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Vintage Vinyl Sale Benefits Radio Reader
The Vintage Vinyl sale, with thousands of used records, tapes and CDs
offered for sale, takes place Saturday, May 17, in Lincoln Square
Village in Urbana. The sale benefits WILL’s Illinois Radio Reader.
Read more
AM
580 News Wins Two Edward R. Murrow Awards
WILL-AM 580 News won two regional Edward R. Murrow Awards for
excellence in electronic journalism from the Radio-Television News
Directors Association. Read more
 Families Invited to “Rocket into Space”
WILL-TV and the William M. Staerkel Planetarium at Parkland College
invite families to explore the galaxy, try hands-on space activities and
witness a rocket launch during “Rocket into Space,” an evening of family
activities on April 24.
Read more
AM 580 News Named
"Outstanding News Operation"
WILL-AM 580 News was named the “Outstanding News Operation”
in the downstate radio division of the 2007 Illinois Associated Press
Broadcasters Association Journalism Excellence Contest. WILL-AM 580 News
also picked up four other awards, including second place in the Best
Newscast and Best Newswriter categories.
Read more
 Tornado Safety with Ed Kieser
WILL AM-FM-TV chief meteorologist Ed Kieser will present a
free tornado safety seminar at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 10, with tips
people can use to protect themselves when tornadoes threaten.
Read more
 Vote for Your Favorite British Comedy
It’s an election year for British comedies on WILL-TV, the ninth year
in a row viewers have the opportunity to vote for their favorite among
five British comedies the station is considering airing.
Read more
 New
Season of “Prairie Fire”: Butterflies, Love and War
As the new season of WILL-TV’s Prairie Fire begins in
February, viewers can soar with butterflies at the Missouri Botanical
Garden’s Butterfly House, look back at two true love stories from the
Second World War, and follow a producer competing in the Edible Books Festival.
Read more
 "For
the People" Puts Spotlight on Primary Candidates
Where do the candidates in the Illinois presidential primary stand on
the major issues? WILL-TV and the University of Illinois
Institute of Government and Public Affairs (IGPA) examine these
questions in a series of programs Thursday nights preceding the Feb. 5 Illinois primary.
Read more
2007 Releases
WILL AM-FM-TV Names New Development Director
George H. Hauenstein has been named director of development for WILL
AM-FM-TV. Hauenstein has 25 years of experience in public broadcasting
development, direct marketing and fundraising, most recently as director
of TV and radio membership marketing at WGBH Educational Foundation in
Boston. He joins the WILL staff on Jan. 8, replacing longtime WILL
development director Debbie Day, who retired in 2006.
More
C is for Crockpot Features Local Cooks Making
Scrumptious Meals
WILL-AM host David Inge and WILL chef-in-residence Doyle Moore will
team up at 7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 3, for C is for Crockpot, an
all-new local cooking special on WILL-TV during Winterfest. They’ll do
some cooking themselves, and help guest cooks demonstrate how to prepare
scrumptious comfort food in a slow cooker.
More
WILL-FM Hosts Michael Rothe Memorial Concert
WILL-FM will host a special concert at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 11, in
tribute to classical music host Michael Rothe, who died last March. Some
of Rothe’s favorite performers will come together to present a concert
of appreciation for the gifted announcer and friend.
More
Uni High Students Look at Technology and Research
at the U of I
Urbana University High School students took a first-hand look at the
ideas and thought processes of 15 leading University of Illinois
researchers to create a radio documentary, Widgets and Digits:
Technological History, Research and Invention at the University of
Illinois. It will air on WILL-AM at 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 10, and 2 p.m.
on Friday, Nov. 23.
More
Holocaust Survivor Returns to
Central Illinois
Marion Blumenthal Lazan, a Holocaust survivor who
is the author of the young-adult book “Four Perfect
Pebbles,” will return to central Illinois Oct. 22-26 to tell
her first-hand account of her family’s experiences in
Hitler’s camps. She will speak in eight schools and at two
public events: at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 25, 2007, at Wesley
United Methodist Church in Charleston, 2206 W. 4th St., and
at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 23, at Arthur Jr./Sr. High School,
301 E. Columbia, Arthur.
More
Central Illinois World War II Stories on WILL-TV
and Radio
More than
70 World War II veterans, their families and others involved in war
service have volunteered to be a part of WILL’s Central Illinois World
War II Stories, an effort to capture and share stories of central
Illinois during World War II.
In conjunction with the airing of Ken
Burns’ The War on WILL-TV, WILL reporters, producers and oral
history interviewers talked to local men and women, who describe how the
war altered their lives and the lives of their families.
More, including print-quality photos to download
Chanute Air Museum and WILL to Host 99th
Pursuit Squadron Event
Original members of the
all-black 99th Pursuit Squadron formed during World War II at Chanute
Field will join a discussion sponsored by the Chanute Air Museum and
WILL AM-FM-TV in conjunction with the airing of Ken Burns’ new
documentary series, The War, on WILL-TV.
The event, from 7-9 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 20, at the Rantoul Business
Center, 601 S. Century Blvd., will feature a discussion about the 99th
Pursuit Squadron as well as a screening of excerpts from the new Ken
Burns’ PBS series and a video about the pursuit squadron produced by
WILL-TV.
More
U of I Journalism Students Go
"Beyond the Great Wall"
Ten University of Illinois journalism students in Nancy
Benson’s international reporting class will take listeners
inside China with a two-hour documentary, Beyond the
Great Wall, airing on WILL-AM 580 at 5 p.m. Saturday,
July 28.
The students climbed the Great Wall, walked along Shanghai’s
Bund and visited the Forbidden City. But the students’
primary mission in China was gathering information for radio
stories on how the Chinese economy and culture reach and
touch central Illinois. The students went beyond tourist
spots to report stories that took a unvarnished look at the
country that is preparing to host the Olympics in 2008.
More
Beyond Beats and Rhymes: A Local Response
Students
in WILL’s Youth Media Workshop wrote a letter that convinced
filmmaker Byron Hurt to visit Champaign-Urbana to speak about
his new documentary on masculinity and hip-hop.
Hurt and local hip-hop experts spoke to an overflow crowd for a
March 13 screening and town hall discussion at the Spurlock
Museum’s Knight Auditorium. The YMW students filmed the
discussion as well as some of their own reaction to the
documentary for a half-hour video, Beyond Beats and Rhymes: A
Local Response. It airs on WILL-TV at 9:58 p.m. Friday, May
25, after a 9 p.m. re-airing of Hurt’s documentary,
Hip-Hop:
Beyond Beats and Rhymes.
More
WILL Gets Grant to Collect and
Tell World War II Veterans’ Stories
WILL AM-FM-TV has been awarded a $10,000 grant to
capture the stories of central Illinois World War II
veterans and their families in conjunction with the
broadcast of Ken Burns’ The War on PBS in September. The
station will use the grant to collaborate with community
groups to target hundreds of individual stories to be shared
locally on-air, online and through community events and
activities.
More
"10
Sisters: A True Story" Documents Family's Loss and
Triumph
In March 1942, the 10 sisters of the Waggoner family
walked with their mother and father into the county
courthouse in Charleston, Ill. Slowly they realized that it
was the last time their family would ever be together. The
sobbing sisters were literally pulled apart and driven to
different homes after a court proceeding made them wards of
the state. The sisters have spent the last 65 years
regaining the closeness they once shared.
More
(includes print-quality photos to download)
PBS
Hip-Hop Filmmaker on Campus for Town Hall Discussion
Filmmaker
Byron Hurt, whose "Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes"
aired on PBS in February, will participate in a free public
screening of the documentary and a town hall discussion on
Tuesday, March 13, at the Spurlock Museum.
More
WILL Media Contact: Mary
Barrineau, 217-244-5080
2006 Archive:
WILL-TV Looks at History of
Douglass Center Drum Corps
Students Premiere Video on
History of Douglass Center Drum Corps
Local Vivaldi Series on WILL-FM
Mark Leonard Named New WILL General
Manager
2005 Archive:
Country Music Hall
Returns to WILL-TV
WILL-TV Celebrates 50th Anniversary
Franklin Students Produce More
Than a Bus Ride
2004 Archive:
The Song and the Slogan
(Releases, downloadable photo, bios, lyrics)
Contact your local PBS station for the air date and time
Gold Star Mothers:
Pilgrimage of Remembrance
(Release, downloadable photos, bios, war letter, history)
Contact your local PBS station for the air date and time
Gold Star Mothers Garners 3 Emmy Nominations
WILL-AM Wins National Murrow
Award
Town Hall Meeting: Achievement Gap in Champaign Schools
Franklin Students Produce Documentary on School Desegregation
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