Illinois Public Media

Broadcasting non-profit

Campbell Hall at the University of Illinois, home of Illinois Public Media

Illinois Public Media, previously "WILL AM-FM-TV", is a not-for-profit organization located within the College of Media at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, which is responsible for the university's public media service activities. It manages three university educational broadcasting stations licensed to Urbana, Illinois, United States: NPR member stations WILL (580 AM) and WILL-FM (90.9 FM), and PBS member station WILL-TV (VHF digital channel 9, virtual channel 12). Illinois Public Media provides locally produced programs to supplement the network programs carried by its stations. In addition, it manages the Illinois Radio Reader Service, a streaming audio service for the reading impaired.

Offices and studios are located at the university's Campbell Hall for Public Telecommunication. Illinois Public Media's CEO and General Manager is Maurice "Moss" Bresnahan.[1]

## History

[edit]

The initial broadcasting station at the University of Illinois, WILL (originally WRM), was first licensed as an AM station in 1922. An FM station, WILL-FM (originally WIUC), was introduced in 1942, and a TV station, WILL-TV debuted in 1955. From 1942 to 1998, these station's studios were located at university's Gregory Hall.[2] After World War II, the university hosted the National Association of Educational Broadcasters (NAEB) for the establishment of broadcast allocations (AM/FM radio and TV channels) for non-commercial education programming. The NAEB was based at Gregory Hall from 1951 to 1961.[2]

The Rockefeller Foundation funded two-week seminars in 1949 (Allerton I) and 1950 (Allerton II) of 22 educational broadcasters from across the United States.[3] The outcomes from these meetings established the foundation for National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service.[4]

In 1978 the Illinois Radio Reader Service, an audio service for the reading impaired, was introduced. Initially the service was exclusively broadcast over a WILL-FM subcarrier, as a Subsidiary Communications Authority (SCA) transmission that could only be received by persons equipped with special receivers that were loaned to qualified individuals. As of 2018 it was estimated that around 300 persons were supplied with the special receivers, and a similar number were listening to the service over the internet.[5]

WILL radio and TV operations received its largest bequest, $1 million, from Lois Dickson, who had been a contributor to the station for the thirty years before her death at the age of 95 in 2004.[6]

In 2009, the department responsible for public broadcasting activities, then known as "WILL AM-FM-TV", was renamed "Illinois Public Media". Reasons given for the name change included "to reflect WILL's expansion into the Internet and outreach projects in the community" and to "strengthen its ties to the University of Illinois".[7] In April 2010, General Manager Mark Leonard announced a series of cost-reducing measures "to address ongoing budget concerns", including the elimination of its weather department.[8]

## See also

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* Illini Media \- university-independent not-for-profit organization that runs radio station WPGU and the Daily Illini
* Prairie Fire \- a 15+ season running television news magazine and documentary program produced by WILL-TV

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "WILL Management" (will.illinois.edu)
2. ^ a b "The History of WILL". Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois. July 30, 2012. Retrieved February 14, 2015.
3. ^ Hudson, Robert (Spring 1951). "Radio in Education : Allerton House 1949, 1950". Hollywood Quarterly. 5 (3): 237–250\. doi:10.2307/1209659. JSTOR 1209659.
4. ^ Hill, Harold (1954). "The National Association of Educational Broadcasters: a history". National Association of Educational Broadcasters. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
5. ^ "Illinois Radio Reader Fortieth Anniversary" (video), October 4, 2018.
6. ^ "Gifts show caring for community" by Anne Cook, July 5, 2005 (news-gazette.com)
7. ^ "WILL AM-FM-TV changes name to Illinois Public Media", Mattoon (Illinois) Journal Gazette, April 29, 2009, Page C5.
8. ^ Kranich, Kimberlie (February 2010). "WILL Changes FM Format, Cuts Jobs, and Eliminates Weather Department". The Public I. Retrieved November 9, 2020.

## External links

[edit]

* Illinois Public Media's website
* "Division of Broadcasting", Alumni News (College of Communications: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign), 1977-78: Fiftieth Anniversary (special issue), pages 24–29: historical overview of radio and TV broadcasting at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign up to 1977

* v
* t
* e

Radio and television stations of the University of Illinois system

Springfield|

* 91.9 WUIS Springfield (89.3 WIPA Pittsfield)

Urbana-Champaign|

* 580 WILL (AM) Urbana
* 90.9 WILL-FM Urbana (101.1 W266AF Urbana
* 106.5 W293AF Danville)
* 9 (12) WILL-TV Urbana

See also: Illini Media

* v
* t
* e

Illinois college radio stations

* WCRX
* Columbia College Chicago
* WCSF
* University of St. Francis
* WEIU
* Eastern Illinois University
* WESN
* Illinois Wesleyan University
* WGRN
* Greenville University
* WHPK
* University of Chicago
* WIIT
* Illinois Institute of Technology
* WIUS
* Western Illinois University
* WJMU
* Millikin University
* WKKC
* Kennedy–King College
* WLCA
* Lewis and Clark Community College
* WLKL
* Lake Land College
* WLNX
* Lincoln College
* WLRA
* Lewis University
* WLUW
* Loyola University Chicago
* WMXM
* Lake Forest College
* WNUR-FM
* Northwestern University
* WONC
* North Central College
* WPCD
* Parkland College
* WPGU
* University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
* WQUB
* Quincy University
* WRSE
* Elmhurst University
* WRRG
* Triton College
* WSIE
* Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
* WVIK
* Augustana College
* WVJC
* Wabash Valley College
* WVKC
* Knox College
* WXAV
* Saint Xavier University
* WXEC-LP
* Eureka College
* WZRD
* Northeastern Illinois University
* WZND-LP
* Illinois State University

See also
adult contemporary
classic hits
college
country
news/talk
NPR
oldies
religious
rock
sports
top 40
urban
other radio stations in Illinois

* v
* t
* e

Radio stations in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area (Illinois)

By AM frequency|

* 580
* 1400
* 1460
* 1490

By FM frequency|

* 88.7
* 89.3
* 90.1
* 90.9
* 91.7
* 92.5
* 93.5
* 94.5
* 95.3
* 96.1
* 97.5
* 98.3
* 99.1
* 100.3
* 102.1
* 102.5
* 103.1
* 104.9
* 105.5
* 105.9
* 107.1
* 107.9

| LPFM|

* 95.7
* 104.5

|

Translators|

* 88.3
* 96.9
* 97.1
* 97.9
* 99.7
* 101.1
* 103.9
* 106.5

Digital radio
by frequency & subchannel|

* 90.9-1
* 90.9-2
* 90.9-3
* 94.5-1
* 94.5-2
* 100.3-1
* 100.3-2
* 100.3-3

By call sign|

* W202CF
* W245DP
* W246BD
* W250BL
* W259BG
* W266AF
* W280DE
* W293AF
* WBGL
* WDAN
* WDNL
* WDWS
* WDWS-FM
* WEFT
* WGKC
* WGNJ
* WGNN
* WHMS-FM
* WILL
* WILL-FM
* HD2
* HD3
* WIXY
* HD2
* HD3
* WJEK
* WKIO
* WKJR
* WKZS
* WLHF-LP
* WLRW
* HD2
* WPCD
* WPEO-FM
* WPGU
* WPXN
* WQQB
* WREE
* WRFU-LP
* WSJK
* WYXY

Defunct|

* WBCP (1580 AM)

Nearby regions
Bloomington
Decatur
Kankakee
Lafayette
Springfield
Terre Haute

See also
List of radio stations in Illinois

* v
* t
* e

Broadcast television in Central Illinois

This region includes the following cities: Champaign/Urbana
Danville
Springfield
Decatur
Reception may vary by location and some stations may only be viewable with cable television

Commercial|

* WCIA (3.1 CBS, 3.2 MNTV, 3.3 Bounce, 3.4 Grit)
* WAND (17.1 NBC, 17.2 Cozi, 17.3 Ion, 17.4 Ion+, 17.5 Court, 17.6 MeTV)
* WICS 20 / WICD 15 (.1 ABC, .2 Comet, .3 TBD, .4 Charge!)
* WBUI (23.1 CW, 23.2 Dabl, 23.3 Nest, 23.4 REW)
* WCIX (49.1 MNTV, 49.2 CBS, 49.3 Mystery, 49.4 Laff)
* WRSP-TV 55 / WCCU 27 (.1 Fox, .2 Crime, .3 ANT)

Educational|

* WILL-TV (12.1 PBS, 12.2 PBS Kids, 12.3 Create/World)
* WSEC 14 (14.1 PBS, 14.2 World, 14.3 Create, 14.4 PBS Kids)
* WUSI-TV (16.1 PBS, 16.2 SD, 16.3 Create, 16.4 PBS Kids)
* WEIU-TV (51.1 PBS, 51.2 FNX)

ATSC 3.0|

* WRSP-TV (17.1 NBC, 20.1 ABC, 20.10 T2, 49.1 MNTV, 55.1 Fox)
* WCCU (3.1 CBS, 15.1 ABC, 23.1 CW, 27.1 Fox)

Low-power|

* WBXC-CD 18 (Heartland)
* W29BG 29 / W34DL 34 (silent)
* WLCF-LD (45.1 CTN)

See also
Central IL
Chicago
Quad Cities
Quincy
Columbia/Jefferson City
Evansville
Indianapolis
Lafayette
Ottumwa
Paducah
St. Louis
Terre Haute

* v
* t
* e

NPR member stations in the state of Illinois

Stations|

* Carbondale WSIU
* Chicago WBEZ
* DeKalb WNIU
* Edwardsville WSIE
* Elgin WEPS
* Freeport WNIE
* Galesburg WVKC
* Glen Ellyn WDCB
* Kankakee WBEK
* LaSalle WNIW
* Macomb WIUM
* Morris WBEQ
* Mt. Vernon WVSI
* Normal WGLT
* Olney WUSI
* Peoria WCBU
* Pittsfield WIPA
* Quincy WQUB
* Rock Island WVIK
* Rockford WNIJ
* Springfield WUIS
* Sterling WNIQ
* Urbana WILL
* Urbana WILL-FM
* Warsaw WIUW

See also List of NPR stations

See also
adult contemporary
classic hits
college
country
news/talk
NPR
oldies
religious
rock
sports
top 40
urban
other radio stations in Illinois

* v
* t
* e

PBS member stations in the state of Illinois

Primary*|

* WSIU 8 / WUSI 16 (Carbondale / Olney)
* WTTW 11 (Chicago)
* WILL 12 (Urbana)
* WSEC 14 / WMEC 22 / WQEC 27 (Jacksonville / Macomb / Quincy)
* WQPT 24 (Moline)
* WTVP 47 (Peoria)
* WEIU 51 (Charleston)
* WYIN 56 (Gary)

Secondary**|

* KETC 9 (St. Louis, MO)
* WNIN 9 (Evansville, IN)
* WVUT 22 (Vincennes, IN)
* WKPD 29 (Paducah, KY)
* KQIN 36 (Davenport, IA)

(*) – indicates station is in one of Illinois' primary TV markets
(**) – indicates station is in an out-of-state TV market, but reaches a small portion of Illinois

See also
ABC
CBS

Fox
Ion
MyNetworkTV
NBC
PBS
Other stations in Illinois
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