From my inbox:
Beginning March 7, 2011, WCBU will expand its offerings for Peoria area public radio listeners. The station will offer all news, information and entertainment programming on 89.9 FM, and expanded classical music to be aired on its digital frequency, WCBU 89.9 HD2.
“We believe this is a win-win for our current listeners,” says WCBU Executive Director Thomas Hunt. “It also gives us an opportunity to increase membership and do an even better job of meeting the needs of our audience.”
“We have heard from many members who have asked for additional news and information programming,” says Shelli Dankoff, President of the WCBU Advisory Board. “We’ll be able to give listeners even more opportunities to hear different viewpoints and to learn and discover new things. We are excited about what this means for our listeners.”
The station will continue to air popular shows like Morning Edition and All Things Considered, and will expand information and National Public Radio (NPR) programming — adding new shows like BBC News, the Diane Rehm Show, Fresh Air and The World, all aired commercial-free. Listeners will also continue to enjoy entertainment programs like Prairie Home Companion, Car Talk and Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me! and local programs like Outside the Horseshoe, Out and About, theater reviews and more. Local music programs, such as Music from the Heartland and Jazz from the Hilltop will be heard on both WCBU and WCBU HD2. The station will also maintain its dedicated newsroom and reporting staff for local and regional news coverage.
The change will also allow WCBU to offer central Illinois’ classical music listening audience more music in a superior format: Digital radio, which delivers CD-quality audio with crystal clear reception. Digital listeners can tune in on a digital radio or listen online at www.wcbufm.org, with minimal interruption and the familiar voices of WCBU on-air personalities.
“We’re committed to being stewards of art and culture in our region, giving the Peoria-area community access to many viewpoints and classical music programming,” says Hunt. “These format changes will help us deliver on that commitment.”
“As the Internet continues to expand our broadcast world, and with our move to digital broadcasting in 2007, the launch of WCBU2 provides a 24 hour opportunity to serve more listeners by consolidating all news programming and all music programming to their unique streams available on air and on-line all the time,” added Dankoff.
The new WCBU and WCBU HD2 program schedules and more information on HD radios will be available on the station’s web site www.wcbufm.org.
WCBU is the public radio service of Bradley University, and has served listeners in Peoria and central Illinois for more than 40 years. The station broadcasts daily from studios on the Bradley University campus.
You can see the new schedule for WCBU here, and the new WCBU “HD2” schedule here.
I still don’t understand why they are continuing with HD Radio. This format doesn’t seem to be getting much traction nationally or with the electronics industry. Why don’t they just do like WILL out of Urbana does; AM 580 for all news/NPR and FM 90.9 for music and arts programming. You can get a far larger listening area with AM.
Who wants another dedicated piece of electronics just to listen to HD radio? You are far more likely to find Sirius/XM on a device than you will HD Radio.
The loss of classical music doesn’t bother me much. Like some others I would much rather have jazz and blues return. I could listen to WGLT but I want local news too.
Ah, shucks. We’ll miss you. There are about five parts of the house in which we sometimes listen to classical music and none of our many radios can pick up HD.
I can’t replace five or more radios, not to mention the car radios.
My wife WOULD like to listen to classical many more hours in the day. I like news/talk. The format change would have been good if you’d gone the AM & FM route like I suggested to you 5-10 years ago – similar to the Iowa City station.
I hope you can make the change to AM & FM like Mahkno suggested, someday.
I actually advocated for this switch with a WCBU board member. I’m excited about it as I love NPR programming and miss a lot of the great shows, like Fresh Air or Diane Rheem (sp?). And it leaves the door open for other local programming (more local and regional news or info shows, I hope! that gardener guy from WGLT is great!)
HD radios are not that big an expense. Saw one recently for $40. Not sure how it works in older cars, but newer cars do come with it.
I’m not a fan of AM at all. I never have been. it hurts my ears. Frankly, I’m not entirely sure why it still exists, given that I listen to music at work via my computer anyway. WHich means I can listen to anything around the globe. WGLT has an alternate station online, for 24-7 jazz and/or blues. Why not go with an internet stream too. ALmost everyone has a computer in their house now, and you can listen to it on that very easily.
Sorry, I didn’t scan the post well enough – they are offering it via webstream. Heck, you could listen to it on most smart phones that way, too.
Plus – the idea of listening to classic music on AM – really? Given the sound quality of AM, that’s kinda like still using a black and white tv to watch modern tv and film. Might as well take off your glasses and watch.
We have these wonderful advances in technology, and listening will still be free online. Plus, as someone suggested in the comment thread in the Journal Star – if you make a $200 donation to WCBU they’ll give you an HD radio – which is a bit pricier, but most of that money will go towards supporting the continued classic music programming (you can ask that it be dedicated to fund that). A worthwhile investment for sure!