Focus, or Focus 580, was WILL Radio's flagship talk program from 1981 until 2014. David Inge was the host from 1981 until his retirement in 2012. Always engaging, the program acted as a resource for citizens to directly question politicians and candidates as well as keep up on the arts, science, health, and even the latest from well-known novelists.
The Focus archive below offers thousands of great interviews and serves as a time capsule and a great resource for researchers and those just curious about how influential people spoke of important topics as they were happening.
The premier for the 6th season of MadMen was last night on AMC. Are you a fan of the show? Love it? Hate it? This hour on Focus, guest host Chris Berube talked with three UIUC professors who have just published the book “Mad Men, Mad World: Sex, Politics, Style and the 1960’s.”
Are you a dog or a cat person? Maybe you’re neither? Both? This hour on Focus, we’re talking with two area veterinarians and welcome your pet questions, no matter what breed of species you love and care for.
Calling them unmanned aerial vehicles sounds just as scary as calling them drones, but what do we really mean when we talk about this technology? This hour on Focus, we talked about drones, how they are being used and how they’re not. We also heard from an Urbana man working to advance the use of unmanned aerial vehicles in journalism and to inspire high school students to study math and science.
At homeless shelters in the Champaign-Urbana area, budget cuts due to the sequester are especially unwelcome. This hour on Focus, we talked about the unmet need for sheltering and rehabilitation services in the area and will hear from a mother who has been working for the last two years to get back on her feet.
Legal services are increasingly expensive and, in some places in the state, hard to find. This hour on Focus, we talked with John Thies, President of the Illinois State Bar Association, which is calling for change in how the state educates it attorneys, and Steven Harper, author of the new book “The Lawyer Bubble.”
Do you know the first president to throw an MLB opening day pitch? Did you know in 1907, there was an epic snowball fight at an opening day game in New York that determined the outcome? Starting today, Major League Baseball is officially in season, and this hour on Focus, we talked with John Thorn, the official historian of the MLB and Donald Spivey, who has spent his career studying Satchel Paige.
Long have we been fascinated by the wonder and mystery of the night sky. This hour on Focus, we talked with Jim Kaler about his new book “First Magnitude, a Book of the Bright Sky.”
Cases of computer hacking have been in the spotlight lately, especially since President Obama made cyber security one of his key priorities in this year’s State of the Union Address. But who is doing the hacking and why? Today on Focus we talked about cyber-security and what we’re doing to protect against cyber criminals.
The devil really isn’t in the details, and rarely does anyone literally pull your leg. But we still use these expressions. Why and where do they come from? This hour on Focus, we talked with Christine Ammer, author of the new American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms.
When you hear the word terrorism, what is your first reaction? How different is that reaction now than it was before September 11? This hour on Focus, we talked with Stanford Professor Martha Crenshaw, about global terrorism and how concerns have changed in the last decade. We also talked about the use of drones in the US military.
