Holdings College of Media Division of University Broa... WILL Production Audiovisual... Finding Aid Holdings College of Media Division of University Broa... WILL Production Audiovisual... Finding Aid Title: WILL Production Audiovisual Materials, 1983-2007
ID: 13/6/15
Primary Creator: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Division of University Broadcasting
Extent: 1.6 cubic feet
Arrangement: Chronological
Subjects: Broom Corn, Champaign County, Illinois, Lincoln, Abraham, Music -- Illinois, New Salem State Park, Television Station - WILL, Weaving
Formats/Genres: CD (Compact Disk), DVD (Digital Versatile Disk), Motion Pictures/Videotapes
Languages: English
WILL Television Production Audiovisual Materials (1983-2007) include DVDs, videotapes, CDs and U-Matic 3/4" tapes of segments from WILL-TV programs "Folk Stories" (1988), "A Passion for Lincoln" (1991), and "Do You Remember" (1995), "Jets Team Spirit", "And the Beat Goes On: The Spirit in the Legacy of the Douglass Center Drum Corps" (2006), "Hip-Hop Beyond Beats and Rhymes: A Local Response" (2007, "The Song and the Slogan: A Tribute to Carl Sandburg" (2003), "Gold Star Mothers: A Pilgrimage of Remembrance" (2003), "Walter Burley Griffin: In His Own Right" (1998), and "The Girls of Franklin Middle School" (2004); WILL-AM productions "The 20th Century Exodus: The Triumpant Life and Journey of the Jewish in our Community" (2006) and "More than a Bus Ride: Desegregating Champaign Schools" (2005); and WILL-TV talk-backs following viewings of the POV documentary series (2000). "Folk Stories" and "Do You Remember" are approximately 10 minute long features on items of Illinois interest.
Digital Surrogates of WILL Production Audiovisual Materials include digitized DVDs of segments from WILL-TV programs "By The People: A Lincoln Portrait" and a recording of the 2014 Illinois Prize Awarded to Roger Ebert.
The College of Communications is the supervising administrative unit for the University Broadcasting Division.1 The Division operates radio station WILL AM and FM and television station WILL-TV. Broadcasting activities began in the spring of 1922 when a 400-watt transmitter using the call letters WRM went into operation in the Electrical Engineering Laboratory.2 A gift from Boetius H. Sullivan in 1925 enabled the Illinois experimental radio station to expand its operation, becoming the Roger Sullivan Memorial Radio Station.3 The expanded facilities were placed under the jurisdiction of the Director of Public Information Josef Wright who was appointed the first director of broadcasting.4 In 1928 the station increased to 890 kilocycles. At this time the call letters were officially changed to WILL.5 In 1938 the station's first musical director was appointed.6 The following year the station assumed regular nighttime broadcasting.7 In 1942 WILL was moved to Gregory Hall.8 The bands, the glee clubs and athletic scores had always been the favorite programs which the station aired.9 In 1946 the Athletic Association was allowed to broadcast University athletic events.10 An increased emphasis on news and public affairs resulted in the station's twenty-four hour a day use of the Associated Press beginning in 1948.11 A new transmitter building was constructed for WILL in Robert Allerton Park in 1950.12 The University's television station, the William A. Knight class of 1934 memorial, was a gift from the General Electric Company in 1955.13
The Motion Picture Production Center was organized as a service agency to produce educational films for the people of Illinois. The Center maintained six full-time staff members until July 1, 1974 when it was closed for financial reasons.14
1. Undergraduate Programs Catalog, 1975-1977, p. 255.
2. Carl Stephens, Illini Years: A Picture History of the University of Illinois, (Urbana, 1950), p. 78.
3. Board of Trustees Transactions, 33rd Report, May 16, 1925, p. 226.
4. Ibid., 45th Report, September 29, 1949, p. 882.
5. Stephens, p. 78.
6. Board of Trustees Transactions, 40th Report, July 21, 1938, p. 37.
7. Ibid., July 14, 1937, p. 362.
8. Ibid., 41st Report, February 14, 1942, p. 774.
9. Stephens, p. 78.
10. Board of Trustees Transactions, 43rd Report, February 14, 1946, p. 1007.
11. Ibid., 44th Report, April 10, 1948, p. 1087.
12. Ibid., 46th Report, December 28, 1950, p. 493.
13. Ibid., 49th Report, November 23, 1955, p. 874.
14. Michael Soaper was in charge of the Center's closing and supplied this information.
Broom Corn
Champaign County, Illinois
Lincoln, Abraham
Music -- Illinois
New Salem State Park
Television Station - WILL
Weaving
URL: https://files.archon.library.illinois.edu/uasfa/1306015.pdf
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