2008 WILL Annual Report

ou

W

it

h

e

J Y

on t h

e

n L AM-FM -TV -Onli IL

W

ourney

Annual Report 2008

av e

tr u o

W

i s wi th you as IL L

y

j

l

fe’s li

ourney

Dear Friend,

W

ILL is with you as you travel life’s journey. As you look for ways to make sense of your world, experience the delights of being human, or open yourself up to new experiences and ideas, WILL goes along and often leads the way!

During the past year, WILL created fresh paths for listeners who discovered interests through our radio talk shows, enlivened everyday experiences with classical music, and challenged potential voters to think about the issues through election specials. Central Illinois World War II Stories moved listeners and viewers with the intensely personal stories shared by World War II veterans.

In this 2008 annual report, you’ll find information about WILL’s major accomplishments during the year. We hope you’ll enjoy looking back with us at the WILL projects that have had an impact on our schools and communities, and the services and programming that made important contributions every day to the lives of people who listen to WILL radio, watch WILL-TV and access much of our audio, video and other content on the WILL Web site from anywhere in the world.

We’re proud of the fact that this year we were able to expand the number of people who can access our programming. Our radio stations completed the transition to digital, which means that people living west of Champaign can now hear our AM station 24 hours a day. WILL-AM’s agricultural programming is now being heard on a number of other radio stations as well as the Internet, and WILL-TV’s Illinois Gardener is being seen statewide.

We also undertook an educational campaign to help viewers get ready for the February 2009 transition to digital television, sponsoring a digital open house, sending speakers to club meetings and libraries, and airing how-to programs on the change to digital TV.

Our program content is available to everyone within our reach, taking anyone who wants to come along on an adventure into the worlds of history, nature, culture, the arts and current affairs. So when you support WILL, you are not only supporting programs and services you enjoy and need. You are supporting them for everyone — including people trying to educate themselves about the difficult issues of our time, people who seldom leave their neighborhood but long to experience the world, Head Start children in our book mentoring project, at-risk teens in our Youth Media Workshop and child care providers using our workshops to improve their care.

Thank you for helping make it all possible. We depend on the generous support of individuals, families and businesses to fund our programming and projects.

Because of you, we can invite everyone to explore with us!

Mark Leonard General Manager

Sharing unexpected stories Central Illinois World War II Stories

T

hey came from all over central Illinois, from towns like Danville and Loda and Springfield, telling stories of courage and fear, pride and pain. Some had fought in the fiercest of battles; others never saw combat.

Many brought newspaper clippings and photos and medals. Some carried uniforms they had worn 65 years ago in a war they feared had been forgotten. World War II veterans and others on the homefront opened up to share and record their stories for future generations.

F

inding meaning in

life’s experiences

In a broad effort that encompassed WILL radio, television and online, the largest community engagement project ever undertaken at WILL set out to capture the stories of World War II veterans, many of whom had never talked about their war experiences. The project resulted in oral history video recordings of 48 veterans, six radio stories, 11 television stories and a special hour-long TV show, nine interactive community events featuring discussion with veterans and others involved in World War II, and a comprehensive Web site to archive all of the oral histories and television and radio stories. The project began with local stories that aired on WILL-AM and WILL-TV in conjunction with Ken Burns’ PBS series, The War. More stories aired during the 2008 season of WILL-TV’s Prairie Fire.

The series not only brought previously unrevealed stories to viewers, listeners and Web site visitors, it enabled veterans to reflect on their experiences and share them with family members. David Freeman, son of participating veteran Theodore Freeman, above right, said he saw a big change in his father after his story was featured on

WILL-TV. “I was able to talk with him and he told me and my brothers that this was really needed,” said David. “My father said, ‘I wanted so long to tell somebody who would not judge me or the other gentlemen that participated in the military the way they did.’ And he said, ‘It means a lot to be able to tell you stories and not be ridiculed because of your pride and the things that you wanted to do for your country.’ ” The series of radio stories won two Associated Press awards and an Edward R. Murrow Award from the Radio-Television News Directors Association. The television stories were nominated for two regional Emmy Awards. The project was supported by a $10,000 grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and WETA, and underwriting from Supervalu, East Central Illinois Building and Construction Trades Council, Flooring Surfaces, Clark Lindsey Village, Ecowater Systems, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers #601 and Strawberry Fields.

Memorial Stadium

P

remiering on Sept. 9 to coincide with the completion of the Memorial Stadium renovation, WILL-TV’s Memorial Stadium: True Illini Spirit looked at how the stadium was built by steam engines, horses and painstaking labor, and how spirited fundraising by Illini students, alumni and other fans contributed $2 million to the effort.

Designed by the same architects who planned Soldier Field, the structure on a swampy southwest campus site was a great human and engineering achievement.

The program, produced by WILL-TV’s John Paul and Denise La Grassa, drew enthusiastic reviews from history enthusiasts and Illini fans, and raised more than $25,000 in the fall TV pledge drive. It continues to bring in revenue from DVD sales. Looking at the legends and the history that have emerged within the limestone columns, the program highlighted the spirit that is reawakened every game day at Memorial Stadium.

Memorial Stadium: True Illini Spirit was made possible by a grant from the Mid-Central Illinois Regional Council of Carpenters. Additional funding was provided by the King Family in memory of Fred L. King.

Branching Out New Digital Radio Service Offers Clear Signal

W

ILL’s new digital radio service is delivering a clearer signal to listeners living west of Champaign who’ve had trouble hearing the AM signal, and those whose signal used to fade when AM went to low power at sunset. WILL launched the digital radio service last summer, after several months of testing a new digital broadcast transmitter at its FM tower site near Monticello.

The new FM 90.9 digital service provides three streams of content: FM 90.9 HD1— a simulcast of the FM music service; and FM 90.9 HD2 and HD3, both carrying the news and information service broadcast on AM 580.

“Now our news and information service, including programming from NPR, is available 24 hours a day to people west of Champaign,” said WILL radio station manager Jay Pearce.

C

Jay said that listeners receive the new service on a digital radio by tuning to FM 90.9. After a brief delay, the radio will pull in the WILL-FM 90.9 HD1 signal. To listen to the AM service, dial the radio up to HD2.

onnecting with your

world

Maureen Holtz of Monticello is a WILL listener for whom the digital signal made a huge difference. “I couldn’t get WILL’s AM signal at all when it was dark,” she said.

“So when I got up early in the winter, I couldn’t hear about the weather and road conditions. With my digital radio, the sound is just wonderful, day and night.”

The digital radio installation was funded with a $75,000 federal grant, a major gift from Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) and generous gifts from a number of Friends of WILL.

WILL-TV’s “Illinois Gardener” Airing Statewide

I

llinois Gardener expanded its reach this past fall. The advice that Dianne Noland and her panelists provide each week as part of WILLTV’s call-in program is now being dispensed all around the state.

Public TV stations from Chicago to Carbondale, and all areas in between, began airing the program in October. “It gives us a chance to inform, educate and entertain more people in Illinois about gardening,” said Dianne. “We’re excited to be able to reach an additional audience.”

Dianne, a horticulture instructor at the University of Illinois, said the show maintained its informal style, in which people call in their questions about insects, flower and vegetable gardening, trees and lawn care. Her style of engaging and encouraging people, whether experienced or novice gardeners, puts callers at ease. She is adding experts from all over the state to her rotating panel of guests, which already included 31 experts. “I have former students all over the state that I can tap to participate,” she said.

She said it isn’t hard to tailor advice for various parts of the state. “We’re all in plant growth zone 5,” she said. “Daffodils may bloom in Southern Illinois in early March, in central Illinois in mid-March and in Chicago the early part of April. But there’s not a huge difference. And trees are trees no matter where they are in the Midwest. So we can answer viewers’ questions about their area, but our advice will also be applicable in other areas.”

More Downloads and More Radio Stations for WILL-AM’s Ag Reports

W

ILL-AM’s agricultural information service added many new listeners during the past year. Listeners around the Midwest and elsewhere accessed more than 1.5 million audio files of WILL ag reports through the Internet. Tom Bindner and Dale Galles (l-r below) of Marcus, Iowa, stopped by to talk with WILL’s Dave Dickey and Todd Gleason at the Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa. Dale’s wife, Rose, later wrote them how important the WILL-AM Internet reports are to their family. “The men work outside most of the day so they are ready to listen to your marketing analysis when they come in at night,” she said. “After all, planting and harvesting the crop is only half the battle. The other half is marketing, and it really helps to have different viewpoints about where the markets are going and what is affecting them every day.”

WHPO-FM radio in Hoopeston joined the growing list of stations airing WILL-AM’s Closing Market Report, which brings to six, including WILL, the number of stations airing the program. Five regional stations also air Commodity Week.

Other stations airing the Closing Market Report are WHOW-AM 1520, Clinton; WKEIAM 1450, Kewanee; WTIM-FM 97.3, Taylorville; and WGFA-FM 94.1, Watseka. Dave, AM 580 agriculture director, says that the growing number of stations airing the Closing Market Report and Commodity Week underscores the need for sound agricultural marketing analysis on the airways.

New Web Site

I

n June, WILL launched a new Web site with a cleaner look and simple structure that makes it easier for users to find what they’re looking for and for staffers to update content.

“We wanted to make it possible to update our Web site frequently to feature programs coming up the next evening or the next day or week,” said Jack Brighton, WILL’s director of Internet operations. “Now we can do that, as well as make it easy for people to access audio and video of our programming, along with NPR and PBS programming.”

A major goal of the redesign was to make the site more accessible to people with disabilities or perceptual impairments. “We wanted to make sure that people with visual, auditory, physical and other disabilities could navigate and understand the site,” Jack said. “Many people use assistive technologies like screen readers to navigate the Web, and designers have to account for this in the way they develop their sites.” Accessibility also benefits people without disabilities because it makes the site flexible enough to meet different user needs, preferences and situations, such as people who have a slow Internet connection or changing abilities because of aging.

Jack said more people are looking for WILL information on the Web, with the site getting about 60,000 unique visitors per month. “It keeps growing, and now we have a good way to make sure our content keeps up with changes in the media world,” he said.

Big U.S. Ratings for WILL-TV’s Ten Sisters

T

he WILL-produced documentary Ten Sisters: A True Story was offered for broadcast nationally throughout the PBS system. Ratings in many cities were outstanding, including at WQLN in Erie, Penn., where it received a 4.92 Nielsen rating, 8 share, which meant that 8 percent of the homes watching television in Erie during the time of its broadcast were watching Ten Sisters. On WKNO-TV in Memphis, the show received a 2.5 Nielsen rating and a 3 share. Chris Funkhouser, American Public Television’s vice president for exchange programming, reported that it was the highest-rated APT offering that evening. More than 80 other PBS stations broadcast the documentary.

Opening Doors for Youth Voices of Great Schools

P

arents, teachers and community members faced the camera and asked for more foreign language classes, for teachers who could make a personal connection with kids, and for an end to bullying. They voiced dreams for better facilities, consistent discipline policies and hope for all children.

WILL-TV interviewed 35 people who attended the Champaign School District’s community planning forums for Great Schools Together, a community-focused planning initiative that assisted in development of the district’s long-range plan.

The videotaping wasn’t done for WILL-TV programming, but to contribute to the community dialogue.

Portions of the videos were posted on WILL’s Voices of Great Schools Web site to facilitate discussion and encourage more people to attend the forums. In addition, a U of I professor is using the videos to demonstrate the importance of communicating and building trust with parents. “Many of those clips serve as great teaching tools!” said Professor Valeri Werpetinski at the Center for Teaching Excellence.

Youth Media Workshop

I

n their work during the 2007-2008 school year, students in WILL’s Youth Media Workshop gave listeners a fly-on-the-wall perspective of the relationships that sustain young people.

In Clorisa Mainor’s moving piece, her mother recounts a heartfelt story about how the 23rd Psalm connected her to Clorisa’s grandmother and to God. Honesty Smith talked to her brother, Envision, right, about how he coped with being the only black student at an elementary school in Arkansas.

Students from Urbana High School and Edison Middle School in Champaign spent the last school year interviewing the people closest to them, including siblings, teachers and parents. They edited those interviews into a 12-part radio series, Inspiration Radio: Relationships That Matter to Youth, which premiered on WILL-AM last fall.

The stories affected listeners as well as the young people who recorded them. Yolanda Zepeda, left, heard the 23rd Psalm story on the radio and wrote to WILL: “I was so touched by the story. What was so moving to me was the gift of the narrator for storytelling. The pace and rhythm of the story, the powerful but contained emotion, and the way that she unfolded the story—all of these elements were so effective. I didn’t know that this was not a story from a professional writer. I was so pleasantly surprised at the end to learn that this was a community project.”

The Youth Media Workshop is a joint project of WILL and Dr. William Patterson of the University of Illinois.

C

ontribute

to our collective & individual

potential

Delving Deeper Public Affairs

A

s Illinois voters prepared to make their earliest trek ever to the polls in an election cycle on the first Tuesday in February, WILL kept listeners and viewers informed about issues in the presidential election and local races.

In For the People: Primary Focus, a series of WILL-TV programs before the Feb. 5 Illinois primary, WILLTV and the University of Illinois Institute of Government and Public Affairs (IGPA) examined where candidates in the Illinois presidential primary stood on major issues such as taxation, health care, energy or the role of the United States in the world.

y

Opening ourself

up

The AM 580 News team covered issues including the Urbana Parks referendum as well as local primary races, and during the year kept listeners informed about prospects for the FutureGen clean-coal plant in Mattoon, budget battles in Springfield, woes at the Champaign County Nursing Home and the slowdown in the local housing market. Their award-winning series on World War II in central Illinois brought the war home to new generations.

Weather Team

W

ILL viewers and listeners counted on Ed Kieser, Mike Sola and their weather staff to keep them updated every day about the forecast and several significant weather events during the year. On Jan. 7 and 8, a severe weather outbreak brought heavy flooding to the area, especially Watseka and Pontiac. A snowstorm on Jan. 31-Feb. 1 had Kieser pulling an all-nighter at the station. “I had been driving back from an agricultural outlook meeting and I saw a car slide off the road into a ditch. I stayed at the station in part because I was afraid I’d get stuck and I wanted to be here to keep people updated the next morning.”

Springfield had over a foot of snow, Decatur had 10 inches and Champaign had 7 ½ inches.

Central Illinois had five tornadoes, with three of them on May 30. That was the night that sent many central Illinois residents to their basements.

“It’s so comforting to sit in the basement after the siren has gone off and hear Ed telling us exactly what is happening … even before the official stuff comes out,” said AM listener Linda Lee Lorenz.

Trying to Understand a Tragedy

W

hen the University of Illinois community found out that one of their own, a graduate student in social work, had been the gunmen who killed six people and wounded 18 in February in a Northern Illinois University classroom, people were shaken.

In the aftermath, WILL-AM 580 provided a space for discussion of the tragedy and an attempt to understand why a person could unleash such violence.

Illinois Radio Reader The following day, talk show WILL-AM Focus 580 host David Inge and The Afternoon Magazine host Celeste Quinn teamed up to talk with Katherine Newman, Princeton professor and author of “Rampage: The Social Roots of School Shootings,” and U of I sociology professor Jan Carter Black to discuss the incident.

A listener named Carolyn wrote to thank the station for the program. “It’s just the ideal role that public radio can play in a crisis like this to provide so much un-sensationalized information, and to really be an outlet at a time when there’s something very distressing like this that happens in the community,” she said. “Wonderful job!!”

I

llinois Radio Reader, a service of WILL, raised $12,000 for its programs by hosting the Vintage Vinyl used record sale. With the help of more than 80 volunteers, IRR keeps blind and print-handicapped audiences in east central Illinois up to date on world, national, state and local news.

IRR also presents descriptive narration of public television shows so that visually handicapped people can enjoy them.

“It just opens a door, when you can’t see, to be able to hear the news, the grocery ads, so many things that sighted people have access to that we don’t,” said Decatur’s Dee Dee Adams, a regular user of the service.

Adding Spice to Life C is for Crockpots

W

ILL-AM host David Inge and WILL chef-in-residence Doyle Moore teamed up in December 2007 to help cooks at home find new ways to use their slow cookers. During C is for Crockpot, Doyle and David did some of the cooking themselves, and helped guest cooks demonstrate how to prepare scrumptious comfort food.

xperiencing the

of being human

IS FOR

T

E delights

C

ROCKPO

C Moore, who’s a regular guest on WILL-AM’s Focus 580, prepared a Black Forest Spoon Cake in a slow cooker. Ten different cooks prepared dishes including an elegant beef burgundy; family friendly crockpot supreme pizza; a quick and easy ham and beans recipe; and a spicy shrimp jambalaya.

“The old thinking about crockpots was that it’s just a convenient way to throw everything in a pot and come back when it’s done. That was back in the sixties and seventies,” Moore said. Slow cooker recipes have changed because people have learned a lot about cooking during the last 30-35 years, he said. “They’re using the crockpot for more complex cooking than just ‘dump and run.’ ” Learning a few techniques can make the end result much more flavorful, he said.

Viewers agreed, with many of them getting the program cookbook offered as part of the Winterfest pledge drive.

Learning Healthy Habits

F

our-year-old Mary Beth couldn’t remember the name of the green fruit with black dots as she carefully placed slices in her glass with strawberries, blueberries, pineapple and cherries. But she knew she liked it. “Kiwi!” she remembered. Decatur home day care provider Elizabeth Marshall showed Mary Beth and four other pre-schoolers how to build yummy fruit-yogurt parfaits to create a healthy snack. Elizabeth got the idea from WILL’s Healthy Habits for Life workshop led by education outreach director Molly Delaney. Thirty-eight child care providers who work with 461 children participated, learning about nutrition, physical activity, hygiene and relaxation last year. “It was great to get some new ideas,” said Elizabeth.

“Sometimes I feel like I do the same things over and over. I was looking for easy things to do with the kids that teach them about healthy things to eat and do.”

Through interactive parent/child Healthy Habits workshops at Parkland College, Urbana Adult Education, Urbana’s Washington Early Childhood Program, and C-U Early, we reached another 152 adults and 214 children.

During the past three years, more than 850 children, parents, and child care providers have learned about nutritious snack alternatives, discussed how TV viewing can help or hinder healthy diet and exercise habits, and selected simple ways to build more exercise into daily routines from the Healthy Habits project, part of WILL’s Young Learners Initiative. Sponsors include Kraft Foods, Kirby Foods, Tate & Lyle, and Supervalu.

Discovering the Wonders of Music Roger’s Top 40

R

oger Cooper, whose deep, soothing voice was a signature of WILL-FM for 30 years, retired from his weekday program Feb. 21, but as a gift to his many faithful listeners, he hosted a farewell countdown of his top 20 favorite pieces garnered during three decades of radio,.

Satisfying

y

an undefined

earning

WILL-FM program director Jake Schumacher said that Roger’s considerable skills and attributes as a programmer and host have added up to a remarkable on-air presence for WILL. “He has an uncanny sense of what the audience most wants to hear at any moment of the day,” Jake said. “That’s something that can’t be taught. It’s learned by experience and an empathy with the audience.”

Roger’s “Top 20” favorite classical music pieces were such a hit with listeners that he presented an encore! In June, he expanded the list to his “Top 40” to recommend additional favorite musical selections.

“There seemed to be a lot of people calling in and asking for the play list after the Top 20 aired,” Roger said. “It surprised me.” Finding additional favorite musical recordings wasn’t difficult, he said. “Every piece I play could be counted among them,” he said.

Glorious Sounds of Central Illinois

W

ILL-FM strengthened its role as a community arts resource by adding interview segments, reviews and previews to its Prairie Performances series. The series features concerts by regional orchestras, with Sinfonia da Camera, the Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra, the Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra, the Prairie Ensemble, the Illinois Symphony Orchestra and the Illinois Chamber Orchestra all heard in the Sunday evening program.

After retiring as FM weekday program host, Roger Cooper took on a role as senior community events liaison and became producer and host of Prairie Performances. “We’re looking at ways we can do more for music in the community,” Roger said. “We want to use some of our resources to go beyond playing music on the radio and provide more information about local events, organizations, educators and artists.”

Awards

T

wo WILL-TV programs, both part of the station’s Central Illinois World War II Stories project, were nominated for regional 2008 Emmy Awards by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Mid-America Chapter. An hourlong special, which aired as part of the 2008 season of WILL-TV’s Prairie Fire, was nominated in the arts/entertainment program-special category. The other nomination, in the historical/ cultural-program story/feature category, was for a Prairie Fire story about Tuskegee Airman Col. Elmer Jones. The hour-long documentary and the video story were produced by Denise La Grassa, edited by Eleanore Stasheff and researched by David Noreen.

WILL-AM 580 News was named the “Outstanding News Operation” in the downstate radio division of the 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. In other awards, reporters Jim Meadows and Jeff Bossert, and news director Tom Rogers, right, placed second in the Best Series/Documentary category for their World War II: Central Illinois Stories series.

Rogers placed second in the Best Light Feature category for his story on the POW camp in Hoopeston during World War II. WILL-AM 580 News won two regional Edward R. Murrow Awards for excellence in electronic journalism from the Radio-Television News Directors Association. WILL-AM reporter Jim Meadows was named the winner of the hard news category for his story about the last dance of the University of Illinois’ Chief Illiniwek. Meadows, news director Tom Rogers and reporter Jeff Bossert won in the news series category for their World War II: Central Illinois Stories series.

WILL’s Hoopeston youth town hall project, above, a partnership with Prairie Center Health Systems, was named “Exceptional Rural Program” by the National Rural Alcohol & Drug Abuse Network as part of its Harold E. Hughes Awards of Excellence.

A U of I student radio documentary on China that aired on WILL-AM was the national winner for radio in-depth reporting in the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ)’s 2007 contest.

Ten students, most undergraduates, in professor Nancy Benson’s international reporting course went to China last year to produce the two-hour radio documentary, China: Beyond the Great Wall. WILL-AM news director Tom Rogers accompanied the students, as did WILL’s John Paul, a U of I graduate student, whose reports are included in the documentary.

Fiscal 2008 Financial Report

D

uring fiscal 2008, an increase in member contributions helped offset a two-year drop in state funding. WILL’s university funding remained stable during the past year.

Federal funding also remained stable, but the station also received a one-time emergency federal grant of $236,582 to assist with construction of a new tower to allow our signal to pass above the new Burnham310 building constructed between WILL’s Campbell Hall and its Monticello transmitter.

As we managed decreasing state revenues, we were able to maintain production of our local television and radio programs, but were challenged to produce programming more efficiently. We expanded the use of automation in TV and radio to control expenses as we sought efficiencies in all areas of our operations. The increase in spending from 2007 to 2008 was primarily for construction of the new tower using the federal grant and funds from the university, which paid for half of the project.

Operating revenues:

4.05%

20.9%

Other 26.28% University Funding CPB and Other Federal Grants

State Grants 6.8%

Membership Contributions

Program Underwriting

2007

University Funding Membership Contributions Program Underwriting State Grants Community Service Grants and other Federal Grants Other income Total operating revenues

1,291,957 2,220,806 372,932 420,369

1,249,592 2,051,510 381,502 472,054

1,624,138 250,614 6,180,816

1,388,854 266,216 5,809,728

Non-operating revenues: Indirect Support Other

2,950,564 1,132,113

3,014,291 826,224

10,263,493

9,650,243

Total revenues 35.93%

6.03%

2008

2.34% Other 25.91% 36.95%

Operating expenses:

Local Programming and Production Broadcasting Promotion and Development Management and General Other Total operating expenses

2008

2007

3,787,244 1,705,884 1,859,843 2,655,735 240,000

3,919,124 1,302,113 1,508,354 2,326,527 600,413

10,248,706

9,656,531

Management and General

Local Programming and Production

Promotion and Development Broadcasting 18.15% 16.64%

We Remember Bruce Creamer

Underwriters

ruce Creamer, a long time supporter of WILL, passed away earlier this year, and has left a bequest to WILL-TV and radio that will be used to support the operations and maintenance of the stations.

ILL thanks the underwriters who make our programs and outreach projects possible. These businesses contributed more than $5,000 during the past year.

B

His love of broadcasting began early in his lifetime.

His fond recollections of fashioning microphones and cameras out of cardboard boxes, toilet paper rolls and light bulbs as a child helped inspire one of his other major interests, supporting WILL. “I was always playing TV station and radio station, when all the other kids were out throwing a basketball around,” Creamer said, in a 1995 interview for WILL. “I’ve always been interested in broadcasting.” A native of Champaign, he remembered riding his bicycle to the WILL transmitter building on South First Street in Champaign and peppering the engineers with his technical questions about the broadcast equipment there.

Bruce’s career took him in a different direction, but his enthusiasm for the programming on WILL made him a strong advocate for the stations. With his generous gift, WILL will be able to continue its legacy of service to a new generation of central Illinois children.

W

Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum AgriGold Hybrids Auditory Care Center Inc. Bevier Cafe Busey Bank University of Illinois College of Law Community Blood Services of Illinois Corkscrew Wine Emporium Country Financial Champaign Cycle Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District East Central Illinois Building and Construction Trades Council Farm Credit Services First Midwest Bank Flooring Surfaces Golden Apple Foundation

Hickory Point Bank Illinois Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission King Family Kirby Foods Kraft Foods Krannert Center for the Performing Arts Mid Central Illinois Regional Council of Carpenters Meredith Foundation Monticello Chamber of Commerce Office of the Chancellor, University of Illinois Pages for All Ages Provena Medical Center Rental City State Farm Supervalu Tate & Lyle Worden-Martin Subaru

Grants

2007-2008 WILL Community Advisory Committee

WILL AM-FM

e thank our Community Advisory Committee for their help during the past year in gathering information and opinions about community issues and needs, helping heighten community awareness of WILL and its services, advocating for broad-based support of WILL, identifying and encouraging new sources of funding for specific projects to improve or expand service to the community, and advising on legislation designed to improve the quality of public telecommunications.

Illinois Arts Council, for programming: $12,680 Corporation for Public Broadcasting, for digital radio transmitter: $70,000

WILL-TV Illinois Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, for documentary on Lincoln, the lawyer: $70,000 KCET-TV, Los Angeles, for educational “WordGirl” initiatives: $7,500

WILL AM-FM-TV Corporation for Public Broadcasting, grant to develop a plan, in consultation with the Harwood Institute for Public Innovation, to expand the Youth Media Workshop and inform WILL’s future community engagement efforts (second year): $26,000 over two years U.S. Commerce Department, for construction of taller tower to send microwave signal to Monticello transmitter: $236,582

Illinois Radio Reader Illinois State Library for Illinois Radio Reader operations: $29,000 Community Foundation of East Central Illinois: $3,400

W

Miley Palmer, Decatur, chair Lori Williamson, Champaign, vice-chair Allan S. Penwell, Urbana, secretary Dr. Alan Carroll, Urbana Michele Crockett, Champaign Phyllis Doughterty, Danville

Committee Members (pictured from left): Dave Grothe, Alice Vernon, Linda Garbe, Michele Crockett, Sharon Harkness and Allan Penwell.

Linda Garbe, Towanda Dave M. Grothe, Savoy Sharon Harkness, Champaign Dr. Susan Heinrichs, Urbana Mike Johnston, Decatur Ed Matesevac, Normal

Miley Palmer, chair

Dr. Thom Moore, Champaign Lois Pausch, St. Joseph Dr. George Richards, Danville Patti Swinford, Decatur Alice Vernon, Oakwood Joan Zernich, Urbana

Campbell Hall for Public Telecommunication 300 North Goodwin Avenue Urbana, IL 61801-2316 217-333-7300 will.illinois.edu