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WILL ( 580 AM) is a
public broadcasting Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing ...
station owned by the
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...
and
licensed A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
to
Urbana, Illinois Urbana ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Champaign County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, Urbana had a population of 38,336. As of the 2010 United States Census, Urbana is the List of municipalities in Illinois, 38th-most pop ...
, United States. It is operated by
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 broadcasting, public media se ...
, with studios located at Campbell Hall for Public Telecommunication on the university campus. WILL is directional, mostly to protect co-channel WIBW in
Topeka, Kansas Topeka ( ; Kansa language, Kansa: ; iow, Dópikˀe, script=Latn or ) is the Capital (political), capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the County seat, seat of Shawnee County, Kansas, Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the ...
. It operates with 5,000 watts during the day, and due to its location near the bottom of the AM dial, as well as its transmitter power, directional antenna and central Illinois's flat land (with high
ground conductivity Ground conductivity refers to the electrical conductivity of the subsurface of the earth. In the International System of Units (SI) it is measured in millisiemens per meter (mS/m). Radio propagation Ground conductivity is an extremely importan ...
), this provides grade B coverage as far north as
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
and as far east as
Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...
. At sunset it must reduce power to 500 watts and gradually power down to 100 watts, resulting in marginal coverage even in Champaign-Urbana. At 6 a.m., it increases its power to 335 watts and ramps up to full power at sunrise.


Programming

WILL is a
National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...
(NPR) member and an affiliate of
Public Radio International Public Radio International (PRI) was an American public radio organization. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, PRI provided programming to over 850 public radio stations in the United States. PRI was one of the main providers of programm ...
(PRI) and
American Public Media American Public Media (APM) is an American company that produces and distributes public radio programs in the United States, the second largest company of its type after NPR. Its non-profit parent, American Public Media Group, also owns and oper ...
(APM). It airs NPR news and talk, along with agricultural news information for central Illinois farmers.


History

In mid-1920 the University of Illinois at Urbana was issued an Experimental radio station license with the call sign 9XJ. Although primarily used for technical training and experimental purposes, by 1921 9XJ was also being used to broadcast athletic scores,''Education's Own Stations'' (University of Illinois section) by S. E. Frost, 1937, pages 117-123. and in early 1922 plans were announced to add musical presentations."Radio Order Halts Sending of Scores"
''Daily Illini'', February 7, 1922, page 8.
However, effective December 1, 1921, the Department of Commerce, which regulated radio at this time, adopted regulations requiring that stations making broadcasts intended for the general public obtain a "Limited Commercial" license. This new requirement resulted in 9XJ ending its entertainment broadcasts, although the station continued to be used for experimental and training purposes. In early March it was announced that preparations were being made to apply for a Limited Commercial license that authorized broadcasting, in addition to point-to-point communication with other universities. On March 28, 1922 the university was issued a license, with the call letters WRM, for the 360 meter (833 kHz) "entertainment" wavelength and for point-to-point communication on 410 meters (732 kHz). Although the station call sign was randomly assigned, it was sometimes later said to have signified "We Reach Millions". In late 1924, the station moved to 1100 kHz. WRM was one of many AM stations signed on by universities (mostly land-grant institutions like University of Illinois) in the early days of radio. Many of these stations struggled financially, since they operated non-commercially. In 1925 WRM received a major financial boast when Boetius H. Sullivan decided to provide extensive financial support in order to establish the station as a memorial to his father, Roger C. Sullivan, who had died five years earlier. The Sullivan donation consisted of an initial $100,000, plus annual contributions of $8,000 for maintenance and operations. This financed the purchase of a 1,000 watt transmitter, plus construction at 400 South Wright Street of a new studio building and "flat-top" antenna structure."All-day Programs Begin on Station W-I-L-L Next Week"
''Daily Illini'', April 15, 1937, page 1.
On November 11, 1928, under the provisions of the
Federal Radio Commission The Federal Radio Commission (FRC) was a government agency that regulated United States radio communication from its creation in 1927 until 1934, when it was succeeded by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FRC was established by t ...
's
General Order 40 The Federal Radio Commission's (FRC) General Order 40, dated August 30, 1928, described the standards for a sweeping reorganization of radio broadcasting in the United States. This order grouped the AM radio band transmitting frequencies into thre ...
, the station's frequency was changed to 890 kHz, on a timeshare basis with KUSD in
Vermillion, South Dakota Vermillion ( lkt, Waséoyuze; "The Place Where Vermilion is Obtained") is a city in and the county seat of Clay County. It is in the southeastern corner of South Dakota, United States, and is the state's 12th-largest city. According to the 2020 ...
and
KFNF KFNF (101.1 FM, "Today's Best Country") is a radio station licensed to serve Oberlin, Kansas.The station is owned by Armada Media Corporation and licensed to Armada Media - McCook, Inc. It airs a Country A country is a distinct part of th ...
in
Shenandoah, Iowa Shenandoah is a city in Page and Fremont counties in Iowa, United States. The population was 4,925 at the time of the 2020 U.S. Census. Once referred to as the "seed and nursery center of the world," Shenandoah is the home to Earl May Seed Compa ...
. At this time WRM's call sign was also changed to the current WILL. Under an agreement with its two timeshare partners, WILL was assigned the timeslots of 5 to 6 p.m. and 7:30 to 8:00 p.m. daily.Station WILL to Broadcast Daily Program"
''Daily Illini'', November 21, 1928, page 1.
In 1937 WILL moved to 580 kHz, initially with 1,000 watts, using a two tower directional array constructed at South First Street. Because it no longer had to timeshare, this new assignment allowed an increase in hours of operation. However, the station was now generally restricted to operation only during daytime hours, although it was also occasionally authorized to operate at night, with power reduced to 250 watts, in order to broadcast Illini basketball games and the
Illinois High School Boys Basketball Championship The Illinois High School Boys Basketball Championship is a single elimination tournament held each spring in the United States. It is organized by the Illinois High School Association (IHSA). From 1908 to 1971, it was a single tournament contested ...
.History Cards for WILL
fcc.gov. Retrieved July 30, 2019.
In December 1938, WILL's power was increased to 5,000 watts. In late 1942 the university began operating an FM station, originally WIUC (now
WILL-FM WILL-FM ( 90.9 MHz) is a public, listener-supported radio station owned by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and licensed to Urbana, Illinois, United States. It is operated by Illinois Public Media, with studios located at Campbell Ha ...
), which allowed for the addition of regular nighttime programming after WILL was required to sign-off at sunset. The station has since been authorized for nighttime operations, albeit at somewhat reduced power. From 1942 to 1998, WILL's studios were located at University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign's Gregory Hall. In 1994, the station began broadcasting 24-hours a day, airing the
BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...
overnight. Until 2014, it also served as the default NPR member station for
Terre Haute, Indiana Terre Haute ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Vigo County, Indiana, United States, about 5 miles east of the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 60,785 and its metropolitan area had a ...
, which lacked a full-power NPR member station until WISU began carrying NPR programming that year as a satellite of
WFYI-FM WFYI-FM (90.1 MHz) is a Public Radio station in Indianapolis, Indiana. It is operated by Metropolitan Indianapolis Public Broadcasting, a public broadcasting community licensee which also operates the area's Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) ...
in Indianapolis.


See also

*
Illini Media The Illini Media Company is a nonprofit, student media company based in Champaign, Illinois. The company owns several student-run media outlets associated with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign: the general newspaper, the ''Daily Illi ...
- university-independent not-for-profit organization that runs radio station
WPGU WPGU (107.1 FM) is a fully commercial, student-run college radio station on the campus of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in Champaign, Illinois. It broadcasts an alternative rock radio format and other programming throughout Champ ...
and the ''
Daily Illini ''The Daily Illini'', commonly known as the ''DI'', is a student-run newspaper that has been published for the community of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign since 1871. Weekday circulation during fall and spring semesters is 7,000; co ...
''


References


External links


Illinois Public Media's WILL AM-FM-TV websiteA. James Ebel papers
at the University of Maryland Libraries. Ebel was WILL's chief engineer and designed the station's first FM transmitter while he was the executive secretary of the National Association of Educational Broadcasters.
"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 at Urbana–Champaign up to 1977
FCC History Cards for WILL
(covering 1927-1979) {{DEFAULTSORT:Will
ILL ILL may refer to: * '' I Love Lucy'', a landmark American television sitcom * Illorsuit Heliport (location identifier: ILL), a heliport in Illorsuit, Greenland * Institut Laue–Langevin, an internationally financed scientific facility * Interlibra ...
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
ILL ILL may refer to: * '' I Love Lucy'', a landmark American television sitcom * Illorsuit Heliport (location identifier: ILL), a heliport in Illorsuit, Greenland * Institut Laue–Langevin, an internationally financed scientific facility * Interlibra ...
ILL (AM) Radio stations established in 1922 1922 establishments in Illinois NPR member stations Radio stations licensed before 1923 and still broadcasting