At a time when Black composers and performers were underrepresented in the classical music world, WILL-FM’s Roger Cooper filled the gap with “Classically Black”, a nationally distributed series of programs produced for Black History Month from the late 1980s until Cooper’s retirement in 2008.
URBANA – The University of Illinois Police Department said it has hired all of the officers needed to help Champaign Police patrol Campustown, the southeastern section of the city. The seven new uniformed officers will begin their patrols on October 1 in place of Champaign officers. Faced with a shortage of officers, the city of…
URBANA – A Savoy resident is facing a Class X felony charge of “Making A Terrorist Threat” after he sent emails to the mayor of Champaign threatening to commit a mass shooting. Meanwhile, Mayor Feinen says she’s grateful to Champaign Police and the Champaign County’s State’s Attorney’s office for their actions in the case. Feinen…
After a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, the Summer Piano Institute has returned to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The institute concludes with two concerts featuring piano concertos performed with Sinfonia da Camera. Institute faculty Timothy Ehlen and Hie-Yon Choi will perform piano concertos by Florence Price and Brahms, in addition to the…
TARRYTOWN, NY – A bloodhound, born and bred in St. Joseph, Illinois, has won the 146th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. The four-and-a-half-year-old dog, named Trumpet (his official show name is Flessner’s Toot My Own Horn), bested six other finalists on Wednesday night to snare U.S. dogdom’s most coveted Best In Show prize. Trumpet is…
URBANA – Former Illinois Congressman Tim Johnson has died. Johnson’s former chief of staff, Mark Shelden, reported his death on his Facebook page on Tuesday morning. An obituary published on Sunday May 15 in the News-Gazette and at the Renner-Wikoff funeral home website says the 75-year-old Johnson died Monday night at Carle Foundation Hospital in…
URBANA – Longtime Illini sportscaster Jim Turpin died Sunday. The News-Gazette said the 90-year-old Turpin had recently suffered a fall and died with family members at his side. Jim Turpin first broadcast Illinois football, basketball and baseball games on WILL Radio in the late 1950s, while he was a University of Illinois student. After a…
April 6, 1922, marked the first broadcast of the University of Illinois’ radio station WILL-AM, then operating as WRM. At the time, both listeners and the university were still figuring out the role of radio broadcasting in American life. In the century that followed, WILL built a program schedule dedicated to both learning and culture, expanding to FM, television and online.
For more than 30 years, the radio talk show Focus 580 was a mainstay of the WILL-AM program schedule, during a time when national daytime programming for public radio was scarce. The weekday program featuring host David Inge kept its listeners in touch with their local community and with the world.
DANVILLE – The Illinois Gaming Board has invited casino developers to their Thursday, March 10 meeting to make a presentation about their application for a casino license. Danville Mayor Rickey Williams Jr. announced the gaming board’s plans on Friday, February 25. A gaming board spokesperson confirmed the plans on Tuesday, March 2. Policy director Joe…
The WILL Radio archives include hundreds of hours of recorded programs captured on acetate discs from the 1940s and 50s, including a 1957 reading at the University of Illinois by 20th century African-American poet Langston Hughes. Jameatris Rimkus, an archivist the University of Illinois Library, tracked down the mislabeled discs, rescuing them from obscurity.
2022 marked the 100-year anniversary of WILL-AM, the oldest component of Illinois Public Media. The University of Illinois launched the station at a time when the idea of using radio to reach a mass audience was new and cutting edge. Over the century to come, WILL became a national leader in educational broadcasting, and more recently, public broadcasting.
URBANA – The state’s economy continues to grow at a good pace, according to the monthly Flash Index from the University of Illinois The Flash Index rose slightly in November, reading 105.5, compared to its October reading of 105.4. Any number above 100 shows economic growth. Economist Fred Giertz, who compiles the Flash Index for…
CHAMPAIGN – The rise in gun violence in Champaign-Urbana and elsewhere can be traced back to the trauma young people of color are experiencing. And addressing it effectively requires a united effort from the entire community. Those were takeaways from the discussion Monday night at the Pour Brothers Craft Taproom in downtown Champaign. The event,…
URBANA – Krannert Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Illinois in Urbana will soon start requiring audience members to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination, or of a negative test result. Beginning Tuesday, November 16, when the University of Illinois Wind Orchestra will be performing, the Krannert Center will require everyone attending performances…