The transition in how people get their news in the age of the Internet is playing out in Springfield, as two longtime institutions — Illinois Issues magazine and radio station WUIS — have merged operations.
RANDY ECCLES, who came to WUIS as its development director in 2008 and became general manager in 2013, is overseeing the operation as interim general manager and publisher. He said the station and magazine actually merged as of July 1, and cross-training continues.
Staff of the magazine have now moved into the same building at the University of Illinois campus that houses the radio station, which is part of NPR. Reporters who have been heard on the radio are becoming regular writers for the magazine, and traditionally print reporters have been learning digital editing and are doing radio stories as well.
Strategic planning for the future began under now-retired Illinois Issues editor DANA HEUPEL, who left the job in early 2014, and Eccles said that process led to the merger.
The story was reported by The State Journal-Register on December 24, 2014.
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