WCBU & WGLT BEGIN A PARTNERSHIP IN CENTRAL ILLINOIS

WCBU, Peoria and WGLT, Bloomington have started their new partnership and listeners in both cities will benefit. UPDATED INFO BELOW.

As we reported in April [link], WCBU a/k/a Peoria Public Radio [link], located at Bradley University and WGLT [link], located at Illinois State University had reached an agreement for WGLT to take over operations of WCBU.

The new arrangement began on June 1.

The future of WCBU had been in doubt since August 2018 when Bradley announced their intention to not relocate the station when its current offices and studios are demolished later in 2019.  Bradley also wanted to end their day-to-day financial support for WCBU but keep the station’s FCC license.

Illinois State agreed to those terms and the plan came together quickly. The Public Service Operating Agreement (PSOA) between the two universities officially began on June 1, 2019.

R.C. McBride

R.C. McBride deserves much of the credit for crafting the plan and bringing the two universities together so quickly.. 

In the new arrangement, McBride is GM of both WCBU and WGLT. 

Each station will continue to focus on their own city-of-license. 

Peoria and Bloomington are approximately 40 miles from each other. The primary signals of the two stations do not overlap.

A third station in the cluster, a full-time Classical music outlet, we reportedly be on the air later this summer.

The new Classical station will serve Peoria at 103.5 FM. McBride is establishing the new service by taking the audio from WCBU HD2 and simulcasting it on a FM translator at 103.5 FM owned by WGLT.

Both cities will benefit from the changes, but public radio listeners in Peoria are getting a particularly sweet deal.  Before the stations decided to work toether, WCBU had a dual-format.  Back then NPR news magazines competed for airtime with Classical music. Now WCBU will service Peoria with two full-time stations: One for NPR News/Talk and the other for Classical music.  Such an arrangement had been a dream at WCBU for many years.

On the left are the schedules for both stations during key hours when the most people are listening to radio. During weekdays this means the hours best 6am and 7pm.

Both stations are focusing on solid blocks of news/talk programming during Monday through Friday key hours.

One difference is that WGLT has more local programming during weekday key hours.

WGLT has a signature daily show – GLT Sound Ideas. It airs a wide variety of topics, including news maker interviews, listener call-ins and calendars for local arts and music events.

The 21^st is a daily talk and interview program produced and distributed by Illinois Public Media, based in Urbana.

UPDATE: The WCBU schedule in the chart above contains out-of-date information.  Per R.C. McBride changes were made as of June 3:

"Effective June 3, NPR's Here and Now will air from noon until 3, with All Things Considered airing from 3 until 6. Dropping The Takeaway and The World are part of our effort to bring WCBU's expenses for national programming in line with its revenue. We’re also excited to welcome World Café to the evening lineup from 7-9 p.m."

There is one major schedule change at WGLT. For many years the station was known as a voice of Jazz music.  Most of the Jazz is gone now, replaced by 
Americana and AAA music. The music mix is branded WGLT’s Highway 309. It can be heard during overnights and during weekends.

On the weekends, both stations air many of public radio’s biggest hits. The chart on the left shows programming during the key hours of Saturday 6am to 3pm. 

There is one clinker during WGLT's Saturday key hours. Note that at Noon WGLT quits playing public radio's most popular weekly programs and switches to WGLT’s Highway 309 for several hours. By doing this, WGLT is missing the opportunity to reach one of the largest available audiences between Noon and 1pm. 

As we reported on May 21 [link], the Saturday Noon to 1pm hour has one of the top percentages of people listening to radio. 1pm to 2pm is also an hour with heavy amounts of listening. Simply put, the best practice is to Fish Where the Fish Are.

According to the agreement between Bradley and Illinois State, operations for both stations will soon be at WGLT.  Everything is supposed to be in one place as of September 30, 2019. WCBU will also have a remote studio in Peoria on the Bradley campus.

WGLT will be in charge of fundraising for both stations. However, the money raised by each station will be put in separate accounts.

Bradley University and Illinois State have the option of renewing the agreement after five years.