WEIU-TV ends over-the-air broadcasting
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Former PBS affiliate WEIU-TV in Charleston, Ill., ended over-the-air broadcasting Friday.
Licensed to Eastern Illinois University, WEIU had been a PBS station since 1992. In October, it ended its affiliation with PBS, citing the rescission of federal funding for public broadcasting.
A brief message on WEIU’s website said station programming will continue to be available digitally on weiu.net. The station also encouraged viewers to check out its YouTube channel.
“This is a platform change — not a mission change,” said GM Jeff Owens in an email to Current. “The new direction will continue to prioritize student learning at EIU while reflecting broader industry trends and modernization, and remains aligned with WEIU-TV’s commitments to responsiveness and value.”
The future of the TV station’s broadcast license is to be determined, Owens said, but EIU anticipates resolution within a year. The university requested special temporary authority from the FCC Friday for the station to go off the air.
WEIU-TV received about $790,000 from CPB in fiscal year 2025, making up nearly 80% of its annual budget of approximately $1 million. The station has not received support from the university since 2016.
“EIU’s fundraising arm will continue to solicit donor support,” Owens said. “Recent and dedicated gifts remain fully committed to WEIU-TV, and future dedicated funding will continue to directly support WEIU-TV programming and operations in its new format.”
Owens said EIU’s radio station, WEIU-FM, will continue broadcasting and training students.
“Needless to say, it’s a very sad day for Illinois public media,” said Heather Norman, president of the Illinois Public Broadcasting Council and GM of Tri States Public Radio in Macomb, Ill.
“WEIU is among the smallest stations in a really rural area. It just didn’t have the base of support to carry that station as a PBS station, and then the cost of over-the-air broadcast was a lot to carry,” she said. “I know that efforts were made to try and prevent this from happening, and it just wasn’t feasible.”
Norman said public media’s most vulnerable stations are running out of time to find funding from other sources such as donors or lawmakers. “Who’s going to suffer with these funding losses is rural America,” she said. “They’re switching to digital, which we can have conversations all day about how that’s probably going to be the future, which is probably true, but … that still costs people significant investments in having access to broadband.”
When digital networks fail during emergencies, broadcast is still important for disseminating information, Norman said.
“Broadcast … can get information out to people when they need it the most,” she said.
A true loss for public media.