WSIU is an important part of the life of our region and also a key part of a great institution of higher learning, helping Southern Illinois University fulfill its mission of community engagement and service.
- As the home to PBS and NPR in Southern Illinois, we provide access to thought-provoking, non-commercial, educational programming that reaches every segment of the population.
- We serve an audience of three million people across five states through television and radio broadcast stations, cable and home satellite, and a variety of digital platforms.
- Through our website and podcasts, our reach extends even further, to audience members worldwide.
- Our local production units create a wealth of original content, giving voice to the people of our region and shining a unique spotlight on their concerns.
- We devote more than 50 hours each week to educational children’s programming, and we maintain learning partnerships with 10,000 teachers, students and families.
- Through our Southern Illinois Radio Information Service (SIRIS), we help nearly 1,000 people who are blind or otherwise prevented from reading to stay connected to the world.
At WSIU, we are proud of all these many ways in which we help improve the quality of life in our service area — and equally proud that the students of Southern Illinois University are involved in so many of them.
Licensed to the Board of Trustees of the university, WSIU provides a place on campus where students apply their knowledge on a daily basis, working closely with dedicated faculty and professional staff. Here, students have the chance to work on award-winning programs, including the student-produced “River Region Evening Edition” and the television magazine “alt.news 26:46,” in addition to other opportunities:
- “Indie Lens Pop-up,” a neighborhood series that brings people together for film screenings and conversations,
- Daily newscasts and features for radio,
- Candidate debates showcased during election campaigns
- Ongoing TV productions such as “Scholastic Hi-Q,” “Little Egypt Live,” and “Expressions,”
- Community Cinema, which brings to light stories about unique individuals, underrepresented communities or pivotal moments in history, and
- The Listening Project, a regular series that chronicles the experiences of the people who call this region home in the form of oral histories.
Hands-on experiences with WSIU can make the difference between a student’s simply acquiring a degree in communications and launching a career in the field. How many students at other institutions can say they have an excellent chance of adding an Emmy to their resume before graduating?
The true benefits to our students are, however, even more profound. Here, they learn essential lessons about responsible stewardship of the power of the media — lessons that will guide them through their careers as they grow into the leaders who will shape the media landscape of the future.
We look to the future with ambitious plans to sustain WSIU as a unique voice in our region and as a home to uniquely powerful learning experiences for the students of Southern Illinois University. To advance these plans, we are seeking funding for several areas of priority.
Expanded Opportunities
The key to the SIU/WSIU student experience is highly relevant opportunities in an ever-changing media world. To deliver these opportunities, WSIU is working to augment its current offerings for students with new options in three important emerging areas: multi-media journalism, audience engagement and digital distribution initiatives. Our campaign goal is to secure funding to help launch these new internship programs.
Enhanced Facilities and Resources
WSIU is seeking support for a fully endowed multi-media newsroom, a facility that will allow us to explore issues and tell stories powerfully on all available platforms, including digital, mobile, radio, television and social media. Access to this newsroom will mean the chance for our students to train in exactly the kind of multi-platform environment they are very likely to work in when they graduate.
In addition, support for a new radio transmitter in the Olney/Effingham region will help ensure continued access to these stories, and all of our programming, for listeners across our region.
Deeper Community Engagement
WSIU is looking beyond great programming to a new frontier in connecting with our audiences — by developing a continuous cycle of engagement that will match programs developed for broadcast and digital distribution with opportunities for individual interaction, in person and online. As it has throughout its history, WSIU will engage students in this process, providing experiential learning opportunities simply not available at other universities.
