As WILL-AM celebrates a century of being on the air, we are sharing a minute-long snippet of Illinois history every weekday in 2022. This daily feature includes memorable people, places and events of that helped shape the prairie state.
Hosted by Illinois Public Media reporter Jim Meadows, the minute of Illinois History will air on WILL-AM/FM at 7:42 a.m. during Morning Edition and 5:32 p.m. during All Things Considered; as well as on WILL-AM in the 1 o'clock hour of Here & Now and at 8 o'clock in the evening. We've also made them available below for all of you history buffs!
It’s the anniversary of WILL’s Patterns Magazine, first published this month in 1974. The University of Illinois had published WILL program schedules going back to the 1930s, available to anyone who asked. But Patterns was more elaborate, and sent only to the Friends of WILL --- supporters who donate money for WILL Radio and TV.
It’s April 13th, and that’s Howard Keel, singing in the MGM musical “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers”. Keel was born on this day in the Macoupin County town of Gillespie in 1919. He starred in many movie musicals in the 1950s, and in the ‘80s, played oil baron Clayton Farlow in the TV series “Dallas”.
It’s April 12th. And on this day in 1983, former congressman and state lawmaker Harold Washington was elected mayor of Chicago, after defeating the city’s first female mayor, Jane Byrne, in the primary.
It’s April 11th, and on this day in 1842, Charles Dickens was in the middle of a tour of the United States that reached its low point when the English novelist came to southern Illinois.
It’s April 8th, and on this day in 1675, Father Jacques Marquette made a return visit to the Grand Village of the Illinois, a native American settlement of about a thousand people on the Illinois River, across from Starved Rock.
It’s April 7th, the day when Naval intelligence officer Edwin T. Layton was born in Nauvoo. He promoted the use of code-breaking information in war-planning.
Today is the birthday of WILL-AM. The University of Illinois’ new radio station was called WRM when it signed on for the first time, on the evening of April 6th in 1922.
It’s April 5th, the day that writer Robert Bloch (block) was born in Chicago in 1927. Bloch’s specialties were science fiction, fantasy, crime and horror. His novel “Psycho” became the basis for the classic Alfred Hitchcock movie.
It’s April Fourth, and the incorporation of Canton as a city in Fulton County was recorded on this day in 1892. Canton was first settled in 1825 by Isaac Swann and Nathan Jones, and grew to become Fulton County’s industrial center. Swann chose the name because he believed, incorrectly, that his new settlement was located diametrically opposite from the Chinese city of Canton, also known at Guangzhou.
April First is a day for pranks and hoaxes in Illinois. In 1881, doctors in Springfield received a flood of false calls for emergency care. The Illinois State Register said physicians received so many prank calls that day that a real call in the afternoon was quote “treated with impunity”.
