WILL Press Room
WILL Hunger Programs Win Awards
Wednesday, May 02, 2012
Illinois Public Media’s programming about community hunger has won two Silver Awards of Distinction in the international 2012 Communicator Awards. It also was named a Bronze Winner in the 2012 Telly Awards.
A day of programming about hunger on WILL-TV, WILL-AM and the Web in November won the in the Communicator Awards “Integrated Campaign-Social Responsibility” category. Illinois Public Media’s Celeste Quinn, David Inge, Harriet Williamson, Sean Powers, Henry Radcliffe, Tracy Cain, Crystal Kang, Mary Barrineau, Rita Schulte, Mike Thomas, Kimberlie Kranich, Jack Brighton and Dan Davis worked on the hunger project.
Illinois Public Media’s video about the Wesley Evening Food Pantry in Urbana won in the “Program/News-Social Responsibility” category. Kimberlie Kranich produced the video as part of the hunger project, and Henry Radcliffe was the videographer and editor. Watch the video.
In the Telly Awards, Illinois Public Media's video story about the Central Illinois Foodbank's mobile food pantry won in the "TV Programs, Segments-Social Responsibility" category. Kranich was producer and Radcliffe the videographer/editor for the video. Watch the video.
The Communicator Awards is the leading international awards program in communications and marketing, recognizing the best in print, Web, video and mobile. More than 6,000 entries were judged by the International Academy of Visual Arts. The Telly Awards honor outstanding local, regional, and cable TV commercials and programs, the finest video and film productions, and online commercials, video and films.
Vintage Vinyl Sale Keeps Radio Service Free for Visually Impaired
Monday, April 09, 2012
Illinois Radio Reader’s largest fundraiser, the annual Vintage Vinyl sale, takes place from 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, May 5, at 1803 Philo Road, Urbana, next to Hot Slots: 1/32 Slot Car Racing. The sale offers thousands of used LP records, CDs, DVDs, 45s, cassettes and vintage audio equipment and provides funding for Illinois Radio Reader (IRR). Proceeds of the sale allow IRR services to reach more visually impaired people.
Only 11 percent of visually impaired people in central Illinois receive services from IRR, which enables users to remain self-sufficient by providing recorded readings of local newspapers and other print media, including sales flyers.
You can drop off donations of records, CDs, video games and DVDs through April 27 at any Busey Bank location with a walk-up lobby in Champaign, Urbana, Savoy and Mahomet. To donate equipment or make donations of large collections, contact IRR director Deane Geiken at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or 217-333-6503.
The sale opens with a $5 admission fee from 8 to 11 a.m. There’s no fee from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Doors close from 3-4 p.m. to prepare for the half-price sale from 4-6 p.m.
Last year more than 2,000 people attended and purchased $14,000 worth of records and equipment. But even with funds raised by the sale, IRR barely breaks even, with no excess funds to expand services to those who aren’t listeners, Geiken said.
IRR has over 500 patrons who receive these services for free, he said. “However, there are more than 2,520 individuals in the Champaign-Urbana area alone who qualify for this service. Unfortunately, due to lack of funding, they don’t have access to the radios needed to receive the IRR service,” Geiken said. Users include a range of people who can’t comfortably read standard print or hold a book or turn pages, including those who are blind, have macular degeneration, or have muscular dystrophy.
“You might know that Schnucks is selling chicken thighs at 99 cents a pound and that the Christian Science Monitor is covering news from Uganda,” Geiken said. “But print-impaired people can’t open up the newspaper or easily search the Internet from their cell phone to find out what’s happening in their community and the world.”
For more information about the Vintage Vinyl sale, visit the sale’s Facebook page at “Vintage Vinyl 2012.” The Illinois Radio Reader also is on Facebook at “Illinois Radio Reader.”
About IRR:
Illinois Radio Reader (IRR) was established on the University of Illinois campus in 1978 and is located at 59 E. Armory Dr. in an old, two-story, formerly residential house. IRR’s broadcast range includes roughly to Pontiac in the north, Mattoon in the south, and Bloomington-Normal and Danville respectively in the west and east. IRR is part of a state-wide organization, the Illinois Radio Information Services (IRIS), which consists of eleven separate radio reading services. It is also a service of Illinois Public Media—WILL. IRR broadcasts 17 hours of programs each day or 119 hours of programming each week with their main focus on local newspapers, advertisements and news. IRR also offers special features such as the Descriptive Video Service in conjunction with WGBH in Boston and WILL-TV, providing descriptive narration of popular PBS television programs.
Community Cinema: Hell and Back Again
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
6 pm Tuesday, April 3
Champaign Public Library
The film Hell and Back Again weaves together the narratives of the life of a Marine on the frontlines of the war in Afghanistan and the same Marine’s life in recovery at home to create a realistic depiction of how Marines experience the war.
A free screening of the film from the public television program Independent Lens and a discussion of the issues it raises will take place at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 3, in Robeson Rooms A & B of the Champaign Public Library (200 W. Green St.). Illinois Public Media and the library are partners in presenting the 10-film Community Cinema series for 2011-2012.
Panelists for the post-screening discussion will be Robert Salee, American Legion Post 559; Tom Miebach, Community Elements; and Tim Wyse, Marine Corps League Senior Vice Commandant.
The story follows the U.S. Marines Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, as they launch a major assault on a Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan. Within hours of being dropped deep behind enemy lines, Sgt. Nathan Harris' unit is attacked from all sides.
The parallel story begins with Harris' return home to his wife after he is severely injured. In physical and psychological pain, he attempts to reconcile the immense gulf between his experiences at war with the terrifying normalcy of life at home. These two stories intertwine to communicate the drama of war and the experience of returning home for a whole generation returning from military service.
The film will be shown with closed captions for the hearing impaired and an English Sign Language interpreter will sign the discussion.
Independent Lens: Hell and Back Again will air on WILL-TV at 9 p.m. Monday, May 28.
NPR’s Andrea Seabrook to Speak at WILL
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Get the inside scoop about Congress from NPR congressional correspondent Andrea Seabrook, who will be at WILL on Wednesday, April 11. During an event from 6-7:30 pm in the WILL-TV studio, you’ll hear an insider’s perspective on political events and their larger implications. She’ll read between the lines of everyday news stories, offering both a depth of knowledge and entertaining commentary.
Tickets are $25 per person. Call 217-333-7300 to reserve your seat. Seating is limited so don’t delay.
While in Champaign-Urbana, Seabrook will also appear as a guest on WILL-AM’s Focus at 10:06 am on Thursday, April 12.
In her reports for NPR, Seabrook delivers critical, insightful reporting, explaining the daily complexities of legislation and the longer trends in American politics. She and NPR’s Peter Overby won the prestigious Joan S. Barone award for their “Dollar Politics” series, which exposed the intense lobbying effort around President Obama’s Health Care legislation. Another collaboration with Overby on the flow of money during the 2010 midterm elections, was widely lauded, drawing a huge audience spike on npr.org.
She took a year-and-a-half break, in 2006 and 2007, to host the weekend edition of NPR’s newsmagazine, All Things Considered. She has also anchored NPR’s live coverage of national party conventions and election night in 2006 and 2008, and is a frequent guest host of NPR programs, including Weekend Edition and Talk of the Nation.
Seabrook joined NPR in 1998 as an editorial assistant for the music program, Anthem. After serving in a variety of editorial and production positions, she moved to NPR’s Mexico Bureau to work as a producer and translator, providing fill-in coverage of Mexico and Central America. Later, she worked on NPR’s Science Desk and the NPR/National Geographic series, Radio Expeditions, then moving to Morning Edition, where she became as assistant editor. She then began her on-air career as a weekend general assignment reporter for all NPR programs.
Before coming to NPR, Seabrook lived, studied and worked in Mexico City, Mexico. She ran audio for movies and television, and even had a bit part in a Mexican soap opera.
Seabrook earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from Earlham College and studied Latin American literature at La Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. While in college she worked at WECI, the student-run public radio station at Earlham College.
Housing: A Basic Human Need
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Illinois Public Media and CU-CitizenAccess.org are taking a comprehensive look at housing issues during a day of programming Tuesday, March 27, on WILL-AM, WILL-TV and online.
Champaign and Vermilion counties have seen many changes in their neighborhoods and housing stock since the nation’s economic decline. Among the challenges: More renters are competing for safe and affordable housing. A growing demand is putting stress on existing assistance programs. People sometimes have strong, often negative perceptions of low-income housing.
The initiative looking at these issues and others will culminate that night in a live program, Housing: A Basic Human Need, at 8 p.m. on WILL-TV featuring video stories about housing in the two counties and a roundtable discussion with local experts. The program, hosted by David Inge, will also be videostreamed live at will.illinois.edu with an online chat immediately following the broadcast.
Featured stories include a look at Generations of Hope in Rantoul, an intentional intergenerational community formed to support and serve adoptive families of foster children, and a look at a developer in Danville who turned the historic New Holland building into mixed income housing. Reporter Pam Dempsey of CU-Citizen Access.org is producer of the program. CU-Citizen Access is a community journalism project of the University of Illinois College of Media with professional and student journalists.
The examination of community housing issues is the second in the WILL Connect series in which Illinois Public Media is looking at issues in the community as identified by community conversations and listening sessions. “We’ve heard concerns about affordability, safety and homelessness,” said Kimberlie Kranich, director of community content and engagement for Illinois Public Media. “Affordable housing is about more than a physical structure. It’s also about residents needing a supportive environment and access to services.” The goal of the programming is not only to show problems with housing, but to also highlight some innovative solutions already underway in our area, she said.
WILL-AM’s morning talk program, Focus, will highlight housing issues on March 26 and 27. At 10:06 a.m. Monday, March 26, host David Inge talks to Kevin Jackson, neighborhood services director for the city of Champaign, and Libby Tyler, community development services director for the city of Urbana, about housing issues in the county and a housing study commissioned by the cities. Then at 11:06 a.m. Tuesday, March 27, the focus will be on public housing with Edward Bland, executive director of the Champaign Housing Authority; Greg Hilleary, executive director of the Danville Housing Authority; and Gloria Thompson-Brown, residential coordinator, Green Meadows Housing Complex in Danville.
A new series, Neighbors, on WILL-AM and willconnect.org premieres March 27 and will feature stories every Tuesday about people in Champaign and Vermilion counties and the neighborhoods they call home. “The stories will be told through the voices of those interviewed,” Kranich said.
On March 27, Neighbors hears from Mary Ann Pettigrew has spent most of her life in Danville in a neighborhood known as Rabbittown. On April 3, Gloria Thompson-Brown of Danville talks about her neighborhood, where she and her husband rent a house through Section 8 assistance and where she says neighbors keep an eye out for each other. On April 10, Thom Pollock describes the central Danville neighborhood where he lives in a home that is about 100 years old.
The stories will air on Morning Edition, All Things Considered and The Afternoon Magazine on WILL-AM 580.
13th District Congressional Debate
Wednesday, March 07, 2012
7 pm Wednesday, March 14
WILL-TV, WILL-AM and online
Bloomington physician David Gill and Greene County State’s Attorney Matt Goetten, the Democratic candidates running for Congress in the new 13th District, will meet in the WILL-TV studio for a debate hosted by Illinois Public Media in collaboration with the League of Women Voters of Illinois.
WILL-TV and WILL-AM 580 will broadcast the hour-long debate live at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 14, with live video streaming on will.illinois.edu and an accompanying live Internet chat.
Illinois Public Media’s Jim Meadows will moderate the debate before a live studio audience, with additional questions from Patrick Yeagle, staff writer for the Illinois Times in Springfield; Jill Disis, editor-in-chief of the Daily Illini; and Allison Petty, a reporter for the Decatur Herald & Review.
The 13th Congressional District stretches from Champaign-Urbana west to the Mississippi River and to the Illinois suburbs of St. Louis. The winner of the Democratic primary faces the winner of the three-way Republican contest between U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson, now serving the 15th Congressional district that has been redrawn; Edwardsville veterinarian Michael Firsching; and tree-trimming business owner Frank Metzger from Glen Carbon.
Also broadcasting the debate live will be WUIS-FM, Springfield; and WGLT-FM, Bloomington. WEIU-TV, Charleston, will air the debate at 10 p.m. the same night, while KETC-TV, St. Louis, will air it at 7 p.m. Friday, March 16, on the KETC World Channel.
No Republican primary debate is planned at WILL because Johnson declined an invitation to appear in a primary debate, and Firsching and Metzger do not meet criteria adopted from the League of Women Voters for Congressional debate candidates.
Interviews and stories about the candidates are archived at will.illinois.edu/election, where other election coverage is also posted.
Ill. Public Broadcasting Stations Launch Service for Educators
Monday, March 05, 2012
Public television and public radio stations in Illinois have entered into an unprecedented partnership to create and launch Illinois PBS LearningMedia, a free, on-demand media resource designed to help PreK-12 educators integrate technology to teach core subjects in the classroom.
“We are excited to help introduce 21st century tools to classrooms statewide,” said Mark Leonard, president of the Illinois Public Broadcasting Council (IPBC) and general manager of Illinois Public Media-WILL in Urbana. “In conjunction with PBS LearningMedia, teachers around the state can now access the rich libraries of public television and radio content, and integrate these resources into their lesson plans at no cost to the local schools. Our school-aged children deserve access to the most trustworthy, engaging, educational resources available, which is at the heart of what public broadcasters do.”
Illinois PBS LearningMedia allows educators in Illinois access to 22,000 local and national, classroom-ready digital resources from PBS and other public media stations. Resources are aligned with state and national Common Core education standards. These resources include videos, interactive images, audio files, mobile apps, and lesson plans, which teachers can access and sort by grade level and topic to build their own personal libraries.
“Public media has been delivering educational content for years, so it's a natural fit to create this resource benefiting both teachers and students,” said Greg Petrowich, chair of IPBC's Education Committee and executive director of WSIU Public Broadcasting in Carbondale. “Giving teachers direct access to the highest quality content public broadcasting has to offer is certain to spark even greater innovation in our education system.”
Last fall, Illinois public media stations commissioned a pilot study of the service with 74 teachers representing 43 public and private schools across the state. The study, created by Dr. Evangeline S. Pianfetti of the University of Illinois College of Education and other researchers, confirmed that digital resources help local teachers strengthen connections with students. Results of the pilot study are available online.
“We are very pleased to hear teachers finding the value that PBS LearningMedia is providing Illinois students and educators, and talking about it!” said Rob Lippincott, PBS Senior Vice President, PBS Education. “As America's largest classroom, PBS, in partnership with all Illinois member stations, is committed to offering innovative digital tools and resources for every teacher in Illinois and in classrooms nationwide.”
According to the pilot study, participating teachers unanimously recommend Illinois PBS LearningMedia for its ease of use, variety and diversity of resources, high-quality content, connection to curriculum, ability to engage students, and free access.
“It's awesome to have thousands of video clips at my fingertips at any given time,” said Michael Carton, who teaches first and second grade at the Center for Math and Science in Rock Island.
Marybeth McCormick, a second grade teacher at Sparta Primary Center in Sparta, Ill., agrees. “I enjoy being able to find many resources in one place, especially resources that are educationally based,” she said.
Heather Beck, a vocal music instructor at Our Lady of Grace Academy in East Moline, found the service easy to use and well-organized. “I was able to navigate (the site) easily and locate all the resources I wanted to use with minimal difficulty.”
KiLee Lidwell-McFerren, who teaches high school art at Gibson City High School in Gibson City, appreciates the variety of resources available to educators. “I liked that the new assets were added as the weeks went by. Knowing that there might be new ones added made me look more frequently, and I will continue to use it to look for new supports/ideas.”
New content continues to be added to the online service, which includes resources from PBS, public media stations around the state and country, the National Archives, the Library of Congress, National Geographic, NASA, the National Science Foundation, NPR, and the U.S. Department of Education.
2012 All-Day Ag Outlook Meeting
Friday, February 24, 2012
Illinois Public Media’s 22nd annual All-Day Agricultural Outlook Meeting on Tuesday, March 6, will explore strategies producers can use to manage risk in volatile markets.
“It’s much more difficult in a time of greater volatility for producers to capture an average price, because swings are much wider,” said Todd Gleason, host of the Illinois Public Media’s Closing Market Report and Commodity Week.
“We put together our All Day Outlook Meeting to help producers manage that risk around the average in hopes of beating it,” Gleason said. The event begins at 8:40 a.m. EST at the Beef House in Covington, Ind. Tickets are sold out.
Along with Illinois Public Media’s regular on-air analysts, speakers include Mike Morris, chief appraiser at 1st Farm Credit Services; Purdue ag economist Chris Hurt; Joe Vaclavic from Straits Financial; and Steve Platt from Archer Financial Services.
Get full details here.
Should We End Black History Month?
Monday, January 30, 2012
Free screening and discussion
6 pm Tuesday, Feb. 7
Champaign Public Library
200 W. Green St.
Should Black History Month be ended? That’s the question explored in More Than a Month by African-American filmmaker Shukree Hassan Tilghman as he embarks on a cross-country campaign to do just that.
Panelists for the Community Cinema discussion are Sandra E. Gibbs, educational consultant, and Janice Mitchell, director of the Urbana Neighborhood Connections Center. The film will be shown with closed captions for the hearing impaired and an English sign language interpreter will sign the discussion. For more information, visit willconnect.org/projects/cinema/.
Combining cinema verité, man-on-the-street interviews and inspired dramatizations, the film is a first-person narrative of the filmmaker’s quest to understand the implications of Black History Month.
The film asks the questions: How do we justify teaching American history as somehow separate from African American history? What does it mean that we have a Black History Month? What would it mean if we didn’t?
Tilghman begins his research at home, but finds his parents dismayed when he suggests eliminating Black History Month. He then seeks a deeper understanding of Carter G. Woodson, the creator of Negro History Week, the predecessor to Black History Month.
More Than a Month will air on WILL-TV at 9 pm Friday, Feb. 17.
Conversation witn C-U Mayors
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
8 pm Thursday, Feb. 2
WILL-TV and WILL-AM 580
Live video and interactive chat at will.illinois.edu
Join WILL reporter Jim Meadows as he talks to Champaign Mayor Don Gerard and Urbana Mayor Laurel Prussing about the past year and the year ahead for the Twin Cities. Call in with your questions.