Tag: WILL Radio

An undated photo of Jay Pearce, showing him several years younger than his age of 69 at the time of his death.

Jay Pearce, longtime public broadcaster, dies at age 69

Jay Pearce, a member of the WILL Radio staff from 1998 to 2009, has died at the age of 69.

IPM says farewell to St. Louis-bound Brian Moline

Illinois Public Media is bidding a reluctant goodbye to Brian Moline, who has accepted a new job as a news editor for St. Louis Public Radio, beginning March 6.

WILL At 100: Remembering Focus 580, WILL-AM’s long-running local call-in show

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.

WILL At 100: Langston Hughes poetry reading, recorded by WILL Radio

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.

WILL At 100: Looking Back On A Century Of Broadcasting

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.