PeoriaStory

Newspaper chase

PEORIA, IL -- Problems with your newspaper delivery? 

Read this:
https://shestheday.com/has-covid-killed-newspaper-delivery/

-- Elaine Hopkins

Peoria Public Radio at ISU?

PEORIA, IL -- The Illinois State University Trustees on Feb. 22 learned about the issues over the so-called partnership/merger between Peoria Public Radio, WCBU, Bradley University's NPR station, and the ISU  NPR station WGLT. I spoke at the quarterly meeting of the trustees during the public comment period of the agenda.  

Here is what I said:

Hello – I am Elaine Hopkins of Peoria.  I am a retired journalist, and once served on the Publication Board for the Daily Vidette as its outside journalist, so I am familiar with ISU and respect it as a fine university.

However I am here today to represent hundreds, even thousands of people in Peoria who listen to Bradley University’s NPR station WCBU, which brands itself as Peoria Public Radio. It is said to have 30,000 listeners to its two High Definition stations, one with classical music 24 hours a day, the other with a variety of great national news and talk shows and local news coverage.

Underwriters and listeners throughout WCBU’s large listening region have spent millions over the last 49 years to support Peoria Public Radio. They were very upset to learn that Bradley University decided to develop a “partnership” e,g, merge WCBU with ISU’s NPR station WGLT. 

Bradley is demolishing Jobst Hall where the WCBU studio is located to make way for a new science and engineering building, but somehow decided there would be no room for a new studio. Bradley officials cited the high costs of relocating the station, and so contacted WGLT to work out a merger or partnership deal.

To keep everything as secret as possible, station staff members were threatened with termination if they spoke out about the station, and they were, oddly, forbidden to conduct a capital campaign to raise extra money to save the station. 

After they became aware of the distress of the listeners, Bradley officials vaguely promised that the two Peoria Public Radio stations will continue as they are.  But as we all know, it’s not against the law to lie to the public or the press, and there is little or no accountability for such lies.

The Peoria City Council passed a resolution urging Peoria Public Radio to stay in Peoria.  Some of us organized a public meeting that attracted over 120 people, and we set up a Facebook page Save Peoria Public Radio. I invite you to check it out. In addition some very generous large donors have promised to keep their checkbooks shut if the station goes away or changes drastically.  

While nothing has persuaded Bradley U. to change its mind on this issue, yet it has refused to surrender the station’s FCC license, which expires in Dec. 2020. That license can be challenged, but that’s a tough undertaking making even the lawyers in our group wary.

So we are asking you, Trustees of a public university, to insist on voting on the proposed merger/partnership agreement, which I have been told is not completed yet.  That way it is a public document that we in Peoria can see for ourselves, and evaluate, in advance of your vote.   

You should not leave it up to ISU staff to develop then approve this important document.

 You are the checks and balances, the license holders of WGLT, just as the Bradley Trustees, who meet in secret in Chicago, hold the WCBU license.  We don’t know what they will do, and they don’t have to tell us. But you do, and we beg you to do the right thing on this proposed agreement, to be sure it protects Peoria Public Radio.

If we don’t like it, we will be back to tell you.   

Thanks for listening.

Elaine Hopkins

1825 E Maple Ridge, Peoria, IL 61614

309-231-5758  [email protected]

Facebook:  SavePeoriaPublicRadio

Attached is a copy of the resolution passed without changes by the Peoria City Council last month.

 

The radio station and the Bradley public relations administrators: the interview

PEORIA, IL -- Marilyn Copp and I were invited to meet with two Bradley University officials on Jan. 7 to get their take on what’s happening with WCBU, Bradley’s NPR station.

We met with Renee Charles, University Spokesperson & Executive Director of PR,  and Zach Gorman,  Chief  Information Officer - Information Resources and Technology.

Gorman said he is the person negotiating with ISU’s NPR station WGLT to create a “partnership” with WCBU, to save money.

How much money? The radio station basically costs Bradley U. about $300,000 a year, Gorman said. It needs expensive new equipment soon. The administration has decided that the station’s costs mean Bradley’s operation of the station is “not sustainable,” he said, and money can be saved with a partnership with WGLT.

The negotiations with WGLT are not done, he said. The only time line he mentioned was to complete the deal by next fall when the station office in Jobst Hall will be demolished along with the building.

Under the plan, WGLT will operate the station using its infrastructure, and WCBU will save money, Gorman said.  Both stressed that the identity ‘Peoria Public Radio’ will stay the same, and the frequencies on the dial will stay the same.

But they also acknowledged that “things will change.”  What will change?  They could not say since the negotiations are not done yet.

Asked what items must stay the same, they changed the subject. Will the program director, a key figure who decides what is to be broadcast, be from WCBU or WGLT? They didn’t know.

“WCBU is not leaving Peoria,” Gorman said. “Our intention is local news and coverage. The intent is to enhance the programming.”

Will local employees continue on at the station under WGLT management? “We don’t know who will be retained,” Charles said. 

The two insisted that Bradley U. president Gary Roberts likes WCBU. “He is a listener and a donor.  So is his wife,” He doesn’t want to see it vanish.”

“We are not getting rid of the station,” Gorman said.

“The intent is to maintain separate identities and local coverage,” Charles said.  Asked how they would save money if they kept local coverage, they said the savings would come from shared infrastructure.

Partnerships have become a national trend, they said.

Gorman said the trustees of the two universities likely don’t need to approve the final agreement between the two stations. The Bradley Trustees also “don’t want to see (the station) go away.”

The broadcasts for the visually impaired and handicapped will also continue, they said.

“We’re not getting rid of public radio in Peoria,” Charles said. But “some change is inevitable,” she added.  

The key to these plans is that agreement. Once it is made final, it will be a public document through ISU, a public university.

But here’s a thought – why is WGLT interested in being WCBU’s partner? What’s in it for them?

And why not allow WCBU to run a campaign to raise money for new equipment if that’s the expense causing the partnership.  

It’s clear that Bradley has decided to pursue this to save money, but not that much money in the long run. Odd.

So here’s a plan: A committee is being formed to formulate non-negotiable issues, to meet with President Roberts, and to demand that the agreement be made public and approved by Trustees of both Bradley and ISU. 

Bradley owes this to its listeners who have contributed millions over the years to the station.  Stay tuned.

-- Elaine Hopkins 

 

Fighting to save Peoria Public Radio

PEORIA, IL --Wow! About 100 people attended the Save Peoria Public Radio meeting on Jan. 5. In brief, here’s what happened:

1. People were asked to attend the Peoria City Council meeting on Tues. Jan. 8 and comment on the threat to Peoria Public Radio, WCBU-FM, namely Bradley University’s plan to shift the station to Bloomington/Normal’s NPR station at ISU, WGLT-FM. City Council Beth Jensen stated that losing the station would be a bad for Peoria, and should not be allowed to happen.  WCBU broadcasts the City Council meetings. One woman told me she doesn’t have a TV and  depends on the station for news.
2. Audience members were asked to write letters to the editor at the Peoria Journal Star, to the president of Bradley, Gary Roberts, and to Bradley’s Board of Trustees. The Trustees are listed here: https://www.bradley.edu/offices/president/trustees/
3. Bradley president Gary Robert's phone number is 309-677-3167.  Email address is [email protected]

 They are the final decision makers on whether to kick PPR off the campus. The chairman of the board of Trustees is Calvin G. Butler Jr. [email protected] 

3. A committee was organized to meet with Bradley officials and perhaps attend the next meeting of the Trustees, Feb. 7 in Chicago. If the public station is discussed, the meeting must be open to the public, someone stated. Bradley is a private university and not subject to state open meeting laws or the Freedom of Information Act.  It was criticized by many at the meeting for its secretive machinations  involving the station.

Here's a great site on public radio. It's a mystery as to why Bradley U. would not be promoting the station instead of trying to get rid of it.

The audience agreed that we must try to change Bradley's mind on the station or find another Peoria site for it. WGLT is a last resort, and will mean the loss of local news and music coverage, classical music, and services for the visually impaired.

 -- Elaine Hopkins

 

Let's Save Peoria Public Radio for Peoria

PEORIA, IL - Here's a news release:

SAVE PEORIA PUBLIC RADIO

For immediate release

A meeting to craft strategy to save Peoria Public Radio from vanishing has been scheduled for 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 5, at Lakeview Library, 1137 W. Lake Ave., Peoria. Concerned citizens are convening the meeting and the public is invited.

According to news media reports, Bradley University plans to merge Peoria Public Radio, its NPR station, WCBU-FM, with the NPR station in Bloomington/Normal operated by Illinois State University. Peoria likely would lose local news and cultural coverage enjoyed by the city for 48 years.

Peoria Public Radio over the years has received millions of dollars in public support from its listeners, said to number 30,000 today. It broadcasts classical music and local news and national talk shows. It also has a broadcast channel for the visually impaired. It broadcasts the Peoria City Council meetings and local musical concerts.  All of this would be in jeopardy with a merger.

In a secretive procedure, Bradley University officials reportedly have decided to send the station to ISU without any consultation with those who have supported it for years.  There are many unanswered questions about what is going on.

The meeting will seek to find ways to keep Peoria Public Radio in Peoria, perhaps with another local not-for-profit organization, or to persuade Bradley officials to keep this station, which benefits the university as its best local outreach to the region.   

The public is urged to attend this important first step in saving Peoria Public Radio for Peoria.

More information: Elaine Hopkins [email protected] 309-231-5758.

A Facebook page has been posted: https://www.facebook.com/Save-Peoria-Public-Radio-271984940145370/?modal=admin_todo_tour  or search “Save Peoria Public Radio”

***

WIU's NPR station likely killed without any study or discussion

MACOMB, IL -- In a shocking decision, Western Illinois University administrators decided to strike a mortal blow likely to kill off its NPR station, WIUM-FM, without any studies or discussion.

That's what two Freedom of Information Act responses have revealed.  I filed one, now on appeal with the Illinois Attorney General's office.  And WIUM reporter Rich Egger filed one, with his excellent  on the results available here:

WIU's plan is for the station, aka Tri States Public Radio, to give up its $660,000 annual subsidy from the university's tax funding, and raise the money on its own, on top of what it has been raising with annual beg-a-thons.  That's a huge sum, impossible to raise annually in the 20-county rural area the station reaches.There's little wealth and much poverty in the region.

The station serves as the top news media for the 3-state area, with reporters filing stories that run alongside the national NPR news. Obviously they will soon be laid off, and the station diminished greatly if it survives at all, unless the plans change. 

WIU's Board of Trustees has received dozens of emails protesting the withdrawal of subsidies, but has apparently been ready to rubber-stamp whatever the administration wants.  The board met today, Sept. 28, at 8 a.m., not a great time for public participation. 

I presented the comment below, but was cut off half way through, as commenters were given only three minutes to speak. So I filed a copy of the comment with  board. Then I left after the public comments ended.

WIUM-FM was there, and hopefully will provide a story on the rest of the meeting. Here's WIU's press release on the meeting. The station funding is a drop in the bucket compared to what WIU spends on other things, as revealed in this press release. It doesn't meet again until December.

I'm not optimistic that this board will do anything to save the station. The board allows only 20 minutes for public comments.  Here is the Macomb newspaper's story on the comments, and here is the recording:

Download WIU Sept 28 2018

Six comments involved saving the station, and one asked the board to release old minutes of closed meetings.  Apparently the board is violating the Open Meetings Act, as it could redact names and sensitive information in those closed meetings and release the information.  The closed meetings take place the evening before the 8 a.m. public meeting, or at distant 'retreats. Cozy.

Update 10/2/2018:  The Trustees have been charged with violating the Open Meetings Act.

WIU talks about transparency, but it's just talk.  There were not even any agendas available at the meeting for those who might need them.  The agenda is on the web, a snippy assistant told me. Yes, but what about people without computers or printers or web access? 

And as the recording shows, the board violated my free speech rights by criticizing me for personal attacks. As a government agency they cannot legally censor me, however 'civil' they hope the meeting will be.

The other speakers had some clever remarks.  One talked about the "low hanging fruit" -- the station -- in the administration's zeal to cut costs.  Another said WIU president Jack Thomas is known to be looking for another job, and "it feels like the sacking of Rome" as he is on the way out.

"You can't expect the community to sit down and shut up when something like this happens," Anne Burton, a Macomb attorney said. That was brave of her since her husband works at WIU and she teaches a class there.

I know people who were afraid to attend the meeting for fear of retaliation. And there is talk that the WIU professor lay offs to save money are retaliation for union activity.

Anyway here is what I told the board today:

I am Elaine Hopkins, married to George E. Hopkins, a WIU history prof for 40 years, now retired. Good morning and shame on all of you, especially the two trustees who live in Macomb, for planning to sign today the likely death warrant of Tri States Public Radio and its award-winning NPR station WIUM.

I wish I had the theatrical talent to parade a coffin dressed in black before you, since logic doesn’t seem to persuade the trustees and administrators who hatched this ridiculous idea.

The public, your public, doesn’t want this. You have already received dozens of pleas from the fans of this station not to withdraw WIU funding from it. As they have said and written to you, it is a stupid, foolish action, since it is WIU’s best public relations outreach to its 20 county area, as well as a recruitment incentive for faculty and for retirees wishing to live in a college town.

Enrollment is down, so you are willing to cut off the best possible way to reach potential students and parents, showing them  that WIU is here and serving the public, as universities are supposed to do,  presenting news and culture through its lively NPR station. 

I hope all of you heard Rich Eggers story yesterday on the radio about how he filed a Freedom of Information Act request for documents on the decision to kill the funding for TSPR.  The report is now on the TSPR website. You should read it.

 I filed a similar FOIA, though only back through 2016, not earlier.  I received about 60 emails dated 2018, form letters from the president and the trustees, in response to the heartfelt pleas from listeners not to kill the funding.

I especially call out you (Trustee) Cathy Early, with your hypocritical form letter blather about your support for the station while doing nothing to stop killing it. 

There was no analysis, no debate, no minutes of meetings or even text messages in the response.  Just form letters from WIU.  I have appealed  WIU’s response to the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, because I just can’t believe the administration would make such a drastic decision without studying the consequences and subsequent discussion. But apparently that’s what happened. With this kind of leadership no wonder enrollment is down 11 percent.

This is total incompetence.  The administrators pushing this should be fired, and their pay used to fund the station.

And you, the trustees, the final check and balance in the system, apparently are ready to rubber-stamp whatever the incompetent administration wants, without any discussion. You should resign in disgrace for not doing your job. 

There are other ways to save money, and I believe you also have the power to borrow money to get through a rough patch until the state rights itself after the Nov. 6 election. Nobody has discussed that option, apparently.

In fact you have the power to overturn this decision.  Put it on your December agenda. You should resign today if you don’t have the courage to stand up for WIU and Macomb.  Now the figure is $600,000 a year to be raised to save the station as it is  – impossible in a rural area. It’s laughable, really

This talk about budget shortages is a joke – where are your priorities? Take it from the football budget, that dangerous sport that nobody watches, preceded by a free reception with expensive food, a bribe really to get people to attend. Or lay off some of the 250 administrators now on the payroll, not the professors who do the real work on the campus.

Have any of you really read the budget to look for savings or check what you are funding? 

In short it seems WIU has been taken over by fools – who may know the price of some things but the value of nothing. That’s got to change.  Hopefully it will change after the election, though you can save your hides now by deciding to fund TSPR, as the public wants.

Please place this comment in the records of today’s meeting.  You should also place a copy of Egger’s report in the files.

 -- Elaine Hopkins

 

The Odd War on NPR

PEORIA and MACOMB, IL -- The odd war on NPR continues.  Here's the op-ed piece I submitted to the Journal Star, which ran on Sept. 1 but has not been placed on the PJS website:

Who could have imagined that two prominent downstate Illinois universities, Bradley U. and WIU, would suddenly decide to kill off their NPR stations, radio that brings professional news and music to large numbers of listeners.  For some it’s their only source of quality news, in their vehicles, at their bedsides, in their kitchens, at a workplace.

What on earth are the administrators who made these decisions thinking, to abolish the major outreach of their campuses to the public? 

Are they both broke?  No.  Bradley is spending millions on fancy new buildings and programs.  WIU could find the money to keep its station alive, only $453,920, by firing three administrators, justified by its recent enrollment drop.  Instead it’s hiring more administrators while laying off tenured and popular faculty members.

Can it be that administrators at both universities have decided to turn their campuses into glorified trade schools? So kill off NPR, then the humanities, to graduate technicians and engineers who may have learned the latest fad technology (remember Fortran?) but little else in college.

And who will provide news of these developments with the campus NPR stations gone or greatly diminished?

Administrators at both campuses say the stations will stay on the air, but give no specific ways they can be funded without university support.  Endless pledge drives? Please, no! Underwriting?  There’s plenty of that already taking up valuable air time.

So here’s an idea:  a consortium of area colleges could support an NPR station for central and western Illinois. This plan would keep the NPR we have now on the air. While not ideal, it’s better than radio silence.

An information dessert in our region serves no one except the powerful with their own agendas.  - 30 -

And here's the line up of top administrative pay at WIU, from a Freedom of Information Act request:

Brad Bainter $13,115 per mo.  $157,380 per yr., vice pres. for advancement.

Kathy Neumann $15, 750 per mo. $189,000 per yr., provost.

William Polley, $12,500 per mo. 6mos. $75,000 per yr., vice pres for administrative services (interim).

Joseph Rives, $14,635 per mo. $175,--- per yr., vice pres. WIU Quad Cities.

Jack Thomas, $22,544 per mo.  $270,524 per yr., WIU president.

Ronald C Williams, $15,250 per mo.  $183,000 per yr., vice pres. student services. 

In addition,Pres. Thomas said there are 250 administrators at WIU, in a Tri-States Public Radio story Sept. 1.

And here's what I said at the WIU Board of Trustees meeting on Aug. 28 (It got applause):

Hello  My name is Elaine Hopkins.  My husband George Hopkins taught history at WIU for 40 years, and now we both are retired. We spend most of our time in Peoria because of my job but are considering living full time in Macomb.  Last week we looked at a house for sale, then we learned of the WIU plan to axe its NPR station.  We won’t move here without it.

The plan to require Tri-States Public Radio to raise nearly a half million dollars a year to survive is ridiculous and impossible to carry out.  It’s a recipe to kill off the station as we know it.  No more local news coverage or great NPR programs.  Already “On the Media” is being dropped.

Even worse WIUM has a vital educational role at the university and in the community it serves.  It presents fair, vetted, comprehensive unbiased news, in a time when millions of people are falling for Russian and extremist  websites full of lies, political smears, ‘fake news’ or as our parents would have said, ‘propaganda.’

Students are able to access this news and learn from it. Many may be exposed to the station’s classical music and jazz programs for the first time.  Some even work for the station as interns. Many have gone on to professional careers in broadcasting.

So for the price of three administrators who wouldn’t be missed, TSPR can continue to broadcast news and programs its many listeners rely on and need. If it dies, good will toward WIU will die with it.

Stop this plan today. - 30 -

Killing NPR

MACOMB, IL -- What word describes the Western Illinois University Board of Trustees? 'Arrogant.'

At the board's August meeting, a standing-room-only crowd, perhaps 200 people, filled the Grand Ballroom of the WIU Student Center on Aug. 24 to show support for retaining the NPR station on campus, WIUM.  The operation is known as Tri-States Public Radio. 

The public comments came at the beginning of the meeting, in reaction to the sudden decision to shut down $453,920 in university support to the station, a scheme designed to axe it.  Station fund raising and underwriting, already done to the max, will not be able to raise that much more money from a largely rural area for the station budget.

Nine people commented in the 20 minutes allocated for comments.  Three more people were in line but the board chairwoman refused to allow them to speak.

The comments ranged from concerns about lack of transparency in the top down decision -- revealed only last week -- to concerns about loss of quality of life, an information desert in the area, loss of educational opportunities to students, and problems recruiting new faculty and new area residents without an NPR station available. 

The comments were followed by a lengthy standing ovation.

One WIU staff member, a fund raiser, also spoke, and promised to help the station raise money. He likely was ordered to speak.

Here is a recording of the comments, followed by the responses from the chairwoman and WIU president Jack Thomas

Download WIU board Aug 24 18

The administrators are digging in their heels and appear not to be moved by the large audience.There was no discussion of the comments, and a contract for Thomas -- the buck stops with him -- was then approved unanimously, without discussion.

So what's the answer?  Afterward, some talked of civil disobedience, and electing the Democrat J.D. Pritzker as governor, to appoint new board members who care about the university and its community. The board meets again on Sept.27-28.

 -- Elaine Hopkins 

UPDATE:  The story in the McDonough County Voice is reposted on the Facebook page 'Save Tri-States Public Radio,' and on the Voice page: www.mcdonoughvoice.com/  

And a terrific story now on the TRSP website, with recordings: http://www.tspr.org/

--EH