The future of WELY Radio in Ely, Minn., was uncertain in May of 2022 when the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa said it would soon go silent. After a short reprieve, its final day was Nov. 30, 2022. The licensee reportedly had put $1.7 million into the station since 2005.
WELY(AM/FM) sat silent while Zoe Communications of Wisconsin had it, but in February of this year Civic Media purchased the station, with a solid plan to put it back on the air.
The company has about 30 radio stations, mostly in Wisconsin, where it is based. It emphasizes local content, as its name suggests. The CEO is Sage Weil, a successful software engineer and executive from California who moved to Madison to be a broadcaster.
History
I have a personal connection to this station.
My father, Charles B. Persons, did the engineering work to launch an earlier station, WXLT(AM), in the city, completing the necessary FCC measurements on a New Year’s Eve in the late 1940s.
[Related: “Minn. Broadcasters Hall of Fame to Induct Mark and Paula Persons”]
But WXLT was unable to pay its bills in this tough iron-mining town, and it went silent after about two years.
But Dad would be back. He decided to leave a good corporate engineering job at the Arrowhead Radio Network — which had about a dozen stations in Minnesota and Wisconsin — because he felt the urge to own a radio station himself.
He applied for and received a construction permit to build WELY on the same 1450 kHz frequency, on the same 150-foot tower and in the same building as WXLT. He moved the transmitter and studios from the main floor to a walkout basement, and our family, including four boys, lived above.
WELY went on the air Oct. 11, 1954. It started as a shoestring operation but quickly won over the hearts of the local community to become profitable.
The station was referred to as Broadcast House. You could address a letter to Broadcast House in Ely and it would be delivered. Coverage outside of town was poor, with only 250 watts in very low soil conductivity. However, it was the only radio station in the town of 5,500 people. The signal did not need to go far as there wasn’t much outside of Ely.
My father had a 20-minute “fireside chat” for listeners on Sunday afternoons called “Hello Neighbor.” Charlie would talk about things at the station and around town, steadfastly refusing any commercial endorsements for the program. Listeners knew they were getting the inside story, much like the broadcasts by President Roosevelt during the Depression and World War Two.
An interesting note is that my father talked the FCC into allowing third-party messages. This was long before cellphones or any telephones in the wilderness area surrounding Ely.
Announcements were aired at a scheduled time each day, usually messages from families and friends of those camping. A message might say, “John Donovan, your brother Frank had a heart attack and is in a hospital in Albany, New York.” The tradition continues today — this wilderness area has virtually no cell service or internet.
Two iron mines kept locals employed, especially during the war, when the mines operated 24/7. Our family left the area in 1959.
The town of Ely eventually became a tourist destination, at the edge of what is known by the U.S. Forest Service as the Boundary Water Canoe Area Wilderness. This is where Minnesota and Canada come together in beautiful camping and fishing waters. There are now 3,268 Ely residents.
One of the photos shows the station in 1995. The tower proudly sported WELY call letters. The studio has since moved downtown; today the house and original tower are privately owned. The W was removed, and the tower sign now says ELY.
The AM transmitter was moved to a nearby tower (see Fig. 3) in the early 1990s and runs 770 watts fulltime non-directional on 1450 kHz. They cut back from 1,000 watts because the tower is taller and thus more efficient.
WELY-FM, 6 kW on 94.5 MHz, was added in 1992. It is off the air as I write this in November, but as soon as a tower crew arrives, the latest change will make it 35 kW using a Bext eight-bay antenna and a Nautel transmitter.
As you can see in the photo, the tower is shared with a cellular company, so typical in today’s world.
End of the road
Roads leading to Ely come from the south and southeast. You don’t drive through Ely to get somewhere. That is how WELY became known as “End of the Road Radio.”
Ely is only about 16 miles from the Canadian border. It is known as the Gateway to the Boundary Waters as well as the Canoe Capital and Sled Dog Capital of the U.S. Take your pick, they are all recreational activities.
The station chocked up a checkered past since 1954. WELY closed briefly, then reopened in 1995 when CBS journalist Charles Kuralt of “On the Road” fame bought it after falling in love with Ely. This brought some notoriety to the station. The station was sold after he died in 1997. Later the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa purchased WELY. The station went through frequent format changes.
You’ve seen it before — a broadcast owner with no programming experience changes the format to suit his or her liking. The result is usually bad news. Listeners and sponsors go away and it is a struggle to get them back.
The newest owners seem to represent a fresh start for WELY(AM/FM). Small-town stations have a better chance of succeeding than those in larger cities because they can be programmed with local news and events. There is polka music on Saturday mornings that the town people love. No changing that in a community where descendants of northern European immigrants have lived for many generations.
The nearest town with a radio station is Eveleth, Minn., some 50 miles away. However, there’s competition from six FM translators in Ely.
Civic Media brought WELY(AM) back to life in the spring of 2025, but the inoperative FM transmit antenna needed to be replaced; that project stalled when it was said a tower stress study had to be done but then was deemed a “repair,” so work could continue. Meanwhile 1450 kHz WELY AM continued, much like it had 71 years ago. It is hometown radio with heart-warming music and good voices.
Broadcast engineer Erick Burnstad, shown in one of the photos, was at the studio when I visited recently. He is one of five engineers employed by Civic Media. Erick hails from Portage, Wis., but enjoys going from station to station. He has his hands full with transmitters and converting automation systems over to ENCO.
Station Manager Terri Pylka was born and raised in Ely. She and three others worked together previously at WELY and are excited to be working together again as part of Civic Media, an organization that values and supports community radio. Terri is passionate about the community while building good business relationships.
And morning announcer Craig Laughery goes by “Trader Craig” for items he lists for sale on the air. He interviewed my wife Paula and me live on WELY for half an hour one morning. We related history stories to the staff and listeners. Speaking of listeners, at least five people stopped in while we were there to visit and show their appreciation for WELY returning to the air. That is small-town radio!
Civic Media says it aims “to champion the practice of democracy through the power of honest and informative local voices.” The programming lineup includes local football, volleyball, basketball, ski meets and especially hockey. A translator for WELY(AM) is on 103.9 MHz and you can listen online at WELY’s website. There is also more information available at WELY’s Facebook page.
My father’s book, “Where Have All the Broadcasters Gone?” has “The Ely Years” in Chapter 7. The book is out of print; however you can hear the audio, absolutely free, as narrated by Kirk Harnack.
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