Broadcasting across Illinois, Chicago is WBEZ 91.5 FM is a public non-profit radio station. it is owned by Chicago public media and is allied public radio international and national public media. Being a public radio station and non-profit, the station gets its finances from government funding, contributions from its listeners and also financed by corporate sponsors. WBEZ radio station also gets its broadcast content from America public media, and uses pure English to air its news and public talks. WBEZ and its first organization were formerly known as Chicago public radio before changing in 2010 to Chicago public media. The station creates award-winning content that pursues to educate people on matters and ideas that directly or indirectly affect the community, nation and the world at large on day to day activities.
PROGRAMS AIRED ON WBEZ STATION
WBEZ radio has programs such as international news including curious city, world music and quiz shows, which are available on FM wavelengths and on the internet.
•Magnificent obsession, a program that focuses on helping those with various addictions by hosting people who have overcome various addictions.
•All things considered, a famous show in the station that combines news, commentary, special features and analysis, and that has attracted over 14.7 million listeners.
•This American life- it is a program and a podcast broadcasted to more than 500 stations and listened to about 2.2 million people.
•Sound opinions- is a show that unites people who love music to air their opinions, discuss and learn.
•another program is the Live Talk. It includes in-depth interviews and discussions with writers, artists, and newsmakers
•The world view program mainly broadcasts about global issues
•Blues before sunrise was a program for blues music hosted by Steve Cushing Saturday nights which started in 1979 but was eliminated in 2007.
• Other shows are market place, car talk, PRIs the world, wait wait…. Don’t tell me! Morning edition, and a prairie home companion. Most of the news and talk shows are aired during the day and overnight, while music and entertainment are aired during weekends.
HISTORY
April 1943 is when WBEZ first aired. It was used for educational programming for the Chicago public schools. It thus operated only on weekdays when the public schools were in session. In 1970, the station associated itself with national public radio and started to broadcast general shows outside of school hours as a charter member. The shows mostly included jazz music. The board of education then sold the station to the non-profit WBEZ alliance, Inc. in 1990. In the year 2010, the corporate name was changed to Chicago public media, Inc. In 2007, there were major changes in the station programs. This includes the elimination of the jazz program that led to the outrage among many in the Chicago jazz scene. The protest was unsuccessful and the station only retained a slot of the music on Sundays afternoons.