Category Archives: Radio

City Council, City of Peoria, Peoria Pundit, Radio

Council coverage falls off without Ahl; blogs pick up slack

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It used to be that you could count on WCBU to cover any city council meeting held on a Tuesday night, including important budget discussions like the one happening tonight. But since former news director Jonathan Ahl left the station, coverage has fallen off. It appears now that only regular city council meetings (twice a month) are carried.

That’s unfortunate, because the council meeting tonight covers important budget issues facing the City of Peoria. What’s being discussed tonight is at least as important, if not more important, than the business taking place at the regular council meetings. Why have they stopped being covered?

Fortunately, there’s still one media outlet that’s covering the event live — Billy Dennis’ Peoria Pundit blog. All Billy needs to do is figure out a way to provide a live audio stream through his blog in addition to his running summary.

Radio

“Unforgettable 1350” gone but not forgotten

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Everyone knows by now that 1350 WOAM and 94.3 WPMJ have gone off the air. But they deserve a requiem nonetheless.

Although their music was syndicated, 1350 AM had no small amount of local programming. Every morning, there was Breakfast with Royce [Elliott] and Roger [Monroe]. They had a lot of special guests, and of course a lot of humor. And during the summer, they carried the Peoria Chiefs baseball games. I’ll never forget hearing them win the Midwest League championship — an unbelievable come-from-behind win in the ninth inning (naturally, they were still a Cardinals affiliate then). They carried other local sports as well.

I didn’t listen to 94.3 very much, as it was all syndicated oldies music. Occasionally I’d turn it on for a song or two. It took on the oldies format after 93.3 jettisoned their “Big Oldies” moniker. Frankly, I won’t miss this station much, but I will definitely miss 1350. It had a definite local feel to it, without being talk radio. It had a lot of variety, and I’ll miss that.

On a positive note, the paper reports that station owner Bob Kelly “said he would continue to run the Kelly Communications Co. despite the stations being off the air with the hope of eventually bringing the stations back online. ‘I’m going to work full-time on getting financing.'”

So maybe 1350 will be back again someday. Hope so.

Radio, State of Illinois

PI explains the law to state trooper

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I don’t usually listen to the Greg & Dan Cavalcade of Commercials in the mornings, but apparently between ads yesterday they squeezed in a few seconds with a state trooper named Officer Halsey. Topic: speed limits in school zones where the sign reads “School Speed Limit 20 on school days when children are present.” Halsey maintained that the 20 mph speed limit is in effect from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. regardless of whether children are present. The only problem is that his statement is not consistent with state law, the opinions of the Secretary of State and Attorney General, or the plain language of the school zone signs themselves.

PeoriaIllinoisan sets the record straight.

Radio

My newest favorite radio show/podcast

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I stumbled upon a show on WCBU this afternoon called Intelligence Squared. It’s an Oxford-style debate of controversial issues. That is, they put forth a proposition, then have two or three people argue for it and two or three people argue against it. The debate today was on legalizing the market for human organs. Other recent topics include, “Should the U.S. be the world’s policeman?” “Should we accept steroid use in sports?” and “Is it time to end affirmative action?”

No shouting, no interrupting, no ridiculously short time to answer complex questions. The debate is an hour and a half in front of a live audience (the radio show is an abridged version lasting 50 minutes). They poll the audience before and after the debate to see which side was more persuasive.

I realize I’m unbelievably boring, but I absolutely love this show. It’s so interesting to hear these serious issues debated competently and persuasively by both sides in a civil manner.

Blogosphere, Radio

Ahl leaving WCBU, Peoria

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Intrepid news director at WCBU 89.9 FM, Jonathan Ahl, has announced he will be leaving WCBU and the Peoria area to pursue another job opportunity. He hasn’t revealed where he’s going yet, but will keep us all updated on his blog.

It’s an exciting time for the Ahl family, but a huge loss to Peoria. Jonathan’s experience and professionalism have earned him a lot of well-deserved respect, and his absence from the local news media will leave an awfully big hole. I also consider Jonathan a friend, and so I’m sad on a personal level that he won’t be in the area anymore, and yet excited for him as he takes this new opportunity. Of course, he waited until after I made my annual pledge to the station to tell me he was leaving.

All my best to Jonathan, Anita, Tommy, and Lily.

Radio, Voting

Go vote, then listen to WCBU tonight

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The polls are now open! Don’t forget to vote today. For information on voting in Peoria County and the City of Peoria, check out PeoriaVotes.com. You can view a sample ballot, learn how to navigate the electronic voting machine, and find out where the polling place is for your precinct.

I’ll be joining Jonathan Ahl tonight on WCBU 89.9 FM to talk about the election results. NPR will be having wall-to-wall coverage of the national races, while Jonathan and I will be giving updates on local races. Hope you’ll tune in tonight.

2008 Campaign, Radio

WCBU debate online

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If you missed the 18th Congressional District candidates’ foreign policy debate last night, you can hear it online. WCBU has an mp3 of the entire debate on their site. By the way, Schock did end up attending. Kudos to him for not chickening out. The other candidates are former city councilman John Morris and Heartland Partnership CEO Jim McConoughey.

Too bad there’s no Democratic candidate in the primary. It would have made the debate a lot more interesting.

Radio

Don’t miss OTH Year in Review Dec. 18

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UPDATE: If you missed it, you can listen to it online here. Thanks, Jonathan!

I just got the WCBU e-newsletter and thought I would pass this info along:

Outside the Horseshoe Year in Review – December 18

WCBU’s Outside the Horseshoe will continue its annual tradition of a year-end special that counts down the top stories of the year, and looks ahead with predictions for next year. Join us Tuesday, December 18th at 7:00 PM for a special one-hour edition of Outside the Horseshoe. WCBU’s Jonathan Ahl will lead the roundtable discussion that will include John Sharp from the Peoria Journal Star, Shaun Newell from 1470 WMBD, and Billy Dennis of peoriapundit.com.

I hope they taped this in advance, because it sounds like Billy is coming down with a cold. Get well soon, my friend.

2008 Campaign, Radio

Primary Place Online

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It’s no secret that we rarely ever see presidential candidates in Illinois because they’re spending all their time in states like New Hampshire and Iowa. New Hampshire Public Radio (NHPR) has decided to help out those of us in “flyover country.” They’ve started a website called Primary Place Online where you can vicariously see, hear, and ask questions of the candidates through the residents of Exeter, New Hampshire.

In New Hampshire, voters get to see the candidates face-to-face. The Write-Ups posted here are the words of real people from the Town of Exeter, doing their best to tell you what made an impression on them. We hope you find it useful. You will also see Field Notes. These can come from anyone in New Hampshire — including you if you live here. Everyone can comment on any post and post a question that they think should be put to a candidate.

Jonathan Ahl blogged about this last month, and he sees a lot of benefit in it. I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, it’s seemingly a pretty cool way to leverage the power of the Internet to gain access to the candidates. But on the other hand, I’m not sure what more it gives me that I can’t get from C-SPAN and the two billion news and blog reports out on the internet.

I’m also not seeing evidence that submitted questions are being asked of the candidates. Of the questions listed here, not a single answer has been posted. Not that I blame them. If I lived in Exeter, it’s not likely that I would ask a question submitted by some stranger in Peoria, Illinois, when I’m probably going to get only one shot at asking a question at all. (It’s not like each voter has unlimited face time with the candidates, even in New Hampshire.)

The write-ups that Exeter residents give are interesting to read. They give impressions of the candidates that one can only get from a face-to-face encounter. But even though it’s interesting, it doesn’t really make any difference in helping me choose a candidate to support.

Have any of you visited the site? What was your impression?