WIUM

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WIUM
Image:TriState_Radio_logo.gif
Broadcast area Illinois
Branding TriStates Public Radio
Frequency 91.3 (MHz)
First air date 1956
Format Public broadcasting
ERP 50.0 kW
Class B
Callsign meaning Western Illinois University
Macomb
Owner Western Illinois University
Website TriStates Radio

WIUM (91.3 FM) is a 50,000-watt radio station in Macomb, Illinois, in west-central Illinois. Western Illinois University is the station licensee, authorized by the Federal Communications Commission.

Contents

[edit] Misison

Tri States Public Radio is an outreach service of the College of Fine Arts and Communication at Western Illinois University. We provide information and entertainment of the highest possible caliber to enrich and engage the public, enhance quality of life, and meet the diverse needs of people in our region and beyond.

[edit] Format

Tri States Public Radio is the region's voice for award-winning National Public Radio news and locally produced programming. Our listeners enjoy classical music, as well as the uniquely American sounds of jazz and folk music. We are the area's premier public radio service, catering to a growing group of discriminating listeners. From our humble beginnings in 1956 as a student-run laboratory in Western Illinois University's Tillman Hall, we have become the region's National Public Radio member station broadcasting quality programs that inform, enlighten and entertain.

[edit] History

  • 1956 - WWKS (named for William Kimbrough Shake, who installed the equipment), signs on at 91.3 MHz with 3,000 watts. The station broadcasts educational programming aimed primarily at K-12 audiences from Tillman Hall (the "new science building") at Western Illinois University.
  • 1962 - WWKS moves to "the new library" - Memorial Hall, which will remain its home for the next 40 years. The station's sole full-time employee throughout the decade is Elmer "Tug" Haddock, who acts as General Manager and provides oversight of volunteer student announcers. The station’s transmitter is installed in Sallee Hall and 250-foot (76 m) tower south of the building.
  • 1970 - WWKS becomes WIUM.
  • 1978 - WIUM increases power to 7,200 watts. The 19-hour broadcast day features classical, jazz and rock music with some local news, sports and weather. The Radio Information Service is created to broadcast readings from local newspapers through specially tuned receivers placed with people with a print disability. The service was inspired and initiated by Helen L. Wear, the first blind woman to graduate from Western Illinois University.
  • 1981 - WIUM relocates its transmitter to the new 500-foot (150 m) tower at Western Illinois University's Horn Campus south of Macomb. This tower was constructed for a PBS television station (WIUM-TV), now WMEC to serve west-central Illinois. The original tower adjacent to Sallee Hall was dismantled in the following years.
  • 1982 - WIUM qualifies for Corporation for Public Broadcasting support and becomes a member station of National Public Radio. Coinciding with the addition of NPR programming is the organization of a second station to be run and programmed by WIU students (WIUS-FM, now in the Department of Broadcasting in Sallee Hall).
WIUM & WIUW coverage map
WIUM & WIUW coverage map
  • 1983 - WIUM's first on-air membership drive raises $3,550 in pledges.
  • 1984 - The station purchases its first compact disc player and begins 24-hour a day broadcasts.
  • 1989 - WIUM increases its power to 50,000 watts.
  • 1990 - Production of Rural Route 3 begins. The award-winning live performance series is distributed to public radio stations nationwide throughout the decade.
  • 1991 - WIUM's administrative reporting line is moved from Broadcast and Educational Communication Services to the School of Extended and Continuing Education.
  • 1995 - Tri States Public Radio is born as WIUW signs on at 89.5 FM. The new tower and transmitter just outside Warsaw, Illinois extend public radio service into southeast Iowa and northeast Missouri.
  • 2002 - Tri States Public Radio moves into a new, state-of-the-art broadcast facility at 320 University Drive at the front door of the Western Illinois University campus.
  • 2004 - Tri States Public Radio becomes part of the College of Fine Arts and Communication. The Southeast Iowa News Bureau in the Hotel Iowa in downtown Keokuk opens.
  • 2005 - WIUM become the first University-licensed public radio service in the state of Illinois to begin broadcasting with HD (high definition) Radio technology.

[edit] External links

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NPR Member Stations in the state of Illinois
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