Media in Peoria, Illinois

This is a listing of the broadcasters and published media targeted at Peoria, Illinois. TV information includes cities where Peoria TV has been dominant, including Bloomington/Normal full-power TV, and LaSalle/Peru TV before cable TV.

Radio

Start dates are for the frequency/station license, not for callsign or programming that may have moved from license to license.

FM

Freq	Call	City	Owner	Start	ERP (W)	Nickname	Format	RDS	HD
88.5	WBNH	Peoria	Central Illinois Radio Fellowship	1989	48,000	WBNH	Christian	Yes	No
89.9	WCBU	Peoria	Bradley University	January 1970 [1]	26,000	Peoria Public Radio	Public/news/talk	Yes	2
90.7	WAZU	Peoria	Sirius Syncope	June 2010	500	90.7 WAZU	Hip Hop	Yes	No
91.5	WCIC	Pekin	Northwestern Media [2]	November 2, 1983 [1]	47,000	91.5 WCIC	Christian AC	Yes [a&t]	No
92.3	WZPW	Peoria	Cumulus	1992	19,000	Z 92-3	CHR/Rhythmic	Yes [a&t]	No
93.3	WPBG	Peoria	Midwest Communications	April 1947 [3] [4]	41,000	93.3 The Drive	Classic Hits	Yes [a&t]	4
94.3	WPMJ	Chillicothe	Covenant Network	May 16, 1977 [1]	6,000	94.3 WPMJ	Christian talk	No	No
94.7	W234AO	El Paso	Spirit Education Foundation	November 2006	25	[t] 88.1 WSOG	Christian talk	No	No
94.9	WAAG	Galesburg	John T. Pritchard (Galesburg Broadcasting)	December 15, 1966 [1]	50,000	FM 95	Country	Yes [a&t]	No
95.5	WGLO	Pekin	Cumulus	November 18, 1971 [1]	7,000	95-5 'GLO	Classic rock	Yes [a&t]	No
95.9	W240DM	Peoria	Midwest Communications	May 15, 2017	250	[t] 93.3 WPBG-HD3 (Freedom 95.9)	Conservative Talk	Yes	No
96.5	WHPI	Farmington	Mike Rea (Advanced Media Partners)	1997	4,000	98-5 Kiss FM	CHR/Pop	No	No
97.3	WFYR	Elmwood	Cumulus	1993	24,000	97.3 River Country	Country	Yes [a&t]	No
97.7	(Part 15)	Peoria	Bradley University	?	?	WRBU The Edge	College radio	No	No
97.7	W249CZ	Peoria	WPEO	(CP)	250	[t] 1020 WPEO	(CP)	Yes	No
98.5	WPIA	Eureka	Mike Rea (Advanced Media Partners)	1989	6,000	98-5 Kiss FM	CHR/Pop	Yes	No
99.1	W256CH	Pekin	Seventh-day Adventists (Illinois)	(CP)	19	[t] 103.3 WLSE	(CP)	No	No
99.9	WWCT	Bartonville	Mike Rea (Advanced Media Partners)	1997	2,000	Peoria's CT 99-9	AAA	Yes	No
100.3	W262BY	Peoria	Midwest Communications	2011	140	[t] 93.3 WPBG-HD4 (1470 WMBD)	News/Talk	No	No
100.5	WRVY-FM	Henry	Virden Broadcasting Corporation	July 1990	3,000	100.5 WRVY	Country	No	No
100.7	W264AZ	Dahinda	Seventh-day Adventists (Illinois)	2007	38	[t] 102.9 WWKJ-LP	Christian	No	No
101.1	WZPN	Glasford	Mike Rea (Advanced Media Partners)	1999	3,000	101.1 ESPN Peoria	Sports	No	No
101.5	WBNQ	Bloomington	Cumulus	--> style="background: #EEE; font-size: smaller; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="unknown table-unknown"|?	50,000	101-5 WBNQ	CHR/Pop	Yes [a&t]	No
102.3	WKZF	Morton	Midwest Communications	November 28, 1976 [1]	4,000	KZ 102.3	Rhythmic Classic Hits	Yes [a&t]	No
102.7	W274BM	Peoria	Midwest Communications	2012	10	[t] 93.3 WPBG-HD2 (102.7 SuperHits)	Oldies	Yes [a&t]	No
102.9	WWKJ-LP	Peoria	Seventh-day Adventists (Peoria Christian Radio)	2004	100	(off air)	(off air)	No	No
103.3	WLSE	Canton	Seventh-day Adventists (Canton SDA Church)	December 20, 2013 [5]	5,700	?	Christian	No	No
103.5	W278AE	Peoria	Bradley University	1997	50	[t] 89.9 WCBU-HD2	Classical Music	Yes	No
103.9	W280EJ	Pekin	WPEO	(CP)	10	[t] 1020 WPEO	Christian	Yes	No
104.3	W282AO	Canton	Seventh-day Adventists (Illinois)	2007	38	[t] 95.7 WVCL-LP	Christian	No	No
104.3	W282BS	Dunlap	Seventh-day Adventists (Illinois)	2012	13	[t] 102.9 WWKJ-LP	Christian	No	No
104.9	WXCL	Pekin	Midwest Communications	1973 [1]	6,000	104.9 The Wolf	Country	Yes [a&t]	No
105.7	WIXO	Peoria	Cumulus	May 14, 1972 [1]	33,000	105.7 The X Rocks	Active Rock	Yes [a&t]	No
106.3	WPNV-LP	Peoria	Black Business Alliance (Peoria Chapter)	December 1, 2014 [6]	40	WPNV	Urban AC	No	No
106.9	WSWT	Peoria	Midwest Communications	1964 [1]	50,000	Mix 106.9	Adult Contemporary	Yes [a&t]	No
107.5	W298BH	Peoria	Larry Nelson (American Education Foundation)	(CP)	225	[t] 1350 WOAM	(CP)	Yes	No
107.9	WPZA	Canton	Wayne W. Whalen (WPW)	October 7, 1968 [1]	25,000	107.9	Christian [7]	Yes	No

• ^[a&t] displays artist and title on Radio Data System
• ^[t] FM translator: repeats another station's program

AM

Freq	Call	City	Owner	Start	Day Power (W)	Night Power	Nickname	Format	Stereo	HD
1020	WPEO	Peoria	WPEO	1946 [3] [8]	1,000	0	WPEO	Christian talk	No	No
1140	WVEL	Pekin	Cumulus	April 21, 1946 [1] [8]	5,000	0	WVEL	Christian	No	No
1290	WIRL	Peoria	Midwest Communications	1947 [3]	5,000	5,000	Freedom 95.9	Conservative Talk	No	No
1350	WOAM	Peoria	Larry Nelson (American Education Foundation)	February 8, 1960 [1] [9]	1,000	1,000	?	Adult standards [7]	No	No
1470	WMBD (AM)	Peoria	Midwest Communications	February 14, 1927 [8]	5,000	5,000	1470 WMBD	News/Talk	No	No
1560	WBYS	Canton	Wayne W. Whalen (WPW)	October 5, 1947 [1]	250	18	WBYS	News/Talk	No	No

• Nighttime power of 0 denotes daytime-only stations, traditionally to protect clear-channel stations at night: WPEO protecting KDKA (AM) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and WVEL protecting WRVA (AM) Richmond, Virginia and XEMR-AM Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico.

Television

Virt. Ch.	Call	City	Owner	Operator	Start	Digital Ch.	DTV	Nickname	Programming
19.1	WHOI	Peoria	Sinclair	Sinclair	October 1953 [10]	24	720p	TBD Peoria	TBD
19.2					?		720p	Comet TV	Comet
19.3					?		480i	Charge 19.3	Charge Network
25.1	WEEK-TV	Peoria	Gray	Gray	February 1, 1953 [8]	25	1080i	WEEK 25	NBC
25.2					August 1, 2016		720p	Heart Of Illinois ABC	ABC
25.3					August 1, 2016		720p	Peoria-Bloomington CW	CW+
25.4					?		480i	Ion 25.4	Ion Television
31.1	WMBD-TV	Peoria	Nexstar	Nexstar	January 1, 1958 [8]	26	1080i		CBS
31.2					September 26, 2011		480i	Bounce 31.2	Bounce TV
31.3					?		480i	Laff 31.3	Laff
31.4					?		480i	Escape 31.4	Court TV Mystery
43.1	WYZZ-TV	Bloomington	Cunningham	Nexstar	October 18, 1982 [1]	28	720p		Fox
43.2					?		480i		This TV
43.3					?		480i	getTV 43	getTV
47.1	WTVP	Peoria	IVPTC	IVPTC	June 23, 1971 [1]	35	1080i		PBS
47.2					?		1080i	Kids	PBS Kids
47.3					?		480i	World Channel 47	PBS World
47.4					?		480i	Create TV	Create
47.5					?		480i	WTVP Remote	WTVP Remote
59.1	WTVK	Pekin	Four Seasons	Four Seasons	?	[tvt] 18	720p	infomercials	Infomercials
59.2					?		480i	Grio 59.2	Grio

• ^[tvt] TV translator: repeats another station's program

Defunct

Radio

• 1580 WWXL (AM) Peoria (1947–?) — sister to 94.1 WWXL-FM; in 1948, was on the air on 1580, with a construction permit for 1590; ^[3] gone by 1959 ^[8]
• 88.5 WECU Peoria (1990s) — on air around 1989; ^[1] time-shared frequency with WBNH Pekin; eventually went off air, allowing WBNH to go full-time
• 93.3 WEEK-FM Peoria (c. 1948) — sister to 1350 WEEK (AM); not yet on air at start of 1948; ^[3] already gone by 1959; ^[8] frequency later used by WMBD-FM (93.3 WPBG); callsign later used by 98.5 Eureka
• 94.1 WWXL-FM Peoria (c. 1948) — sister to 1580 WWXL (AM); not yet on air at start of 1948; ^[3] already gone by 1959; ^[8] now unusable: adjacent 94.3 later allocated to Chillicothe (now WPMJ)
• 95.7 WIRL-FM Peoria (c. 1948) — not yet on air at start of 1948; ^[3] already gone by 1959; ^[8] now unusable: 95.3 Pekin allocation moved to adjacent 95.5 in 1980s with WGLO
• 96.5 WMMJ-FM Peoria (c. 1948) — construction permit as of 1948; ^[3] already gone by 1959; ^[8] 96.5 allocated to nearby Farmington in 1990s (now WHPI)
• 100.9 WBOD Canton (c. 1989) — not yet on air in 1989; ^[1] likely never launched: adjacent 101.1 allocated to nearby Glasford in 1990s (now WZPN)

Low-power FM

• 103.1 WEUR-LP Eureka (c. 2001) — Likely never on air: Construction permit requested in August 2000 and issued 2001-06-27 to Eureka College; permit expired 2002-12-27 without license. ^[11]
• 106.3 Eureka (c. 2014) — Likely never on air: Construction permit requested in November 2013 and issued in January 2014 to Faith Baptist Temple in Eureka; ^[12] permit cancelled July 27, 2015 without license or callsign. ^{[12] [13]}

Peoria area low-power TV

• 16 W16AZ Lacon (c. 1994) — construction permit for Kelly Communications; expired in 1996 without being licensed ^[14]
• 67 W67CW Peoria (1995–2005?) — M.C. Productions, 1101 S. "Mathew" St. and 1923 W. Lincoln Ave., ^[15] 61605. Construction permit granted 1993-09-28; licensed 1995-06-29; application to move to channel 65 dismissed 1997-10-09; renewal on channel 67 on 1997-12-01; license expired 2005-12-01; deleted 2007-10-15. ^[16]

Bloomington TV

• 15 WBLN Bloomington (1955?–1959?) — sold by Cecil W. Roberts to Worth S. Rough's WBLN TV Inc. on 13 July 1955; ^[1] off the air but still holding permit in 1959; ^[8] empty channel allocation moved to Champaign in 1967 for WICD; callsign reused by channel 43 from 1982 start until it became WYZZ-TV

Peoria TV in LaSalle-Peru

Until cable TV was common in the late 1970s, LaSalle/Peru received primarily Peoria television using television translators.

By March 1965, LaSalle, Spring Valley, and Peru already had CATV systems owned by The Television Transmission Company. ^[17]

• 35 WEEQ LaSalle (1957–1970s?) — LaSalle's only full-power allocation, channel 35, started as WEEQ, a co-owned satellite of WEEK-TV Peoria (which was on 43 Peoria then on 25 Peoria); ^{[8] [18]} it was on the air as early as November 1957. ^[18] Channel allocation used by WWTO since 1 December 1986. ^[1]
• 71 W71AE (1964–1979?) — This carried co-owned 31 WMBD-TV Peoria. License granted 15 November 1962; ^[19] A picture of the 485-foot (148 m) Rohn tower and its 16-bay antenna is shown in a Rohn advertisement in the 1 July 1963 issue of Broadcasting. ^[20] Started around 1964. ^[18] Renewed November 1971. ^[21] WMBD-TV still shown as having "1 trans." in 1975 Yearbook.^{[ page needed ]} Guessed as deleted in 1979 in W9WI translator listing. ^[22]
• 78 W78AC (1963–1964?) — This carried 19 WTVH Peoria (now WHOI) in the early 1960s. Listed in September 1962 TV Guide . ^[18] License granted 18 February 1963. ^[23] It was no longer in TV Guide by the end of 1964. ^[18]

Print

• The Community Word— monthly community newspaper that covers neighborhoods and local politics ^[24]
• Numero— monthly entertainment guide
• Peoria Journal Star — daily newspaper
• Peoria Magazines group — includes Peoria Progress Plays, Art & Society, InterBusiness Issues, and the Peoria Woman

Notes

1. Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook. Washington, D.C.: Broadcasting Publications. 1989. Archived from the original on 2010-09-27. Retrieved 2010-08-31. Illinois radio on pages B-87–B-99: B-88 Bloomington & Canton; B-90 Chillicothe; B-92 Galesburg; B-95 Morton & Normal; B-96 Pekin & Peoria. Illinois TV on pages C-21–C-23.
2. "Form 314 Application for Consent to Assignment of Broadcast Station Construction Permit or License (File No. BALED-20190805AAT)". Public Inspection Files. Washington, D.C.: Federal Communications Commission. 2019-08-23. Retrieved 2020-05-05.
3. Broadcasting Yearbook Number. Washington, D.C.: Broadcasting Publications. 1948. Archived from the original on 2010-09-27. Retrieved 2010-08-30. Illinois AM on pages 94 & 98; Illinois FM on page 294. Page 326 shows 4 additional FM construction permits already in progress for Peoria.
4. What is now 93.3 was on 92.5 until the 1960s.
5. "Application Search Details File Number: BLED-20131107ABL". Washington, D.C.: Federal Communications Commission. 2013-12-20. Retrieved 2015-02-07.
6. "Application Search Details File Number: BLL-20141124ASV". Washington, D.C.: Federal Communications Commission. 2014-12-04. Retrieved 2015-02-07.
7. Tarter, Steve (2011-01-02). "On the Air: Roaming along with WOAM once again". Peoria Journal Star . Peoria, Illinois. Retrieved 2011-01-10.
8. Broadcasting Yearbook Number. Washington, D.C.: Broadcasting Publications. 1959. Archived from the original on 2009-11-27. Retrieved 2010-08-30. Illinois radio on pages B-142–B-146. Page B-23 shows Bloomington TV; page B-25 shows LaSalle and Peoria TV as well as unused Galesburg and Pekin allotments.
9. On 1350 kHz, 1948 Broadcasting Yearbook shows year 1947 for WEEK (AM); but 1989 Yearbook shows year 1960 for WXCL (AM). Reference does not mention whether 1947 station was deleted and replaced rather than transferred.
10. Channel 19 signed on in October 1953: 1959 Yearbook gives October 12. 1989 Yearbook gives October 20.
11. "Application Search Details; File Number: BNPL-20000831ADZ". CDBS Public Access. Washington, D.C.: Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved 2020-05-05.
12. "Application Search Details; File Number: BNPL-20131114BIQ". CDBS Public Access. Washington, D.C.: Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved 2020-05-05.
13. "Station Search Details (Facility Id 196478)". CDBS Public Access. Washington, D.C.: Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved 2020-05-05.
14. FCC Application Search Results for facility ID 52283. Retrieved 2011-01-10.
15. "DW67CW TV - Channel 67, Peoria, IL". Webotics. Retrieved 2011-01-10.^{[ permanent dead link ]}
16. FCC Application Search Results for facility ID 39510. Retrieved 2011-01-10.
17. "Community Antenna Franchise Activities" (PDF). Broadcasting . 1965-03-01. p. 97. Retrieved 2020-01-04.
18. Quick, Doug (2010-09-18). "Other Television History". Archived from the original on 2010-12-16. Retrieved 2011-01-10.
19. "For the Record, Actions of Nov. 15" (PDF). Broadcasting . 1962-11-26. pp. 88–89. Retrieved 2020-01-04.
20. "For towers of all kinds call ROHN" (PDF), Broadcasting , p. 65, 1963-07-01, retrieved 2020-01-04
21. "For the Record, Renewal of licenses, all stations" (PDF). Broadcasting . 1971-08-16. pp. 40–42. Retrieved 2020-01-04. Broadcast Bureau granted renewal of licenses for the following UHF sand VHF translators ... W49AA Springfield and W71AE LaSalle, both Illinois
22. Smith, D. "Defunct translators above channel 69" . Retrieved 2011-01-10. "Now" is my best guess as to what happened to the translator in question. Many of these are probably wrong. W71AE ... Del 1979
23. "For the Record, Actions of Feb. 18" (PDF). Broadcasting . 1963-02-25. Retrieved 2020-01-04. W78AC, Metromedia Inc., Peru, LaSalle, Ottawa, and Streater [sic], all Illinois, and change type trans.
24. The Community Word

External links

• Newspapers Published in Peoria County from the Illinois Newspaper Project of the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign – includes over 150 past and present newspaper titles
  • Tazewell County and Woodford County from same source