March 2 Illinois History Minute

It’s March 2nd, and Illinois Industrial University opened for classes in Urbana on this day in 1868. Illinois’ first state university offered education that working families could afford, with three faculty members and a few dozen students. The University of Illinois dropped “industrial” from its name in 1885. It’s now a place where nearly 50,000 students are taught by 27-hundred faculty members.          

On this day in 1971, WILL-FM began weekly recorded broadcasts of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The program was the very first offering from National Public Radio. NPR produced its first live network broadcast a month later --- a Senate hearing on the Vietnam War. It would launch its daily news program “All Things Considered” in May.