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WONC 89.1FM


Pure Rock FM89: The Radio Voice of North Central College


Featured Posts


Featured

Seeing STAYC: What Two Years Changes

by Hailie Balding   I first saw STAYC in 2023 for their TEENFRESH tour. They were my favorite girl group then, and they still are today. When they announced their 2025 world tour STAY TUNED, I had zero hesitation in clearing my calendar. Getting to see STAYC is always an

Featured

Make a Donation to Toys For Tots

Now through December 13, we’re working with the Naperville Park District’s Park Police to collect donations for Toys for Tots! We invite you to contribute new, unwrapped toys for the 2025 DuPage County Toys for Tots program, hosted by the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. In 2024, the Naperville Park District

Featured

Scenes from the Saxophone Section: Frank Morgan

by Tyler Schmitz   On this week’s Scenes from the Saxophone Section, I escaped the dangerously low registers of Scott Robinson’s contrabass and the show saw a return to form. Frank Morgan has been described as a “Charlie Parker successor” for his style of alto sax, and I can definitely

Featured

Scenes from the Saxophone Section: Scott Robinson

by Tyler Schmitz   On Sunday Standards, I like to dedicate a feature to a different saxophone player each week. Being a sax player myself, I know what to look for when I’m in a specific mood. This week’s feature was on Scott Robinson, a player I could only best

Featured

Chicago Bears Hope to Continue Their Hot Streak

by Anthony Licata   The Chicago Bears have gotten off to a hot start in the new season. They’re 4-2 and hope to continue their hot streak this week against the Baltimore Ravens. This will be a test for the Bears to prove to the league that they have a

Featured

What We’ve Seen and What to Expect from the Blackhawks Gen-Z Stars

by Cassie Schneider As of October 19, the Chicago Blackhawks are entering their 7th game of the 2025-2026 season. During the preseason, they played quite sloppy, winning only two of six games. There’s always the excuse of “having young talent,” or it being “a building year,” but how long can

Featured

Dissecting Sleep Token’s Even in Arcadia

by Katrina Woelke   Sleep Token’s sophomore album Even in Arcadia was the sound of my summer. The anonymous band rose to fame after the song “The Summoning” went viral on TikTok in 2023. That was where I found my taste for metal music. While this album was released in

Featured

Sainz’s First “Smooth Operation” in Williams F1

by Morgan Piontek   The Williams Formula One team started the 2025 season with excitement as they welcomed a new driver into their team: Carlos Sainz. After spending four years with Ferrari, it shocked the F1 world on February 1, 2024 with the announcement that Lewis Hamilton would join Ferrari

Featured

Fire Emblem Fortunes Weave: Less Exciting Than I Hoped

by Preston Rizzo   About two weeks ago, Nintendo revealed the newest game in the Fire Emblem franchise. The game is called Fire Emblem Fortunes Weave, and frankly, I’m not too excited about it. I’ve been a fan of the series for about 10 years and played some amount of

Featured

Brat Summer Isn’t Over: Trends from Charli XCX’s Brat

by Meghan Breitberg   In the summer of 2024, Charli XCX released her sixth studio album, Brat, and the world lost its collective mind. The album was filled with songs showing Charli’s vulnerability within the industry, her relationships, and even her friends with songs like “Sympathy is a Knife” and

Music


Featured

Seeing STAYC: What Two Years Changes

by Hailie Balding   I first saw STAYC in 2023 for their TEENFRESH tour. They were my favorite girl group then, and they still are today. When they announced their 2025 world tour STAY TUNED, I had zero hesitation in clearing my calendar. Getting to see STAYC is always an

Featured

Scenes from the Saxophone Section: Frank Morgan

by Tyler Schmitz   On this week’s Scenes from the Saxophone Section, I escaped the dangerously low registers of Scott Robinson’s contrabass and the show saw a return to form. Frank Morgan has been described as a “Charlie Parker successor” for his style of alto sax, and I can definitely

Featured

Scenes from the Saxophone Section: Scott Robinson

by Tyler Schmitz   On Sunday Standards, I like to dedicate a feature to a different saxophone player each week. Being a sax player myself, I know what to look for when I’m in a specific mood. This week’s feature was on Scott Robinson, a player I could only best

Featured

Dissecting Sleep Token’s Even in Arcadia

by Katrina Woelke   Sleep Token’s sophomore album Even in Arcadia was the sound of my summer. The anonymous band rose to fame after the song “The Summoning” went viral on TikTok in 2023. That was where I found my taste for metal music. While this album was released in

Featured

Brat Summer Isn’t Over: Trends from Charli XCX’s Brat

by Meghan Breitberg   In the summer of 2024, Charli XCX released her sixth studio album, Brat, and the world lost its collective mind. The album was filled with songs showing Charli’s vulnerability within the industry, her relationships, and even her friends with songs like “Sympathy is a Knife” and

Featured

Speechless: My Reaction to Seeing Helmet Perform Live

by Olivia McGuin   September 19-21 was my third time attending Riot Fest. The punk rock festival is something I look forward to annually and this year was extremely special to me. I got to attend with some of my close friends and fellow WONC members, and I got to

Culture Shock

Why I Love R&B

by Noah Redmond So many R&B artists are catching my attention as I dive into the scene. I’m already a fan of Erykah Badu and SZA, but since Culture Shock has been on the air, I’ve enjoyed music from LiBianca, Giveon, Victoria Monet and some debuting artists. I wanted to

Featured

A Great Time at the McHenry Music Festival

by Dalton Mont   The McHenry Music Festival is an annual country music festival with some of the biggest names headlining. This year’s headliners were Sam Hunt, Slightly Stoopid, and Bailey Zimmerman. I was able to make it to two days of the festival: Friday for Sam Hunt and Sunday

Featured

ALT BLK ERA: Unstoppable, Unfiltered, Unapologetic

by Jayden Lawrence   On January 24, 2025, sisters Nyrobi and Chaya Becket-Messam dropped their album, Rave Immortal, which reached #1 on the UK Rock and Metal Charts. I was given the opportunity to virtually interview this British rock band ultimately known as ALT BLK ERA. It was an honor

Culture Shock

Tupac Shakur: Born to Fight Forward

by Jayden Lawrence When Tupac Shakur died on September 13, 1996, the world lost something more than just a rapper; we were deprived of the willingness to continue fighting. Shakur played his last show, somewhat fittingly, at the House of Blues in West Hollywood, California, on July 4, 1996. In

WONC Sports


Featured

Chicago Bears Hope to Continue Their Hot Streak

by Anthony Licata   The Chicago Bears have gotten off to a hot start in the new season. They’re 4-2 and hope to continue their hot streak this week against the Baltimore Ravens. This will be a test for the Bears to prove to the league that they have a

Featured

What We’ve Seen and What to Expect from the Blackhawks Gen-Z Stars

by Cassie Schneider As of October 19, the Chicago Blackhawks are entering their 7th game of the 2025-2026 season. During the preseason, they played quite sloppy, winning only two of six games. There’s always the excuse of “having young talent,” or it being “a building year,” but how long can

Featured

Sainz’s First “Smooth Operation” in Williams F1

by Morgan Piontek   The Williams Formula One team started the 2025 season with excitement as they welcomed a new driver into their team: Carlos Sainz. After spending four years with Ferrari, it shocked the F1 world on February 1, 2024 with the announcement that Lewis Hamilton would join Ferrari

Featured

UFC 320 Recap

by Sam Phipps   As soon as UFC 320 was announced, I knew it was going to be an exciting night. With both Magomed Ankalev and Merab Dvalishvili defending their titles, I hoped they wouldn’t go down so easily. Besides the title defenders, I’ve seen clips of Jiri Prochazka fighting

Featured

The Effects of Climate Change on the Sports Industry

by Rose Orrala   Rising temperatures and extreme weather events affect athletic performance, disrupt fan enjoyment, and cost millions in adaptations. A 2024 World Athletics survey found that 74 percent of athletes were extremely concerned about climate change. Helping explain these athletes’ rising concern, the World Meteorological Organization predicted an

Specialty Shows


Jesse Hudgins

Joker: Folie A Deux Trailer Finally Debuts

by Jesse Hudgins After years of anticipation and speculation on whether the movie would even be happening, the sequel to the 2019 movie Joker has gotten its first trailer. Dropping on April 9, the trailer gives us our first look at what to expect from what’s said to be a

Jesse Hudgins

The Crow Needs to Be Left Alone

by Jesse Hudgins This year, we’ll be getting a new adaptation of The Crow, the first in 19 years. It’ll star Bill Skarsgard as Eric Draven (The Crow) as he takes revenge on the group that killed him and his fiancé Shelly, played by FKA Twigs. This is a project that

Alternage

Contemplative Pop Punk: Neck Deep at The Salt Shed

by Chloe Kallberg After four months across the pond and on the road, Neck Deep’s second American tour came to a close in Chicago on February 25. Tucked into a tiny and expensive parking spot, my friends and I emptied our pockets, flashed our tickets, and permeated the Salt Shed

Jesse Hudgins

The Time Has Come for Sony to Sell Spider-Man

by Jesse Hudgins   For nearly 25 years, Sony has owned the rights to Spider-Man and the characters connected to him. In that time, we’ve had 11 films using the Spider-Man characters under the Sony banner, nine live-action and two animated, with the latest being Madame Web with Kraven the

Alternage

2024 Music Predictions

by Jesse Hudgins and Chloe Kallberg Alternage is approaching its third birthday, which means we’ve been closely following release schedules of our favorite punk, pop punk, emo, and alternative genres since we began college. Meshed with our own personal wish lists, here are three predictions we have for what’s in

Jesse Hudgins

FX Deserves Their Flowers

Over the years there have been TV channels that have reigned supreme as those with the best original content. Whether it be AMC with Breaking Bad and Walking Dead or HBO with Game of Thrones and The Sopranos, each channel had their time at the top. There’s been one channel,

Alternage

Alternage Retrospective: Milo Goes to College

“I want to be stereotyped; I want to be classified.” These are lyrics that can apply to any generation of music listener. They were written by California punks Descendents and were released on the 1982 album Milo Goes to College. Descendents are a California punk band that formed in 1977

Crossroads

The Crossroads Artist Highlight: Bryan Martin

by Sam Corbett The Crossroads is one of the newest shows on FM89, meaning a whole new batch of genres, artists, and songs. Outlaw country rock, southern rock, shadow country, and delta blues are just some of the genres that the show will highlight. While I’m excited to bring new

Jordan Mark

Pop Stop: Have We Lost Our Minds?

by Jordan Mark A pop show on a rock station. The same station that’s dedicated itself to keeping the rock spirit alive and running for decades. The station that prides itself on playing the classics to the cutting edge. FM89 is that sanction to keep you moving in the world,

Crossroads

The Crossroads: Embrace Your Inner Outlaw

by Sam Corbett We all have an inner outlaw. The voice in your head and in your heart that wants to strut around town with a swagger. That feeling that you don’t always have to listen to others; that you can blaze your own trail. A badass vibe that always

Reviews


Featured

Fire Emblem Fortunes Weave: Less Exciting Than I Hoped

by Preston Rizzo   About two weeks ago, Nintendo revealed the newest game in the Fire Emblem franchise. The game is called Fire Emblem Fortunes Weave, and frankly, I’m not too excited about it. I’ve been a fan of the series for about 10 years and played some amount of

Featured

KPop Demon Hunters Hits All the Right Notes

by Bri Eloiza   Unless you’ve been living under a rock, don’t have small children, or don’t have a Netflix account, you’ve most likely heard of a movie called KPop Demon Hunters (a.k.a, the animated movie of the summer, a.a.k.a Netflix’s most streamed movie ever). The story follows a KPop

Featured

Dark Comedy Shines in 2025

by Sierra Knutsen   Horror movies have become increasingly popular over the years with each one attempting to either rebrand themselves as something entirely original or replicate the formula that iconic franchises have delivered audiences over the years in a new way. This year, there’s been a rise in popularity

Featured

They Were More Than Brats: A Review of Brats

by Emma Svoboda   Andrew McCarthy’s 2024 documentary Brats rehashes the mid-1980s grouping of young actors and their work, featuring flashback interviews, current interviews, movie clips, and Andrew McCarthy’s thoughts on all of it. The term was born from the title of a New York Magazine article of an interview

Lola Furbee

Lola’s Showbiz Studies: A “Tiny” Love for Maybe Happy Ending

by Lola Furbee   On March 14th, the original Broadway cast album of the musical Maybe Happy Ending was released. Directed by Michael Arden, this one-act musical tells the simple but breathtaking story of connection, friendship, and love between two robots. With an on-stage cast consisting of only four people

Reviews

R.E.P.O.: Robots, Monsters, and Absolute Anarchy

by Gray Bunch Gravity? No problem. Voice-altering item effects while you hold it? You got it. Do robots that speak look similar to Canadian characters from South Park? Definitely! R.E.P.O. is a horror co-op voice proximity game you can play with 5 friends, or by yourself; no one’s judging here.

Reviews

Dark Comedy is Shining in 2025

by Sierra Knutsen   Horror movies have become increasingly popular over the years, each attempting to either rebrand themselves as something entirely original or replicate the formula iconic franchises have delivered audiences over the years in a new way. This year, there’s been a rise in popularity of a refreshing

Reviews

Flow: Animation That Speaks Louder Than Words

by Elena Bantista On March 1, Director Gints Zilbalodis’ film Flow won an Oscar for the 2025 Best Animated Film. The hero in the movie is a black cat who doesn’t talk but still speaks volumes by his bold expressions and larger-than-life personality and adventures that jump off the screen.

Reviews

Deathloop Fails to Deliver

by Preston Rizzo   During winter break, I finally had the opportunity to play a game I had been waiting to play since 2021. Deathloop is the latest single-player focused game from Arkane Studios, who’ve made games I liked such as Dishonored and Prey. Naturally, I was interested when I

Reviews

2025 Academy Awards Live-Action Short Films

by Mia Sciabica   Recently, I was able to watch all of the Oscar-nominated animation and live-action short films at my favorite historic theater, the Music Box. The Academy made great choices for the animated shorts, but I’d like to explore more deeply the films chosen for the live-action category

Alumni Spotlight


Alumni Spotlight

Brian Iossi

Years at WONC : 2006-2009 In his time at WONC, Brian hosted one of the longer-running specialty shows, Precious Metal, with a number of people. He also spent time hosting Vintage Rock, and called baseball, softball, and basketball games. After graduating from NCC, Brian began a career in teaching and

Alumni Spotlight

Bob King

Years at WONC: 1977-1981 In his time at WONC, Bob wore many hats. He was an on-air DJ, specialty show host, newscaster, and occasional color commentator for sports broadcasts. He also served as the News Director from 1977-1978, and was the Station Manager from 1980-1981. In 1981, he was named

Alumni Spotlight

Greg Williams

Years at WONC: 2017-2021 In his time at WONC, Greg was a force in the WONC Sports Department. Starting as a color commentator for football, he soon took on the role of play-by-play for almost all NCC football games, and covered baseball, softball, and men’s and women’s basketball games.In December

Alumni Spotlight

Megann Horstead

Years at WONC : 2014-2015 During her short stretch at WONC, Megann made the most of her time, hosting various DJ shifts, as well as frequently covering news, sports, and traffic reporting duties. She used her experience at WONC to earn a programming internship at WDCB Public Radio. After graduating

Alumni Spotlight

Lucas Burris

Years at WONC: 2019-2022 Lucas began his time at WONC doing only newscasts and sports, but his involvement in the sports department was quite heavy. He called many baseball and softball games his first year, even earning Best Play-By-Play (Baseball) at the 2020 Intercollegiate Broadcasting System Awards. His sophomore year,

Concert Photos


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