Eastern Illinois University’s public access TV station has left the airwaves and will become a digital streaming service.
WEIU-TV ceased over-the-air broadcasting at 10 a.m. Friday and now will exist as the streaming service “WEIU Digital TV.” The station, which has served audiences in TV and radio for 40 years, is a training ground for student journalists at the university.
The broadcast reached many parts of central and southern Illinois, including Morgan, Sangamon and Menard counties.
General manager Jeff Owens said the radio station is unaffected by the change and “our commitment to the EIU student experience in news, radio, weather and production will continue as well.”
The change comes less than a year after Congress rescinded more than $1 billion in federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which ceased operations in January. Illinois public TV and radio stations immediately were hit with $24 million in funding loss; for WEIU, that represented $700,000, or about 80% of its budget.
Even after cost-cutting measures such as reductions in staff and the Oct. 1 end of its affiliation with PBS, the station no longer could sustain television broadcasting.
Heather Norman, president of Illinois Public Broadcasting Council, lamented the loss, saying public TV and radio stations provide accessible local journalism to under-served communities, regardless of location or income level.
“Access to news and programming should not rely on a community’s access to high-speed internet,” she said.
