Lawrence, get your best Wolfman Jack voice warmed up.

It is beginning to look more likely that Lawrence once again will have a nonprofit community radio station where local residents can try their hand at the broadcasting business.

As we reported back in June, a group was in the early stages of developing a plan for a low-power community radio station. Well, the group has taken a major step. It has reached a deal to place a radio antenna on top of the grain tower in North Lawrence.

Rich Wenzel, the organizer of the community radio effort, said it is the most significant step yet toward the station getting on the air.

“I would say the chances of this actually happening now are much greater and are looking really positive,” said Wenzel, a longtime Lawrence resident, solar energy expert and fan of community radio.

Wenzel said he expects to have his building application filed with the FCC by this week. The FCC will then confirm that the antenna location does not interfere with any other approved frequencies. Wenzel hopes the station will be in a position to start broadcasting in the next eight to 10 months, but concedes it may take up to 18 months to get through all the necessary processes.

As for what the station will air, Wenzel said that will depend a lot on what the community wants to produce.

“We will become involved with all types of civic groups around town, for sure,” Wenzel said. “Beyond that, there are a lot of creative people in the community, writers, musicians, inventors who we want to give a forum to.”

Wenzel particularly has been reaching out to Lawrence neighborhood associations for help with the effort. He said he envisions neighborhood associations using the station to air programs that provide information about what is going on in their neighborhoods and around the city.

The station will be run as a nonprofit entity, Wenzel said. He said he’s currently in negotiations with an existing nonprofit agency to serve as the sponsor of the organization. He said he’s also close to securing studio space for the venture. He said there currently are not plans to sell advertising. Instead, the venture will attempt to fund itself much like a public radio station does through underwriting and grants.

Wenzel, who said this venture is his first foray into starting a radio station, said the station is expected to operate at about 100 watts. That would allow the signal, which will be on a yet-to-be determined spot on the FM dial, to be heard in all parts of Lawrence, although he said the signal may be spotty in the far southwest part of the city.

Wenzel has been working with a professional broadcast engineer, who has expressed confidence that the antenna location in North Lawrence will pass muster with the FCC. But that appears to be the next key step for the project. After that, it likely will become a matter of whether the organization can raise the money to get the station off the ground.

Lawrence has had community radio stations in the past. The one many people remember was based out of Liberty Hall in downtown Lawrence during the mid-1990s. I’ll keep you posted if I hear more information about this latest venture.

In other news and notes from around town:

• I’m taking this as a sign that I can safely get out the Christmas gnomes: Holiday music is in full swing on a new Lawrence-based online radio station.

As we reported back in June, longtime radio executive Jay Wachs started Lawrencehits.com, an online only radio station that plays Top 40 music from the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s.

Well, on Nov. 1, Wachs launched a sister station, The Santa Station. It can also be found at Lawrencehits.com. Click on the icon of a Santa wearing a pair of headphones. The station will play all holiday music between now and Dec. 25. The station also has set up a phone line where any member of the community can record for free his or her own holiday greeting that will run on the station. People can call 913-608-9911 for that service. Wachs said he also hopes to run local holiday music from choirs or bands in the area. People can send an mp3 file for consideration to info@lawrencehits.com.

The station is the latest effort by Wachs, who previously was the general manager for local stations KLWN and KLZR, to get Internet radio off the ground in Lawrence. So far, he said he’s pleased with the results.

He said 12,000 different Lawrence computer IP addresses have logged onto Lawrencehits.com since its June launch. He said at peak times there are about 1,000 computers logged onto the station.

“It seems like we have become a choice for listen-at-work radio,” Wachs said. “We have a large spike between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m.”

• Perhaps you remember last year at about this time, Lawrence city commissioners reached a $50,000 settlement with Lawrence businessman Thomas Fritzel-related concerns about how one of his companies dismantled the early 1900s Oread neighborhood home known as the Varsity House.

As we reported in June, Fritzel paid the $50,000 settlement in full. Now city commissioners are being asked to figure out how to spend the money. Per the agreement of the settlement, the money must be used to further historic preservation in the community.

So commissioners are being asked at their meeting this evening to approve a request for proposals from local groups that have to use all or part of the $50,000. As proposed, groups will have until 5 p.m. on Dec. 13 to submit a proposal to the city manager’s office.

City staff members are suggesting that any project that furthers historic preservation in the city should be considered. Examples, they said, included rehabilitation of structures, educational projects or special programs related to historic preservation. Staff members are recommending that special consideration be given to projects that involve properties listed on the Lawrence Register of Historic Places.

City commissioners ultimately will be asked to approve a recommended project. The city expects to award the money in early 2014.

• One housekeeping note: Town Talk will be off practicing its Wolfman Jack voice and polishing its Christmas gnomes. In other words, I won’t be writing this column the rest of the week. Look for Town Talk to return on Monday.

More LJWorld City Coverage