The long-anticipated launch of new 24-hour public radio news and Classical services in the Quad Cities will happen Monday, May 1.
The lineup at Augustana College’s WVIK/90.3 (Rock Island) has long mixed NPR’s news magazines with Classical music, which was the traditional format for public radio before services began splitting news and music between multiple stations.
Now, WVIK will switch to a 24-hour news service, with Classical music going 24 hours on WVIK-HD2 and W252EM/98.3.
The pending change was first announced in March 2022 and the May 1 launch date was announced exactly one year later, giving the station plenty of time to explain the change to listeners.
WVIK’s lineup will continue to include flagship NPR news magazines “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered” and American Public Media’s “Marketplace.” It’ll add NPR’s “1A” and “Here and Now” and APM’s “On Point,” among others, to the daytime lineup. The BBC World Service will air from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.
Meanwhile, WVIK Classical will include locally-produced programming during the day with a focus on the region’s arts community, hosted by Marc Zyla and Mindy Heusel. The Beethoven Network will air overnights.
W252EM is the former K289AI/105.7, which is changing frequency to escape interference from a Peoria station on the same frequency. W252EM will transmit with 250 Watts from the Black Hawk College campus in Moline, delivering a rimshot signal to Rock Island, Bettendorf, and part of Davenport.
K289AI and WVIK-HD2 have run a 24-hour news lineup for the past several years, carrying the same programming as WVIK during morning and afternoon drive.
WVIK is relayed on K240DZ/95.9 (Dubuque).
WVIK competes with several Quad Cities-area transmitters carrying Iowa Public Radio’s mix of daytime news and evening Adult Alternative programming. The Quad Cities also receive a rimshot signal from IPR Classical station KSUI/91.7 (Iowa City).