Remembering WIRL, regretting radio’s change

 When I turned on the kitchen radio, I was startled: Opposite Day? Bizarro world? A Russian hack?

Expecting reliable Peoria’s WIRL-AM 1290’s enjoyable, pleasantly distracting classic tunes, I heard Sean Hannity.

Days before, the oldies station had quietly become another conservative talk station, simulcasting Fox and similar opinions from WPBG-HD3/W240DM instead of oldies (which survive as “102.7 Superhits” on W274BM/WPBG-HD2, which neither my kitchen nor car get).

Besides afternoons’ Hannity – who in March bragged about helping Russian propagandists by coming up with the “Biden is weak” criticism and days later said the United States should demand Ukraine’s natural resources if military aid is provided to the embattled nation – WIRL’s lineup now has Marc Levin in the earlyevening and Jim Bohannon late nights.

It’s a regrettable change from a WIRL that had been the home of personalities including Robyn Weaver, Lee Ranson, Lee Malcolm, Ron Thorn, Gene Konrad and Marc Truelove , and reporters ranging from Tom McIntyre to Beth McGloth and Ed Hammond.

WIRL owner Midwest Communications, which bought the station in 2019 as part of Alpha Media’s cluster of stations, is a family-owned operation headquartered in Wausau, Wis., run by CEO Duke Wright. The corporation  has more than 80 stations in 18 markets in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee and Wisconsin.

Nielsen’s most recent book rated WIRL a 1.1% share of people 12 years old and up listening between 6 a.m. and midnight. Excluding three Bloomington-Normal stations and a Chicago station that reach Peoria, there were 15 stations formatted as Adult Contemporary, classic hits, classic rock, rhythmic classic hits, oldies, two news/talk, two country, rock, Contemporary Hit Radio, rhythmic Contemporary Hit Radio, Alternative, sports, and gospel. WSWT-FM (one of six Midwest Communications stations in Peoria) led with a 9.8% share.

One long-time employee explained that radio executives are looking for a variant of the late Rush Limbaugh and/or new audiences.

“It’s not ideology, like Sinclair [Broadcast Group],” he said. “It was a business decision, looking at potential, and using the 5,000-watt signal to reach rural listeners. Bottom line: It’s about money.”

Frankly, almost all commercial media operate under a business model of delivering audiences to advertisers, more than providing news, music, entertainment or nonsense.

Duke Wright has made political contributions to the industry lobby the National Association of Broadcasters, according to the nonpartisan, nonprofit Center for Responsive Politics , which also reports that individual Midwest Communications stations have made campaign contributions to Republican candidates in Michigan and Wisconsin, but no Democrats.

Not all Peoria radio veterans are celebrating, similar to CBS-TV staffers’ shock at the “Tiffany network” hiring former Trump official Mark Meadows as a contributor despite Meadows’ roles in withholding aid to Ukraine and in the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Another employee conceded that the change may end up losing listeners because the conservative talk format usually has an audience that’s about three-fourths male and older than advertisers’ top target audience of adults 18-49.

I’m not whining about content; I’m all for a variety of voices, but where’s the station for liberal talk? There are options for formats not available over Peoria AM/FM airwaves – easy listening/Big Band, Broadway show tunes/movie soundtracks, New Age/New Wave, Americana-folk/indie, ethnic (Irish, Italian, Caribbean, Latin…) – hopefully presented by local people who know the community their licenses supposedlyserve.

Unfortunately, the industry for years has abandoned not just the Fairness Doctrine but traditional broadcasting for “narrowcasting” – slicing and dicing demographics to draw assorted ages, genders, etc. in isolation rather than a diverse community of neighbors. Some shows and stations are nice outliers, like WMBD’s early-morning “Greg & Dan Show” and middays’ “Markley, Van Camp & Robbins Show,” and WCBU-FM 89.9 (disclosure: Community Word has a relationship with the public-radio station). But they’re literally exceptional.

For a Narrowcasting Overload, Nielsen reports that streaming services offer more than 800,000 programs.

Programming needn’t be either/or, but both/and. Radio used to be a common ground, with a range of material for many tastes, For instance, Billboiard Number-1 songs in 1964 were by the Beatles and Louis Armstrong, the Supremes and Dean Martin, the Beach Boys and Roy Orbison, the Shangri-Las and Bobby Vinton.

With apologies to poet T. S. Eliot, sometimes things end “not with a bang but a whimper.”

Rural areas getting new attention, approaches for help

Tens of thousands of rural residents could benefit from new initiatives in Washington and Peoria, and improvements may start small, such as a proposal to offer waste and recycling pickup to areas not served by curbside programs.

 * The White House on April 11 announced a multi-agency effort to help rural communities access billions of dollars in funding available through the infrastructure law, and officials’ 30-stop tour of rural areas is promoting a “Rural Playbook” prov with information on the “what, when, where and how to apply” for funds to help with jobs “in every rural community,” plus high-speed internet, wastewater systems, clean drinking water, etc.

 * Weeks earlier, Peoria County started coordinating with rural governments on possibly expanding trash/recycling services.

 * In March, Capitol Hill saw a bipartisan bill introduced that would create a permanent office for rural prosperity issues. According to sponsors U.S. Reps. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) and Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), the Rural Prosperity Act would establish the Office of Rural Prosperity to streamline federal services for rural America and coordinate federal efforts to connect rural America to federal resources.

 “What happens when you don’t have a seat at the table? You don’t get served,” comments Colleen Callahan, a Peoria County resident who formerly was the state’s director of Rural Development for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

 “The Rural Prosperity Act not only invites rural America to dinner but includes us in determining the menu,” continues Callahan, now director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. “Having a permanent office in the White House tasked with connecting rural communities to federal programs and resources should accelerate economic development efforts. And that should mean federal and state programs can synergistically create opportunities to meet needs throughout rural Illinois.”

 If enacted, the measure would create an office led by a Chief Rural Adviser and a Rural Prosperity Council with heads of executive-branch agencies adopting and administering a strategy for economic development.

“Rural communities are an integral part of our national economy, security and identity,” said the Federal Reserve of St. Louis in a 605-page report, “Investing in Rural Prosperity,” published in October.

 “Around 45 million people – about 14% of the U.S. population – lives in rural America [which] plays a key role in food production, and a disproportionate share of the fuel and fiber that keeps our country operational.”

For its part, the Fed suggests planners, entrepreneurs and citizens adopt a “TRIC” framework of Tailoring action to local needs, Resilience to short- and long-term changes, Inclusiveness for all residents, and Collaboration between stakeholders.

 In Washington, Congresswoman Craig said, “It’s clear to me that the federal government needs to lift up rural communities and build a country where every American can benefit from our growing economy. I’m proud to lead this bipartisan and bicameral effort.”

 Tony Pipa, an expert in economic development and co-author of a Brookings Institute report on rural America, told the Center for Rural Strategies, “It provides a vision for how federal support and policy can better enable rural resilience and prosperity amongst that diversity, and also can maintain and sustain those efforts.

 “I think the important thing is to make sure that it’s resourced both with people and money the way it needs to be [so that it] matches actually the mandate and the purview that the office has,” he said.

 Co-sponsoring HR 7019 are four Republicans and six Democrats, including Peoria-area Congreswoman Cheri Bustos. Others are Reps. Cynthia Axne (D-Iowa), Adrian Smith (R-Neb.), Tom O’Halleran (D-Ariz.), and Randy Feenstra (R-Iowa). The Senate version, S 3803, is backed by Iowa’s conservative Sens. Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley, plus liberal Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and moderate Democrat Mark Kelly of Arizona.

  “We really don't need more government agencies, but we desperately need government agencies to work together to better serve citizens,” says Reid Harman, a Trustee with Trivoli Township. “If it becomes a reality, the Office of Rural Prosperity sounds like it could help small towns and rural communities get a leg up on using the mountain of federal resources that are already out there going unused.

 “Americans want more transparency, efficiency and responsiveness from their government,” he continues. “The Rural Prosperity Act promises to deliver in some of these key areas by making it easier for citizens to seek out assistance for their communities. In the past, whenever there has been a shortage of services in rural communities, the federal government stepped up to help: the Postal Service, electric utilities, telephone services… This could be the next opportunity for the government to step up. There is a huge amount of federal funding out there waiting for a purpose, but it can be extremely difficult to access.”

 Steve Garnett, Jubilee Township Supervisor, tells the Community Word, “The bill seems very vague with no real specifics other than to create a high-level government position. Within our township almost all business is farms and there is no mention of that in the bill, although there are other departments to deal with agriculture. I would worry if they provided money to business in our area it would go to wealthy farmers who don't need the money.” 

 People who live in small towns and the countryside between can be an overlooked constituency since neither their numbers nor taxes make up a substantial part of votes or public revenues. Peoria County has about 181,000 residents, and 113,000 live in the City. Unincorporated areas account for another 34,000, says Peoria County Administrator Scott Sorrel, and towns the remaining 34,000.

 “Sometimes rural residents feel ignored, I suppose,” Sorrel says, “but I think it really varies from town to town.”

 The County is trying to be responsive to one immediate need, he tells the Community Word – trash and recycling, which could be on the November ballot. At a focus group convened on March 14 to discuss such services for rural Peoria County, 14 people attended, including representatives from 8 of the County’s 20 townships.

 Sorrel says the County is offering guidance on getting on the ballot, and, if voters approve the idea, creating a Request For Proposals to haulers, and arranging a property-tax line item to collect the waste/recycling fee and distribute it to townships.

 For Garnett, pressing needs for rural areas are internet service, public transportation (especially for seniors), and better county roads.

 “County roads were very good when I moved here about 40 years ago,” he says, but “they are in bad shape now.”

 Sorrel sees the trash/recycling possibility is one way to reduce road deterioration.

“It could save rural roads from damage caused by multiple trips by different garbage trucks, plus alleviate the problem of illegal litter and dumping,” he says.

 Garnett agrees.

 “People dump their old refrigerators into ditches and ravines rather than to pay to have the refrigerant reclaimed,” he says. “Another area is tires. If government provided a location for free tire disposal it would be much better.”

 In Trivoli, Harman sees an economic incentive to work collectively.

 “To compensate garbage trucks for long travel times between customers, rural residents have been paying a premium for garbage collection for years, but rural household recycling collection has never been an option,” Hansan says. “This [proposal] could be an excellent opportunity for different communities to pool their buying power and finally get recycling pick-up services.”

 Whether nationally or locally, helping rural prosperity – or stability, or survival – won’t be a simple fix. Concerning the garbage/recycling idea, Harman says, “The biggest question is ‘How much will it cost?’ ”

Garnett adds, “I am not optimistic that the [Jiubilee] Township Board will even put the trash and recycling issue on the ballot.”

Sorrel says schools are a big part of small towns’ identities, and many communities have parks and libraries. But beyond gas stations and Dollar Generals – and maybe a café, bank and insurance/real estate agency – business districts show opportunities that also are problems: empty commercial spaces. Vacant storefronts or big structures can’t be easily filled, Sorrel says.

“We have a study that shows the United States has 34% more retail space than needed,” he says. “We overbuilt bricks-and-mortar stores. Someone has to get creative to adapt existing building or repurpose them.

 

“It’s all challenging, and it won’t be easy.”

Iron Workers’ struggle leads to 150+ charges at Labor Board

The Iron Workers union at G&D Integrated in Morton is a small shop with big problems.

Fewer than 25 workers at the transportation, warehousing and manufacturing company may be affected, but their experience has resulted in more than 150 charges of law-breaking filed with the National Labor Relations Board, and the consequences could help determine their livelihoods and whether the country is a nation of laws or of bosses.

A company spokesman didn’t respond to repeated questions, but G&D Vice President Curt Fisher told the Pekin Daily Times, “Anybody can file a charge. The filing of a charge does not in any way constitute guilt.”

It’s obviously true that the accused are innocent until proven guilty. However, it’s also true that subjects of open cases have not been exonerated of wrongdoing.

The ongoing dispute started many months ago with workers’ health and safety concerns.

“Workers went to management before they ever reached out to us,” said Vince Di Donato, a Peoria-based district representative with the International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers union.

Workers suggested repositioning welding tables, checking crane certifications, and considering an alternative to the oil used on metals for some tanks, which irritated users.

“Management wouldn’t even entertain the idea,” Di Donato said – although weeks later a supervisor promised better welding wire, which workers has requested for months, if workers rejected the union.

TIMELINE

Sept. 7: a group of workers met with management and asked for union recognition. The company refused.

After workers filed for a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election, G&D objected to driver David Goodman’s inclusion in the bargaining unit, th union says, and after the NLRB agreed to hear that case G&D fired Goodman on Sept. 30 – not long after two supervisors confronted him in the parking lot and asked to buy the union shirt he was wearing. He declined.

Oct. 13: In an NLRB election G&D workers voted to unionize, 18-4.

After workers won the vote, things got worse. Management began accusing workers of “tardiness and absenteeism that went all the way back to February of last year, which had never happened,” Di Donato said.

Nov. 17: G&D workers, family and friends, and supporters from the Building Trades and other unions rallied in Morton. G&D agreed to start contract talks in November, but their negotiators suspended bargaining in January.

The union says supervisors pushed workers to quit (“constructive discharge” is the term), and by the end of February, about a dozen workers remained.

March 1: G&D summarily laid off most of the work force; two are still working, Di Donato said.

 

“For the employer, it seems like it’s all about power and control,” he added, but “we’re going to fight this tooth and nail.”

G&D traces its history to 1882, when it was founded as O’Neill Transportation in Peoria. Now with locations in Indiana and South Carolina, its annual revenues exceed $160 million, according to Dun & Bradstreet.

“This is the worst conduct I’ve ever witnessed by a company, and it continues to gravely impact these workers, their families, and the wider Morton community,” said organizer Ben Scroggins, from the Ironworkers District Council of Chicago & Vicinity.

(In fact, with relatively little public reaction to the situation, one wonders how people would respond to allegations of an investigation of a burglary, tax fraud or a DUI. Is apparent indifference a sign of disrespect for working people? Disrespect for the law?)

Regardless, the union has turned to the NLRB, which is tasked with protecting workers’ rights  to strike, to be free of retailiation, and to join together to improve their wages and working conditions, with or without a union.

As of April 11, the NLRB has 152 charges levied against G&D, and 144 of them are Unfair Labor Practice charges. (For comparison, the NLRB has 175 total cases in Morton and 392 in Peoria, records show.) Allegations range from wrongful termination and illegal surveillance, to improper discipline and interrogation, and discrimination.

Possible violations run the gamut. According to other unions’ leaders, a G&D supervisor produced a letter supposedly from Komatsu Mining Corp. (for which G&D fabricates parts) claiming lost work that threatened to close the operation. The purported correspondence wasn’t even on Komatsu stationery.

“The number of ULPs we’ve had to file with G&D is way above normal,” Scroggins said. “G&D must stop targeting, threatening, and firing workers for exercising their right to organize.

“This company’s behavior over the past few months should be criminal,” he added.

Besides possible action by the NLRB, two recent events in Washington, D.C., may affect the outcome. First, NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo this month said “captive-audience” meetings management requires workers to attend are Unfair Labor Practices and she’s asking the Board to concur.

Such meetings “inherently involve an unlawful threat that employees will be disciplined or suffer other reprisals if they exercise their protected right not to listen to such speech,” she said, adding that stopping such acts doesn’t infringe on companies’ First Amendment right.

“The fact that a threat arises in the context of employer speech does not immunize its unlawful coercive effect,” she said in a memo to NLRB field offices. “Imposing that long-overdue protection of employees’ right to refrain will not impair employers’ statutory or constitutional freedom of expression.”

Also, on March 15, President Biden signed a $1.5 trillion federal-funding bill that not only increases NLRB’s funding and staff, but arrived with instructions from the House Appropriations Committee for government agencies to step up enforcing the law.

“The committee identifies a need for more inter-agency collaboration between the [Labor] Department (including the Wage and Hour Division and OSHA), the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the National Labor Relations Board to enforce labor and civil rights laws fully and effectively,” lawmakers said.

Back in Central Illinois, Goodman, the 33-year-old driver who sometimes worked 10-hour days at G&D without breaks, still seems surprised.

“I never had any issue before,” he said. “I showed up, did my job, and got along with everyone.”

Di Donato says the Iron Workers union is standing by the workers, and there’s hope for justice from NLRB rulings.

“We have a fund to help workers in need in the right situation,” he said. “They have submitted applications for membership but don’t pay dues until they are working under a contract. On wrongful termination charges, there can be back pay, benefits, damages and reinstatements. Any other charges that created a loss in wages or benefits can be reimbursed.”

Goodman is more concerned about right and wrong, and about working.

“They cheated all of us out of a job [and] management is getting away with abuse,” Goodman said. “I hope to get a hearing. I want to get back to work.”

Scroggins is impressed with the workers and ashamed of G&D.

“The ironworkers at G&D were being berated by management daily and wanted to form a union to protect themselves against the abusive treatment by management,” he said. “They’ve put in all the work to try to make G&D a better place to work, and the company’s done nothing to listen or improve things – all they’ve poured their money and time into is building up their attack on employees and hiring [outside] union busters to break their union.”

(To keep informed about the ironworkers’ struggle, go to GDIntegratedUnion.com.)