WKEI
WKEI (1450 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a News/Talk format. Licensed to Kewanee, Illinois, United States, the station serves portions of northern Illinois to the Quad Cities area. The station is currently owned by Fletcher M. Ford’s Virden Broadcasting Corp.
The station provided the town with its first local radio signal. WKEI is now a news/talk radio station, a Fox News affiliate and home to syndicated talk show hosts Joe Pags, Hugh Hewitt and Jim Bohannon. WKEI is also the Kewanee affiliate for the Chicago Cubs MLB baseball team.
The counties in Illinois where the station is heard in a broadcast area on the radio Frequency 1450 kHz are as follows: Henry, Bureau, Knox, and Stark. Communities in Illinois within the counties where the station is heard are as follows: Kewanee, Galva, Geneseo, Princeton, Toulon, Bradford, Rock Island, Annawan, and Buda.
Overview
The station is currently a Fox news radio affiliate.
The current and most listened to local program is the "WKEI Morning show with Sean Kernan".
Primarily on the weekends WKEI airs FOX Sports Radio Network coverage which offers around-the-clock sports coverage and programming.
Previously WKEI was a CBS News Radio affiliate and ABC radio affiliate. The national network affiliations primarily mean the station plays approximately 6 minutes of the national news at the top of each hour in addition to some nationally broadcast programs from the respective affiliates. National news network programs include: The Joe Pags Show, The Hugh Hewitt Show, The Jim Bohannon Show. Previously when a CBS radio affiliate the station would play the The Osgood file with Charles Osgood and CBS World News Roundup.
Station slogans
- Tri-County Radio
- The Talk of the Tri-Counties
Previous seasons of programs
"Coaches Corner" is a 2 hour, Saturday morning, local tri-county sports radio show produced from the WKEI studios. The front line teams covered during the show are the Kewanne Boilermakers and througout much of the programs run the Wethersfield Flying Geese team. Later a change to the second Kewanee high school team combining with Annawan is now known as Annawan/Wethersfield Titans. Since the shows inception in the 1990's there have been many hosts. Previous hosts include former station general manager Gary Petersen, actor/producer Bryan Kreutz, Tony Sarnow, Bob McKee, and Sean Kernan. Russ Hughes, longtime color analyst for the Kewanne Boilermakers, has also interviewed many of the IHSA high school head coaches as well for the show.
At different air-dates From the 1990's and some still airing through today WKEI's programs include:
- "The Michael Medved Show"
- "The Dave Ramsey Show"
- "The Jim Bohannon Show"
- "The Lars Larson Show"
- "The Radio Factor hosted by Bill O'Reilly"
- "Morning News with Bob McKee"
- "People to People"
- "Open Line"
- "Tuned In"
- "RFD Today"
- "Noon Farm Show"
- "The Trading Post"
- "Agritalk"
- "The Mark Levin Show"
- CBS Sports Weekend
- Fighting Illini Sports
- Kewanee Boilermakers Sports
- Red Eye Radio
- Local Sports Now Noon Hour Sports Show
Program and station history
On July 18, 1951, the Federal Communications Commision granted a construction permit to the Kee Broadcasting Company for a 100 watt full-time AM station in Kewanne (Henry County) Illinois. WKEI AM 1450 began as a 100-watt AM station in 1952 in Kewanee, Illinois, providing the town with its first local radio signal. WKEI went on the air at 6 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 11, 1952. A dedication ceremony was broadcast at 1 p.m. The first building for the station was a small concrete block building, which still stands at the base of the transmitting tower on the corner of South Beach and West Garfield streets, across from Windmont Park in Kewanne, Illinois. Surplus Army equipment was used for the first broadcasting setup when the station first went on the airwaves. This setup was assembled by co-owner Elwood “Woody” Scandrett and a local “do-it-all” engineer named Ernie Tomlinson.
The first sports event ever aired on WKEI was a high school football game between the Kewanee Boilermakers and Canton Little Giants at 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 12, 1952. Phil Miler, the first sports director and sports voice for the station, whose voice was heard on WKEI before it was officially on the air, for a column. After the station went on the air, Miler was employed part-time doing sports and sales. He gathered and wrote copy for two sportscasts six nights a week, at 6:15 and 10:15 p.m., and the latter seven nights. For nine seasons — 1952 to 1960 — he was a one-man sports department. During one fall and winter, Miler broadcast 80 high school football and basketball games. Miler originated live broadcasts from the Illinois cities of Quincy, Champaign, Rochelle, DeKalb, Peoria and Quad Cities.
Daytime power rose to 500 wats in 1963. By mid-1964, WKEI operated daily from 5:30am until 10pm with a Variety/Farm program format.
By 1974, WKEI aired a "middle-of-the-road" music format. An affiliation with the ABC Information Network was also secured the same year.
In September 1983 The Kewanee Broadcasting Company sold WKEI to the Kewanee Radio Corporation while switching affiliations from the ABC Information Network to the ABC Direction Network. Also in that year, it adopted a "Country Music/News/Talk" Format. It switched to MOR music once again in 1984.
In October 1987 WKEI was sold from Kewanee Radio Corporation to the Miller Broadcast Company Inc. and debuting a MOR music and News/Talk format a few years later in 1990.
In December 1994 WKEI along with sister station WJRE were purchased by Virden Broadcasting Corp. to Randal J. Miller as a 100% owner and president of the copropration. Under Miller's ownership, upgrades were made to WKEI and WJRE. The format changed, ending it's nostalgia format and beginning a news-talk format, with local information and talk during the day, sports in the evening, and syndicated talk overnights and weekends.
WKEI ended its long-time affiliation with the ABC Radio Network in September 1997 and began carrying the CBS Radio Network, including the NFL and Notre Dame football and NCAA Basketball.
The WKEI and sister stations continued to grow, and on March 30, 2003, WGEN (AM) Geneseo, and WHHK (FM) Galva, were purchased and integrated into WKEI-WJRE at the Kewanee studios.
While a CBS Radio affiliate, WKEI was also the Kewanee,IL affiliate for St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball, NFL Football on Westwood one, and The Illini. Along with local personalities, Kris Wexell and Bob McKee the station was previously owned by Miller Media Group. In October of 2007 WKEI became the first AM radio station in Illinois to simulcast it's programming on 2 FM translators. 104.3 FM Kewanee and 100.1 FM in Galva IL.
Locations
- WKEI was first located at 207 Baker Building, 202 1/2 North Tremont, in Kewanne, IL.
- WKEI studios moved in 1961 to the Hotel Kewanee, 125 North Chestnut Street, in Kewanne, IL.
- Since 1981 WKEI and WJRE broadcast studios are both located at 133 East Division Street in Kewanee, IL.