PEORIA MAGAZINE October 2023

Those early years were difficult for the radio station’s previous owners, which led to it going off the air due to financial difficulties. Since its return more than 50 years ago, WPEO has remained competitive. “God has always provided and we’ve survived through the excellent stew ardship by the previous management,” Scott stressed. WCIC Later this fall, Pekin-licensed and Peoria-based WCIC will celebrate 40 years on the air. Station Manager Joe Buchanan said a lot has changed from those early days when listeners heard a few teaching programs and then pop ular contemporary artists. ‘WE ARE ALWAYS LOOKING TO BE UPLIFTING. IT'S EASY TO GET NEGATIVE NEWS’ — Rick Smith, WCIC “We’re still playing adult contempo rary, but adult contemporary music has come a long way. It was a little bit more southern gospel … back in those days. We played Sandy Patty, a little country flair with the Gaither Vocal Band, some Russ Taff. Music has changed a lot. Now it’s more pop, younger artists.” Thirty-somethings now have joined the baby boomers who tune in to WCIC, said Buchanan, adding that research has shown that many WCIC listeners do not attend church. “They know who Jesus is and they acknowledge him but don’t have a deep relationship with him,” he said. “So may be it’s become more of a mission field than it even was back when we started 40 years ago.” Indeed, while the music has changed over the years, WCIC’s mission has not. “Jesus is really the key to why we do what we do and then providing an on ramp for those who don’t know him and helping those who do know him grow in their walk,” said Buchanan. “We have fun on the air but it’s important that we share our faith.”

Huber said money was so tight that they borrowed program tapes from another Christian radio station in the Quad Cities, which helped them get the radio station going. In the early ‘90s, WBNH became affiliated with Moody Radio Network of Chicago, which currently provides most of its programming. “Just about everything Moody would air, we feel we could air,” Huber said. “There are one or two programs that we do not air and that’s simply because we do not have room. We want to do some local things.” WBNH continues to be locally owned, with a board of directors who all live in central Illinois. The station has a staff of four and a budget of $650,000. Volunteers and board members help hosts events, some of which take place at the station located on Mayflower Drive in Pekin. WBNH is also supported by listener donations. As with other Christian sta tions, local partnerships are important, he said. “When the stimulus checks were be ing floated around, we turned them all down,” he said. “We decided we wanted to stay with our original mandate and be totally listener supported, and God has provided. Keeping it local means that we have a relationship with our audience,” WBNH’s FM signal, 88.5 on the dial, reaches Bloomington and targets 40- to 60-year-olds. Huber said attracting younger people is a major goal. “We’re going to have to meet them where they are and that’s not on the ra dio. That’s online,” he said. “In our future, there may be interactions like podcasts. Material is gonna be the big thing.” For now, those listeners can tune in via website or app. Huber said there will also be tweaking of music to include a diverse format for their expanded age groups.

WCIC Program Director Rick Smith said talking with listeners also builds trust. “We are always looking to be uplifting. It’s so easy to get negative news,” he said. What drives listeners to WCIC “is that we look at the hope,” said Smith. “Even in tough situations, we’re always bringing it back to the positive side. People seem to really resonate with that.” Smith said that the station’s message was especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic. WCIC has 11 on-air personalities who broadcast live from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m. with about 80% music. Meanwhile, there is a lot of audience interaction between the songs. “On Fridays we like to count bless ings,” Smith said. “One listener called back. He had called earlier in the week, his son had to go to the emergency room in the middle of the night, and had some bumps. They were worried about cancer. It turned out just to be a virus,” he said. With an annual budget of $2.5 million, WCIC is supported solely by listener donations. Located off War Memorial Drive in Peoria, the station can be heard in multiple market areas including Peoria (91.5 FM on the radio dial), Springfield (90.5), Galesburg (100.5), Bloomington (98.9), Sterling/ Rock Falls (88.7), Jacksonville (91.7), and parts of the Quad Cities. WCIC is owned by Northwestern Media, a divi sion of the University of Northwestern located near St. Paul, Minnesota. Meanwhile, “we work with orga nizations like Dream Center, Peoria Rescue Mission,” said Buchanan. “We’re working with Midwest Food Bank for our upcoming fundraiser. Community impact is extremely important to us.” WBNH WBNH Radio got its start nearly 35 years ago in the basement of First Baptist Church in Pekin. “We had no employees, just a board of directors made up mostly of men from the Baptist church then and their wives would help,” Station Manager Jim Huber recalled.

Denise Jackson is a native Peoria South Sider and former television journal ist who now represents District 1 on the Peoria City Council

OCTOBER 2023 PEORIA MAGAZINE 71