ROGER MONROE

When I started in radio as a part-time announcer, there were only a handful of stations in Peoria. They included WMBD, 1470, the first to go on the air; the “Mighty 1290, WIRL; WAAP, 1350, which later became WXCL; Clear Channel WPEO, 1020; WSIV in Pekin, 1140 on the AM dial; and WTVH, with studios at WTVH-TV at 500 N. Stewart in Creve Coeur.

That’s where I worked while a student at Bradley University. I remember a classmate and I applied for the job. I got the nod. Later, I asked the station manager why I was hired instead of my classmate. Expecting praise for my voice, articulation, and style, he calmly said, “We flipped a coin and you won.”

It wasn’t exactly morale boosting, but it was the beginning of a dream come true.

The first thing most Peorians did in the morning in the 1940s and 1950s, was to turn on the radio to learn what happened overnight in the city. On WMBD you would hear, “You’re going to get a cookie,” from Bob Carlton and Milton Budd as they talked about District 150 school lunches each day. Robyn Weaver on WIRL was famous for his “Rancid Recipes.” Depending on the era, it could be Don Elliott or Dan Dermondy with country music on 1350. At one time, WXCL was the top station in the market. So was WPEO, 1020, when the “Morning Mayor,” Harry Harrison, was the local radio hero. Harrison went from Peoria to New York City, where he reigned as the “Morning Mayor” in the nation’s largest city for more than 50 years before retiring in 2003. Harrison was 89 when he died two years ago. Roland Strubhar, aka Rollie Keith, was the morning guy on WSIV. Fridays he would sing a few songs. Cary Robards accompanied him on the studio organ. What great people we had doing radio news. There was Phil Gibson and Joe Rex on WMBD and Ralph Smith and Ira Bittner on WIRL. I did news on WPEO along with a mid-morning Top 40 music show after doing both on the Pekin station before and after I served in the U.S. Army. Newscasts were big deals in those days. The noon news on WMBD was 15 minutes long. WIRL not only did the news, but Ira was famous for his hard-hitting editorials. WIRL featured “live” news with “Big Red.” It was so popular, the station added “Little Red” for on the scene reports of major auto accidents and fires.

How Times Have Changed

Today, most people in the morning turn on TV for overnight news. Some reach for their electronic gadgets. Some click on the Internet. Radio becomes important, for the most part, in the car or truck on the way to and from work or school. Radio has become secondary to television, according to Media Day. Adults age 35-plus spend 40% of their media time watching TV and 26% of their time listening to radio. While there were just a handful of Peoria-area radio stations in the 1950s, there are now more than 20 AM and FM Peoria stations from which to choose. The number doesn’t include stations in Bloomington or Chicago. The bottom line is today there are more stations and fewer people listening to radio.

Here’s another big difference. The radio audience has become more diverse. While country music remains very popular, Top 40, Top 30, or top music in any category is gone, replaced by Talk Radio on WMBD and now WIRL and their two sister FM stations. Religious programming has become extremely popular with Christian music and messages heard daily on WBNH, WCIC, WPEO, and WVEL, formerly WSIV. Radio news is nothing like it once was.

As noted earlier, Peoria stations like WIRL, WMBD and WPEO were fierce competitors to be the first to report a fire or accident. That’s why WIRL owners introduced Big Red, a news van for on-the-scene reports. WPEO had a white SUV with big green lettering. Today, news takes a back seat to five to six commercials before and after two or three news stories.

However, the biggest difference between radio today and yesterday, is political content. Years ago, both radio and TV did not slant the news in one political direction or the other. It was straight reporting.

Boy, has that ever changed. WMBD is about as far right as you can get with Glenn Beck and the three amigos. There’s a daily barrage of Biden bashing. Station owners added more Fox Network personalities on WIRL after dropping the music. Far right politics apparently sells in Peoria with car dealers, doctors, financial investors, real estate companies and a host of others marketing to Republicans. The two stations and their sister FM stations are rolling in cash and sponsors. But, rest assured, Democrats avoid those frequencies like the plague. I suspect many independent voters do the same. How popular is right-wing radio? Certainly, more than WAZU, which is, for the most part, left wing.

Is Peoria a redneck city? It appears some businesses think so, but voters say otherwise. Peoria Mayor Rita Ali is a Democrat. The Chairman of the Peoria County Board, Andrew Rand, is a Democrat. Eleven of the eighteen members of the County Board are Democrats as are the County Clerk, Circuit Clerk, Auditor and Coroner. Every elected state official is a Democrat. As someone said, “We report. You decide.”

Quote of the Month

“Life is about change. Sometimes it’s painful and sometimes it’s beautiful, but most of the time it’s both.” — Lana Lang