Radio WHPK-FM (Pride of the South Side)

WHPK-FM (88.5 FM) is a radio station based in Chicago, Illinois. In addition, this frequency is also used[clarification needed] by several local high schools in the Chicago metropolitan area.

Mitchell Tower, the University of Chicago building where the station's studios are located.WHPK is the successor to the university's earlier carrier-current station, WUCB, which was founded in 1946 by students who had gained experience with radio serving in World War II. In 1959, WUCB's studios were relocated from Burton-Judson Courts on 60th Street to Mitchell Tower in the Reynolds Club building on the southwest corner of 57th Street and University Avenue, a space that had previously been home to the university's Radio Office. WHPK's antenna is located on the roof of Pierce Tower, a University of Chicago dormitory on 55th street and University Avenue. Its transmitter room is on the tenth floor of Pierce Tower, in Shorey House.

WHPK came into being in 1968 when the campus secret Society of the Owl and Serpent disbanded and donated its funds and Reynolds Club office space to a student radio group. WHPK also assumed the adjacent WUCB studios. WHPK started broadcasting as a 10-watt FM station at 88.3 MHz on March 22, 1968. In 1985, WHPK upgraded to a 100-watt transmitter and moved to the current frequency of 88.5 MHz.

WHPK, mainly through the work of JP Chill and Ken Wissoker, was the first radio station in Chicago to broadcast rap music. The station has been home to many aspiring rappers throughout the years, including Common, who, in his song Nuthin' to do, stated that "HPK was the only station that would fuck with rap."

In 2008, WHPK was awarded "Best College Radio Station" by Chicago Reader.