HYDE PARK — The University of Chicago’s radio station will remain off the air until Sept. 19 after bed bugs found at the station led the university to shut it down.
WHPK went off the air on Aug. 2 after a bed bug was discovered in the studio and the university ordered exterminators to check the station and all 70 DJs to get their homes inspected for a possible infestation.
Getting a university-approved exterminator to every DJ’s home has taken longer than expected and the date to go back on air has been pushed back by three weeks to Sept. 19 from Aug. 29, according to Zach Yost, the station manager.
If WHPK again goes live on Sept. 19, it will have been off the air for 48 days, briefly broadcasting on Aug. 21 to stay in compliance with the Federal Communications Commission, Yost said.
Yost said exterminators found no signs of a bed bug infestation and there was only ever one bed bug seen in the studio.
“One bed bug was visually identified in the station the day of the closure,” Yost said. “There was an inspection that week in which no other bed bugs were found; however, the dogs used for the inspection did alert to a chair in the studio. No bed bugs were detected on the chair, but it was still treated and disposed of. All follow-up inspections found no existing bed bug presence.”
But university officials said Friday that multiple bed bugs were found in the studio.
In August, Marielle Sainvilus, a spokeswoman for the university, said the university was following a standard policy for any time bed bugs are found in one of its building.
“The WHPK radio station is an important part of our campus community, and in order to preserve the safety and sanitation of the studio and the Reynolds Club as a whole, it was necessary to temporarily close the studio to eradicate bed bugs and prevent them from spreading,” Sainvilus said.
“The licensed pest control service the university has engaged has determined that there is no evidence of an ongoing infestation of the WHPK studio and spaces, and that the bed bugs are being brought into the station.”
The long delay to get back on the air initially caused seven DJs to quit. Yost declined to say whether any other volunteers or staff have quit.
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