Lumpen Radio (WLPN) is a non-commercial radical radio station that showcases innovative ideas, plays highly curated music, and broadcasts commentary on the issues of our day.
We are community radio of the future!
WLPN spotlights the hidden parts of the city we love, amplifying its voices and sounds. We are a station for the people that live and work in the city, people everywhere that love Chicago’s underground cultures, and people who love the idea of freeform radio wherever they are.
WLPN is a project of Public Media Institute (PMI). PMI is a non-profit 501(c) 3, community based, art & culture organization located in the city of Chicago since 2001. PMI’s mission is to create, incubate and sustain innovative cultural programming through the production of socially engaged projects, festivals, spaces, exhibitions, and media.
Join our mailing list and to keep in touch with programs related to the station.
Over the past three years Lumpen Radio has presented a multiversity of voices and sounds over the airwaves of Chicagoland. It is one of the few radio outlets left that is not run by a robot making playlists derived by a demographic research algorithm.
It’s made by real people with deep connections to the music they play. And the talks shows and live programs present a wide range of voices and opinions that sustain and fuel a diverse cultural exchange of ideas.
Lumpen DJs and producers are professional and amateur DJs, activists, artists, and creative folks that make WLPN one of the best live radio stations on Earth.
You can become part of the wide range of individual and commercial supporters that pays the bills to keep this station on the air..
You can support our programming through Underwriting.
Contact us at lumpenradio@publicmediainstitute.com for a media kit that explains who we reach and how much it costs to stay in touch with an informed and engaged listener base that gives a shit.