WILL-AM, one of the first radio stations in the country, and the oldest component of Illinois Public Media, is turning 100. On Wednesday, April 6th, there will be a commemoration ceremony at Campbell Hall, with Chancellor Robert Jones offering remarks. There will also be a performance by the Marching Illini, and the unveiling of a new exhibit with artifacts from the past 100 years.
From Illinois Public Media:
“On April 6, 1922, at 8:30 pm WRM — which changed its call letters to WILL in 1928—signed on the air for the first time. On that storied night, four men gathered around a 50-watt vacuum tube in the University of Illinois’ electrical engineering laboratory and broadcast a thirty-minute program that covered Illini baseball and track, stories from the Daily Illini, and brief lectures on ‘Turning Cream into Gold’ and ‘The Value of Parks for Towns of Illinois.’ This inaugural broadcast could seemingly be picked up within a 500-mile radius of the Urbana-Champaign campus.”
Mayors Deb Feinen and Diane Marlin will also be there, with a proclamation designating April 6th as Illinois Public Media Day.
You can read more here.
Top photo from Illinois Alumni Magazine.