ROGER MONROE
The once “Mighty 1290, WIRL,” is gone. Truth is, it has been gone for decades. For years it has suffered poor broadcast ratings.
Despite daily conservative programming on sister stations WMBD-AM and FM 100.3, Midwest Communications went with more Conservative shows on WIRL such as Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck. Making things worse, WIRL had no daily local announcers or news. It was doomed to fail, and it did, leaving the AM dial March 31. By the way, we broke the news the station was going off the air at the end of the month in an exclusive report on “Breakfast with Roger and Friends,” a week before it was announced by station manager, Mike Wild.
Wild, who manages other local stations owned by Midwest Communications, decided to give the failed 1290 a glorious ending. It didn’t work. For too many days, there were repetitiously recorded interviews with former staff announcers. Many of the recordings featured “inside stories,” boring even for a radio veteran like me.
Another issue was a lack of identification of the voices, no longer familiar due to their ages. I was personally disappointed producer and host Wayne R. Miller failed to include WIRL veteran and radio stalwart Ed Hammond on his buddy list. Ed had to be especially disappointed because he was the only local announcer on WIRL when the station went silent. Ed has been doing Bradley University women’s basketball for years on 1290.
How much more glorious to the station’s ending would it have been if we heard the music of “its” day. There are plenty of WIRL clips on the Internet to use such as “Christmas Shopping at Sheridan Village,” which I’ve played on our morning radio show on FM 90.7. Not too long ago, I played a wonderful recording of Robyn Weaver. Miller could’ve recorded station I.D.’s with Lee Ranson, Steve Young and others. All of those would have been interesting if sprinkled with shorter interview clips of former announcers.
When I started in radio years ago, there were only AM stations — WMBD, WIRL, WPEO, WEEK, and Pekin’s, WSIV. Interestingly, WPEO, once a rock and roll, Top 40 station, is now religious as is WSIV, today using call letters, WVEL. WEEK at 1350, became WXCL. WXCL programmed country and western music and became the No. 1 station for many years. Eventually, the 1350 frequency was changed to WOAM. It was sold to a group out of Indiana and Canton for $65,000 and is now WCBP. At last count there are more than 20 AM and FM stations broadcasting in the Peoria area. Sadly, due to the Internet, TV, computers, laptops and podcasts, fewer people than ever listen to the radio. That’s why our radio show on FM 90.7 can now be seen and heard on YouTube.
IS IT TRUE? I guess it is true the City of Peoria spent more than a half-million bucks fighting Boyd Gaming and East Peoria over a new gambling casino. PJ Star had to file Freedom Of Information Act requests to obtain the embarrassing details about the city’s legal fees.
We talked about the legal battle in a previous column, but had no idea what it was going to cost Peoria taxpayers. Let’s face it. The (card) deck was stacked against Peoria. Boyd Gaming has millions — if not billions — of dollars available for attorneys. I doubt Boyd paid $1,000 an hour like Peoria did for its Chicago-based law firm in a losing cause. Why do officials with local taxpayer entities like the city and Peoria School District 150 feel they have to go north to Chicago and Arlington Heights for legal advice? I think we have some pretty good law firms in the Peoria area.
REMEMBERING ZACK: We had a wonderful memorial service for my brother Zack at First United Methodist Church in downtown Peoria on Monday, March 23. Our thanks to Directing Minister Dr. Tim Ozment for making it possible. There were many highlights including the music of Grammy Award-winning pianist/organist Dr. John Orfe, Southern Gospel award-winning vocalist Cathy Reynolds, and talented trumpeter Peyton Boyle, who played “Taps.” Thanks to Bradley University President Jim Shadid, interim Illinois Central College President Bruce Budde, and family friends Robert D. Manning and Mike Olson for their remembrance remarks.
The family appreciated the military ceremonies of American Legion Post #2 and the U.S. Army color guard. Thanks also to Emmy Award-winning CBS-TV journalist Kris Van Cleave for use of his report on Zack’s thoughtful work with a 10-year-old San Diego fan during his last year as a professional baseball player. That report aired nationally on the CBS network. Thanks to all who attended the memorial for Zack — my brother, my hero.
THE WORLD WATCHED AND CELEBRATED: It was exciting to watch the re-entry and splashdown of NASA’s Artemis II
space capsule Friday, April 10. As the “Integrity” bobbed up and down in the waters of the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, one could not help but be proud of our country. The four astronauts safely and successfully returned from their 10-day mission to the moon.
That success has multiple beneficial ramifications for future missions beyond my pay grade, but well-articulated by NASA officials. What impressed me the most was the genuine love and affection expressed by the crew of Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialists Christina Koch of NASA and Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency. All four spoke eloquently about loving God and each other.
QUOTE OF THE MONTH: “Love one another and you’ll be happy. It’s as simple and as difficult as that.” — Michael Leunig