Product Code Database
WILL-FM (90.9 megahertz) 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 Hall for Public Telecommunication on the university campus. Most of WILL-FM's schedule is classical music with NPR news programs heard in weekday morning and afternoon . Weekends feature classical and other genres of music, including jazz and opera.
WILL-FM dates back to the 1940s. It broadcasts with a grandfathered Effective Radiated Power (ERP) of 105,000 , more than double of what would be permitted today in Illinois. "Superpower FM Stations" by Doug Smith, January 17, 2001 (W9WI.com) The transmitter is on East 1700 North Road in Amenia, Illinois. Radio-Locator.com/WILL-FM The antenna height above average terrain (HAAT) is .
The Illinois Radio Reader Service, a streaming audio service for the reading impaired, is broadcast over a restricted Subsidiary Communications Authority (SCA) subchannel.
On July 16, 1941, the university filed an application for a station transmitting with 250 watts on 42.9 MHz. At this time FM broadcasting was in its infancy and few people had receivers. However, the university's existing AM band station, WILL, was restricted to daytime-only operation, so the addition of an FM signal allowed for the expansion of the broadcast service to include nighttime hours. The new FM station was assigned the call letters WIUC, which was said to stand for either "Illinois, Urbana, Champaign" "Yourself and Others" (column) by Bette Nance, Daily Illini, July 16, 1942, page 3. or "Illinois University, Champaign". "WILL Praised By Columnist; FM Station Starts in July" by Alan Zachary, Daily Illini, June 21, 1947, page 1. Following a series of test transmissions, WIUC began regular operations on November 22, 1942, initially with a schedule of 4 to 5:30 p.m. on Monday afternoons. It was the first FM station in the United States licensed to a university." WILL Illinois Public Media", American Archive of Public Broadcasting. Retrieved July 30, 2019. In mid-1945, the station's schedule was reported to be 7 to 10 p.m. on Tuesdays. "University Pioneer Radio Station WIUC Returns to Air", Daily Illini, May 16, 1945, page 2.
In 1945 the FCC announced that, due to interference concerns, it was reallocating the current "low band" FM frequencies to other services, and existing FM stations would be relocated to a new "high band" of 88-106 MHz (later expanded to 108 MHz). "FCC Allocates 88-106 mc Band to FM" by Bill Bailey, Broadcasting, July 2, 1945, pages 13-14. "FCC Allocations Order Text", Broadcasting, July 2, 1945, pages 64-68. In July 1946 the FCC further directed that FM stations currently operating on 42-44 MHz would have to move to new frequencies by the end of the year, "Filling in the Spectrum", Television Digest and FM Reports, July 20, 1946, page 1. and WIUC was reassigned from 42.9 to 44.7 MHz, although the university reported that the station was suspending operations until it was ready to broadcast on its "high band" frequency. "FCC Orders Cessation of FM Broadcasts in Low Band", Service Bulletin of the FREC, January 1947, page 3. WIUC's original "high band" assignment was at 91.7 MHz, "New Frequency Assignments for FM Stations in the United States", Broadcasting, June 23, 1947, page 38. and it began operation on this frequency in 1947. "WILL Praised By Columnist; FM Station Starts In July" by Alan Zachary, Daily Illini, June 21, 1947, page 1.
The station call sign was changed to WILL-FM in April 1954. In June 1955, power was increased to 60 kilowatts, estimated to provide a service radius of 20–30 miles (32 to 48 km). The following December 1, now operating on its current frequency of 90.9 MHz, power was increased again, to 300 kilowatts, making the station the country's second highest powered FM broadcaster, and most powerful educational station, with an estimated service radius of 80 to 100 miles (130 to 160 km). In mid-1956 WILL-FM's schedule had expanded to 4 to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 1 to 10 pm. Sunday, simulcasting WILL during daytime hours, and with nighttime programming featuring "classical music, news, sports and feature programs". "UI Has Biggest FM Ed Station", Daily Illini, August 1, 1956, page 21.
WILL-FM was among the stations that helped to create NPR, and was one of the ninety that carried the premiere broadcast of All Things Considered in 1971.
In 1974, WILL-FM began airing a classical music format separate from its AM sister station. In 1978 the Illinois Radio Reader Service, an audio service for the reading impaired, was introduced, broadcast over a WILL-FM subcarrier as a Subsidiary Communications Authority (SCA) transmission that could only be received by persons equipped with a special receiver loaned to qualified individuals. As of 2018 it was estimated that around 300 persons were supplied with the special receivers. "Illinois Radio Reader Fortieth Anniversary" (video), October 4, 2018.
WILL-FM began an HD Radio multicast in July 2008.
|
|
