was side tracked at times by other thoughts from the hosts and interspersed by jazz selected by John Tully, who runs the Driftless Cafe down the street but volunteers as an audio engineer for the show.
"Our job is to make (the show) sound like it's around a kitchen table," Holahan said. "Our area is so full of so many talented people."
Barry Adams covers regional news for the Wisconsin State Journal. Send him ideas for On Wisconsin at 608-252-6148 or by email at badams@madison.com.
