WILL is directional, mostly to protect co-channel WIBW in Topeka, Kansas. It operates with 5,000 watts during the day, and due to its location near the bottom of the AM dial, as well as its transmitter power, directional antenna and central Illinois's flat land (with high ground conductivity), this provides grade B coverage as far north as Chicago and as far east as Indianapolis. At sunset it must reduce power to 500 watts and gradually power down to 100 watts, resulting in marginal coverage even in Champaign-Urbana. At 6 a.m., it increases its power to 335 watts and ramps up to full power at sunrise.[3]
In mid-1920 the University of Illinois at Urbana was issued an Experimental radio station license with the call sign 9XJ.[4] Although primarily used for technical training and experimental purposes, by 1921 9XJ was also being used to broadcast athletic scores,[5][6] and in early 1922 plans were announced to add musical presentations.[7] However, effective December 1, 1921, the Department of Commerce, which regulated radio at this time, adopted regulations requiring that stations making broadcasts intended for the general public obtain a "Limited Commercial" license.[8] This new requirement resulted in 9XJ ending its entertainment broadcasts,[7] although the station continued to be used for experimental and training purposes.
In early March it was announced that preparations were being made to apply for a Limited Commercial license that authorized broadcasting, in addition to point-to-point communication with other universities.[9] On March 28, 1922 the university was issued a license, with the call letters WRM, for the 360 meter (833 kHz) "entertainment" wavelength and for point-to-point communication on 410 meters (732 kHz).[10] Although the station call sign was randomly assigned, it was sometimes later said to have signified "We Reach Millions".[11] In late 1924, the station moved to 1100 kHz.[12]
WRM was one of many AM stations signed on by universities (mostly land-grant institutions like University of Illinois) in the early days of radio. Many of these stations struggled financially, since they operated non-commercially. In 1925 WRM received a major financial boast when Boetius H. Sullivan decided to provide extensive financial support in order to establish the station as a memorial to his father, Roger C. Sullivan, who had died five years earlier. The Sullivan donation consisted of an initial $100,000, plus annual contributions of $8,000 for maintenance and operations.[13] This financed the purchase of a 1,000 watt transmitter, plus construction at 400 South Wright Street of a new studio building and "flat-top" antenna structure.[14]
On November 11, 1928, under the provisions of the Federal Radio Commission's General Order 40, the station's frequency was changed to 890 kHz, on a timeshare basis with KUSD in Vermillion, South Dakota and KFNF in Shenandoah, Iowa.[15] At this time WRM's call sign was also changed to the current WILL.[16] Under an agreement with its two timeshare partners, WILL was assigned the timeslots of 5 to 6 p.m. and 7:30 to 8:00 p.m. daily.[17]
In 1937 WILL moved to 580 kHz, initially with 1,000 watts, using a two tower directional array constructed at South First Street.[14] Because it no longer had to timeshare, this new assignment allowed an increase in hours of operation. However, the station was now generally restricted to operation only during daytime hours, although it was also occasionally authorized to operate at night, with power reduced to 250 watts, in order to broadcast Illini basketball games and the Illinois High School Boys Basketball Championship.[18] In December 1938, WILL's power was increased to 5,000 watts. In late 1942 the university began operating an FM station, originally WIUC (now WILL-FM), which allowed for the addition of regular nighttime programming after WILL was required to sign-off at sunset. The station has since been authorized for nighttime operations, albeit at somewhat reduced power.
From 1942 to 1998, WILL's studios were located at University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign's Gregory Hall.[2] In 1994, the station began broadcasting 24-hours a day, airing the BBC World Service overnight.[2] Until 2014, it also served as the default NPR member station for Terre Haute, Indiana, which lacked a full-power NPR member station until WISU began carrying NPR programming that year as a satellite of WFYI-FM in Indianapolis.
See also
Illini Media - university-independent not-for-profit organization that runs radio station WPGU and the Daily Illini
^"New Stations: Special Land Stations", Radio Service Bulletin, July 1, 1920, page 5. The "9" in 9XJ's call sign indicated that the station was located in the 9th Radio Inspection district, while the "X" signified that the station was operating under an Experimental license.
^"New Stations", Radio Service Bulletin, April 1, 1922, page 4. Limited Commercial license, Serial No. 574, call sign WRM, issued March 28, 1922 to the University of Illinois at Urbana for operation on 360 and 410 meters for three months .
^"With a WILL", Engineering Outlook (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), May 1972, page 2.
A. James Ebel papers at the University of Maryland Libraries. Ebel was WILL's chief engineer and designed the station's first FM transmitter while he was the executive secretary of the National Association of Educational Broadcasters.
"Division of Broadcasting", Alumni News (College of Communications: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign), 1977-78: Fiftieth Anniversary (special issue), pages 24–29: historical overview of radio and TV broadcasting at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign up to 1977
