Media in Peoria, Illinois

A listing of the broadcasters and published media targeted at Peoria, Illinois. TV information includes cities where Peoria TV has been dominant, including Bloomington/Normal full-power TV, and LaSalle/Peru TV before cable TV.

Contents 1 Broadcasting 1.1 Radio 1.1.1 FM 1.1.2 AM 1.2 Television 1.3 Defunct 1.3.1 Radio 1.3.2 Peoria area low-power TV 1.3.3 Bloomington TV 1.3.4 Peoria TV in LaSalle-Peru 2 Print 3 Notes

Broadcasting

Radio

Start dates are for the frequency/station license, not for callsign or programming that may have moved from license to license.

FM

Freq	Call	City	Owner	Start	ERP (W)	Nickname	Format	RDS	HD
88.5	WBNH	Peoria	Central Illinois Radio Fellowship	01989 1989	48,000	WBNH	Christian	Yes	No
89.9	WCBU	Peoria	Bradley University	01970-01 January 1970[1]	26,000	89.9 WCBU	Public/classical	Yes	2
90.7	WAZU	Peoria	Sirius Syncope	02010-06 June 2010	500	90.7 WAZU	Community radio	Yes	No
91.5	WCIC	Pekin	Illinois Bible Institute	01983-11-02 November 2, 1983[1]	47,000	91.5 WCIC	Christian AC	No	No
92.3	WZPW	Peoria	Oaktree (Townsquare)	01992 1992	19,000	Power 92-3	CHR/Rhythmic	Yes[a&t]	No
93.3	WPBG	Peoria	Triad	01947-04 April 1947[2][3]	41,000	93.3 The Drive	Classic Hits	Yes[a&t]	No
94.3	WPMJ	Chillicothe	Drake, Allen C. !Allen C. Drake	01977-05-16 May 16, 1977[1]	6,000	94.3 WPMJ	Christian talk	No	No
94.9	WAAG	Galesburg	Pritchard, John T. !John T. Pritchard (Galesburg Broadcasting)	01966-12-15 December 15, 1966[1]	50,000	FM 95	Country	Yes[a&t]	No
95.5	WGLO	Pekin	Oaktree (Townsquare)	01971-11-18 November 18, 1971[1]	7,000	95-5 'GLO	Classic rock	Yes[a&t]	No
96.5	WZPN	Farmington	Rea, Mike !Mike Rea (Advanced Media Partners)	01997 1997	4,000	96.5 ESPN Radio	Sports	Yes	No
97.3	WFYR	Elmwood	Oaktree (Townsquare)	01993 1993	24,000	River 97-3	Country	Yes[a&t]	No
97.7	(Part 15)	Peoria	Bradley University	?	?	Edge !WRBU The Edge	College radio	No	No
98.5	WPIA	Eureka	Rea, Mike !Mike Rea (Advanced Media Partners)	01989 1989	6,000	98-5 Kiss FM	CHR/Pop	Yes	No
99.9	WWCT	Bartonville	Rea, Mike !Mike Rea (Advanced Media Partners)	01997 1997	2,000	WWCT	Progressive Rock	Yes	No
100.3	W262BT	Dahinda	Seventh-day Adventists (Illinois)	02007 2007	120	[t]95.7 WVCL-LP	Christian	No	No
100.3	W262BY	Peoria	Triad	02011 2011	140	[t]1470 WMBD (AM)	News/Talk	Yes	No
101.1	WHPI	Glasford	Rea, Mike !Mike Rea (Advanced Media Partners)	01999 1999	3,000	101.1 JACK fm	Variety Hits	Yes	No
101.9	WCUA-LP	Peoria	Peoria Chinese Ministry Association	02007 2007	66	(off air)	(off air)	No	No
102.3	WDQX	Morton	Triad	01976-11-28 November 28, 1976[1]	4,000	102.3 Max FM	Rock	Yes[a&t]	No
102.9	WWKJ-LP	Peoria	Seventh-day Adventists (Peoria Christian Radio)	02004 2004	100	WWKJ-LP	Christian	No	No
103.1	W276CC	Morton	Radio Assist Ministry	02007 2007	10	[t]102.9 WWKJ-LP	Christian	No	No
103.3	W277AQ	Canton	Horizon Christian Fellowship	02007 2007	80	[t]91.5 WCIC	(off air)	No	No
103.5	W278AE	Peoria	Illinois State University	01997 1997	50	[t]89.1 WGLT	Blues, Jazz	No	No
103.9	W280DL	Dunlap	Seventh-day Adventists (Illinois)	02007 2007	13	[t]102.9 WWKJ-LP	Christian	No	No
104.3	W282AO	Canton	Seventh-day Adventists (Illinois)	02007 2007	38	[t]95.7 WVCL-LP	Christian	No	No
104.9	WXCL	Pekin	Triad	01973 1973[1]	6,000	104.9 The Wolf	Country	Yes[a&t]	No
105.7	WIXO	Peoria	Oaktree (Townsquare)	01972-05-14 May 14, 1972[1]	33,000	105.7 The X Rocks	Active Rock	Yes[a&t]	No
106.9	WSWT	Peoria	Triad	01964 1964[1]	50,000	Lite Rock 107	Adult Contemporary	Yes[a&t]	No
107.9	WCDD	Canton	WPW	01968-10-07 October 7, 1968[1]	25,000	CD Country 107.9	Country music[4]	Yes	No

• ^[a&t] displays artist and title on Radio Data System
• ^[t] FM translator: repeats another station's program

AM

Freq	Call	City	Owner	Start	Day Power (W)	Night Power	Nickname	Format	Stereo	HD
1020	WPEO	Peoria	Pinebrook Foundation	01946 1946[2][5]	1,000	0	WPEO	Christian talk	No	No
1140	WVEL	Pekin	Oaktree (Townsquare)	01946-04-21 April 21, 1946[5][1]	5,000	0	WVEL	Christian	No	No
1290	WIRL	Peoria	Triad	01947 1947[2]	5,000	5,000	Classic Country 1290	Classic country	Yes	No
1350	WOAM	Peoria	Nelson Broadcasting	01960-02-08 February 8, 1960[1][6]	1,000	1,000	?	Adult standards[4]	No	No
1470	WMBD (AM)	Peoria	Triad	01927-02-14 February 14, 1927[5]	5,000	5,000	1470 WMBD	News/Talk	No	No
1560	WBYS	Canton	WPW	01947-10-05 October 5, 1947[1]	250	18	WBYS	News/Talk	No	No

• Nighttime power of 0 denotes Daytime-only stations, traditionally to protect clear-channel stations at night: WPEO protecting KDKA (AM) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and WVEL protecting WRVA (AM) Richmond, Virginia and XEMR-AM Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico.

Television

Band Ch.	Call	City	Owner	Operator	Start	Virt. Ch.	DTV	Nickname	Programming
19	WHOI	Peoria	Barrington	Granite	01953-10 October 1953[7]	19.1	Y 0720p !720p	HOI 19	ABC
19	WHOI	Peoria	Barrington	Granite	?	19.2	Y 0480i !480i	CW 4	CW !The CW
25	WEEK-TV	Peoria	Granite	Granite	01953-02-01 February 1, 1953[5]	25.1	Y 1080i !1080i	WEEK 25	NBC
25	WEEK-TV	Peoria	Granite	Granite	?	25.2	Y 0480i !480i	Weather First	AccuWeather
28	WYZZ-TV	Bloomington	Sinclair	Nexstar	01982-10-18 October 18, 1982[1]	43.1	Y 1080i !1080i	Fox 43	Fox
28	WYZZ-TV	Bloomington	Sinclair	Nexstar	?	43.2	Y 0480i !480i	THECOOLTV	TheCoolTV
28	WYZZ-TV	Bloomington	Sinclair	Nexstar	?	43.3	Y 0480i !480i	The Country Network	The Country Network
30	WMBD-TV	Peoria	Nexstar	Nexstar	01958-01-01 January 1, 1958[5]	31.1	Y 1080i !1080i	WMBD 31	CBS
30	WMBD-TV	Peoria	Nexstar	Nexstar	02011-09-26 September 26, 2011	31.2	Y 0480i !480i	Bounce TV	Bounce TV
39	WAOE	Peoria	Four Seasons	Granite	01999 1999	59.1	Y 0720p !720p	My59	MyNetworkTV
46	WTVP	Peoria	IVPTC	IVPTC	01971-06-23 June 23, 1971[1]	47.1	Y 1080i !1080i	WTVP 47	PBS
46	WTVP	Peoria	IVPTC	IVPTC	?	47.2	Y 1080i !1080i	WTVP World	PBS World
46	WTVP	Peoria	IVPTC	IVPTC	?	47.3	Y 0480i !480i	Create	Create
50	W50DD	Peoria	TBN	TBN	01994 1994	50.0	No	(off air)	(off air)

Defunct

Radio

• 1580 WWXL (AM) Peoria (1947–?) — sister to 94.1 WWXL-FM; in 1948, was on the air on 1580, with a construction permit for 1590;^[2] gone by 1959^[5]
• 88.5 WECU Peoria (1990s) — on air around 1989;^[1] time-shared frequency with WBNH Pekin; eventually went off air, allowing WBNH to go full-time
• 93.3 WEEK-FM Peoria (c. 1948) — sister to 1350 WEEK (AM); not yet on air at start of 1948;^[2] already gone by 1959;^[5] frequency later used by WMBD-FM (93.3 WPBG); callsign later used by 98.5 Eureka
• 94.1 WWXL-FM Peoria (c. 1948) — sister to 1580 WWXL (AM); not yet on air at start of 1948;^[2] already gone by 1959;^[5] now unusable: adjacent 94.3 later allocated to Chillicothe (now WPMJ)
• 95.7 WIRL-FM Peoria (c. 1948) — not yet on air at start of 1948; ^[2] already gone by 1959;^[5] now unusable: 95.3 Pekin allocation moved to adjacent 95.5 in 1980s with WGLO
• 96.5 WMMJ-FM Peoria (c. 1948) — construction permit as of 1948;^[2] already gone by 1959;^[5] 96.5 allocated to nearby Farmington in 1990s (now WZPN)
• 100.9 WBOD Canton (c. 1989) — not yet on air in 1989;^[1] likely never launched: adjacent 101.1 allocated to nearby Glasford in 1990s (now WHPI)

Peoria area low-power TV

• 16 W16AZ Lacon (c. 1994) — construction permit for Kelly Communications; expired in 1996 without being licensed^[8]
• 67 W67CW Peoria (1995–2005?) — M.C. Productions, 1101 S. "Mathew" St. and 1923 W. Lincoln Ave.,^[9] 61605. Construction permit granted 1993-09-28; licensed 1995-06-29; application to move to channel 65 dismissed 1997-10-09; renewal on channel 67 on 1997-12-01; license expired 2005-12-01; deleted 2007-10-15.^[10]

Bloomington TV

• 15 WBLN Bloomington (1955?–1959?) — sold by Cecil W. Roberts to Worth S. Rough's WBLN TV Inc. on 13 July 1955;^[1] off the air but still holding permit in 1959;^[5] empty channel allocation moved to Champaign in 1967 for WICD; callsign reused by channel 43 from 1982 start until it became WYZZ-TV

Peoria TV in LaSalle-Peru

Until cable TV was common in the late 1970s, LaSalle/Peru received primarily Peoria television using television translators.

By March 1965, LaSalle, Spring Valley, and Peru already had CATV systems owned by The Television Transmission Company.^[11]

• 35 WEEQ LaSalle (1957–1970s?) — LaSalle's only full-power allocation, channel 35, started as WEEQ, a co-owned satellite of WEEK-TV Peoria (which was on 43 Peoria then on 25 Peoria);^[5][12] it was on the air as early as November 1957.^[12] Channel allocation used by WWTO since 1 December 1986.^[1]
• 71 W71AE (1964–1979?) — This carried co-owned 31 WMBD-TV Peoria. License granted 15 November 1962;^[13] A picture of the 485-foot (148 m) Rohn tower and its 16-bay antenna is shown in a Rohn advertisement in the 1 July 1963 issue of Broadcasting.^[14] Started around 1964.^[12] Renewed November 1971.^[15] WMBD-TV still shown as having "1 trans." in 1975 Yearbook. Guessed as deleted in 1979 in W9WI translator listing.^[16]
• 78 W78AC (1963–1964?) — This carried 19 WTVH Peoria (now WHOI) in the early 1960s. Listed in September 1962 TV Guide.^[12] License granted 18 February 1963.^[17] It was no longer in TV Guide by the end of 1964.^[12]

Print

• Peoria Journal Star — daily newspaper
• Numero — monthly entertainment guide
• Peoria Magazines group — includes Peoria Progress Plays, Art & Society, InterBusiness Issues, and the Peoria Woman
• The Community Word — monthly community newspaper that covers neighborhoods and local politics

Notes