Posted by UIUC radioguy on February 13, 2010 at 12:26:48:
May be of interest as WILL-AM 580 can be clearly heard in Chicagoland...:
Layoffs bring end to independent weather on WILL radio and television
By Christine Des Garennes
Created 02/11/2010 - 2:48pm
Citing budget constraints, Illinois Public Media announced it would end its in-house weather forecasting and eliminate a total of nine positions.
Staff were notified of the decisions on Thursday.
The elimination of the weather department signals an end to independent weather forecasting for WILL Radio and WILL-TV. Staff will share weather information with listeners from reports from the National Weather Service.
Providing the weather to the public costs about $140,000 a year, $40,000 of which is underwritten by businesses, according to Illinois Public Media.
“We are proud of our long tradition of weather coverage. Ed Kieser, Mike Sola, and their staff have for years dedicated themselves to making sure our listeners knew when severe weather threatened as well as bringing them day-to-day forecasts. But now that in-depth weather information is available on the Web and elsewhere, we believe that our limited resources must be applied to other areas,” said Illinois Public Media General Manager Mark Leonard in a statement Thursday.
A reorganization plan for Illinois Public Media, which includes WILL-AM 580 and WILL-FM 90.9 and WILL-TV also will bring changes to both the AM and FM radio stations. WILL-FM will become a dual-format station on April 1 as news shows will be added. WILL-AM staff will focus more on in-depth coverage of local issues.
Illinois Public Media has been operating with a deficit during the current fiscal year after it lost $110,000 in funding from the Illinois Arts Council. Its annual arts council funding has declined by more than $280,000 since 2006, according to Leonard.
“We’re cutting deeply enough with these changes that we hope no more cuts will be needed next year,” he said in a statement. “In the past, as our state funding decreased, we’ve relied mostly on attrition to downsize and automation to cut costs. Most of these changes have been invisible to the public. But now we have to make changes that viewers and listeners will notice.”
WILL-FM’s weekday morning music show host Vic Di Geronimo will move from early morning to a 9 a.m. to noon slot. Other FM shows, including Live and Local with Kevin Kelly, Prairie Performances, Afternoon at the Opera, Classics by Request and Classics of the Phonograph will continue at their current times.
On WILL-AM, David Inge and Celeste Quinn will continue to host weekday local talk and news shows. But the 10 a.m. to noon morning show will be named FOCUS beginning April 1. And the Afternoon Magazine will air from noon to 1 p.m. That show will be followed by Fresh Air, which will also air at 7 p.m. At 2 p.m. WILL-AM will air a new one-hour agriculture and business program hosted by Illinois Public Media agriculture director Dave Dickey and Closing Market Report host Todd Gleason.
Leonard will appear on WILL-AM’s Focus 580 at 11:06 a.m. Monday, Feb. 15, to talk with listeners about the changes planned.