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WPGU (107.1 FM) is a fully commercial radio, student-run college radio 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 Champaign-Urbana and surrounding communities. It is owned independently from the university by the Illini Media.
WPGU has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 3,000 . The transmitter is atop the Tower at Third apartment complex on South 3rd Street in Champaign. Radio-Locator.com/WPGU
When the Parade Ground Units were demolished in the early 1960s to make room for regular Dormitory, WPGU moved into the basement of Weston Hall. It remained there until 1995, when the station moved off-campus to 52 E. Green Street in Champaign, a few blocks from where its tower is currently located. In 2006, WPGU along with the other Illini Media outlets ( Daily Illini newspaper, Technograph engineering journal, Illio yearbook) moved to a new building at 512 E. Green Street, Champaign. In 2018, the WPGU station moved to the basement of the campus YMCA building at 1001 S. Wright Street, Champaign, and is currently there.
WPGU started broadcasting in FM stereo, with student disc jockey Ted LeBlang at the controls, on April 16, 1972. The first song heard in stereo was "We Can Be Together (Unedited Version)" by Jefferson Airplane from their Volunteers album. In 1973, the station began broadcasting 24 hours a day.
Carrier AM broadcasts were continued by WDBS, a training station for budding WPGU on air personalities. When cable came to Champaign–Urbana, the company agreed to broadcast WDBS on FM 101 for dorm radios that had a special cable hookup. FM cablecasts began on October 8, 1982, and continued until 1992.
WPGU was once known, during the heyday of the alternative rock/grunge music genre in the 1990s, as "Champaign-Urbana's Modern Rock, 107.1, The Planet". It has since reverted to simply "WPGU". It has had various yearly slogans including: "Whether You Insist on the Twist or Strings are Your Things, WPGU for You" (1963), "The Radio Station" (1974), "No Pinhead Radio" (1988), "Twenty Five Years and Still Rockin" (1992), "Either You're Rock or You're Pop!" (1993), "No Rules Radio" (2004), "Your True Alternative" (2007), and "Champaign's Alternative" (2011).
In 2011, WPGU split with the217.com and moved its online presence to WPGU.com, where DJ blogs, music news, podcasts, and other content is available. WPGU's hourly playlists are archived and available in real time, and the radio station is also streamed live online.
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