Broadcast archives of the WILL Radio's Focus 580, a public radio call-in talk program featuring interviews with newsmakers, subject matter and policy experts, authors, artists, and others addressing topics of public interest including politics, science, health, race, gender, LGBTQ, environment, education, history, literature, culture and the arts, and community life.
Creators:
David Inge, Jack Brighton, Travis Stansel, and Harriet Williamson
Dates:
1986-04-15/2014-04-25
Repository/Collector:
Illinois Public Media, University of Illinois
Repository/Collector Type:
Broadcasting station, College or university, and Nonprofit group
City:
Urbana
State:
Illinois
Country:
United States
Collection ID:
focus580
Extent:
5,500 items
Content types:
Performed music, Spoken word, and Text
Formats:
Optical disc (including CD, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD, DVD-R, DVD-RW, VCD), Analog audiocassette, Digital Audio Tape (DAT), Digital audio file (including MP3, WAV, AIFF, etc.), Data disk (floppy disk), and Text document
Languages:
English
Genres:
Radio talk shows
Access statement:
All collection materials that are published on the WILL website, including digital audio archives of the program, may be accessed without restriction. Collection items and metadata that are not online may be accessed with permission from WILL.
Usage statement:
All collection materials that are accessible online may be used, quoted, and shared without permission for educational, journalistic, and scholarly purposes. Finding aids and other metadata may be used and shared with no restrictions.
Inventory description:
Paper inventory or finding aid, Relational database, Online catalog record, and Digital text document (other than spreadsheet or database)
Supporting documentation:
Supporting documentation includes paper records of the program's weekly schedule from 1982 through 2011; electronic documents including weekly program schedules and host introduction scripts in Microsoft Word and WordPerfect from 1994 through 2009; and a Microsoft Access database with information on program dates, topics, and guests covering unknown dates.
Historical relevance:
Broadcast live each weekday 10 am to noon from 1982 to 2014, Focus 580 was WILL's flagship talk program, providing in-depth interviews on news, national and international affairs, and other topics of public interest. The collection contains interviews with local, regional, national, and international newsmakers and experts on a wide range of topics.
Condition note:
Playable with proper equipment
Notes:
This collection is in active development for increasing the level of detail in its item-level metadata, and for public access to its complete digital audio archives. While the program first aired in 1982, the earliest recordings were not preserved by WILL. Records of the program begin in 1982, but the earliest extant audio archives date from 1986. From 1982 to 2000 the program was recorded to analog 1/8" audio cassette tape, but not every tape from this period was preserved. Beginning in 2000 the program was recorded on audio Compact Discs, and later directly to digital files (audio/wav) on network storage. The set of audio recordings is most complete from about 2000 to 2014, when production of Focus 580 ended.