Miss the Saturday morning cartoons? Watch them on Eureka College's new TV station

EUREKA – The new radio and television program at Eureka College is providing a new course of study for students, and more entertainment options for the community.

Both the television station and the radio station, which are staffed by students who determine programing, air 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and can be accessed online at https://www.eureka.edu/ectv.

“We were able to televise the first home basketball game of the season, which happened at the end of last week,” Eureka College President Jamel Wright said.

Sporting events give broadcast students experience in both live production and play-by-play announcing. The television station will also be airing programs produced by Eureka College students, as well as programing in the public domain, like old movies and cartoons. Wright was delighted to tune into the Saturday morning cartoons last week.

“Being able to pop open your laptop and go to ECTV and see Tom and Jerry, for those of us who remember Saturday morning cartoons, that warmed my heart," said Wright. “Little things like that will resonate with different audiences.”

The radio and TV program came to Eureka College this year from the now-closed Lincoln College. Administrators from both colleges worked together to keep the program alive after the impending closure of Lincoln College was announced last spring. John Malone, who founded the program 18 years ago, was thrilled for the opportunity to move it to Eureka.

“It was a matter of stars aligning – it came together very quickly," said Malone. “When you find out on March 30 that, in the middle of May, you are going to be without a job, you take a week or so to lick your wounds, and then you pick yourself back up and say, now what? I believe it was Dr. Gerlach, the president of Lincoln, who started talking to Jamel and said ‘you know, this is something you should be taking a look at.’”

Moving the program and all the equipment necessary to produce television and radio broadcasts to Eureka College was not a simple undertaking, but administrators jumped at the chance.

“We find taking calculated risks to be very important, and this was one of the opportunities where both radio and TV – we also brought in the wrestling program from Lincoln – both calculated risks have already shown to be a huge positive for Eureka College," said Wright.

This fall, Eureka College had its largest enrollment ever, due in part to the 76 students who came from Lincoln College. With enrollment down at colleges and universities across the U.S. since the pandemic, Wright is particularly pleased to be bucking the trend. Wright credits the rise in enrollment to innovative programing and the fact that many students appreciate being closer to home since the pandemic. The intimate atmosphere and smaller class sizes are also a plus.

The six radio and television students who followed the program to Eureka have helped get it up and running in its new location, the 100-year-old Pritchard Hall. While both the radio and TV stations are functioning, there are still things which need to be done.

“I built the program, the equipment, over an 18-year period. I had to tear it down and rebuild it in a matter of months. It was a major undertaking. Imagine a control room at one of the TV stations in Peoria, or radio stations in Peoria, and moving them completely from one location to another – that's what we had to do,” said Malone.

One thing yet to be done is getting the new radio station onto the iHeart radio app.

“The radio station in Lincoln was available on the iHeart radio platform worldwide, and this station will also be on the platform in due course,” said Malone. “There’s only 41 college radio stations on the iHeart platform.”

Even as all the pieces are falling into place, enrollment in the program is already growing. About a dozen students have expressed interest for upcoming semesters, said Malone, who credits his current students for spreading the word.

“My students are some of my best recruiters,” said Malone. “I see the traffic on Facebook, where students who went on to a large school just don’t like it – it's not the same as it used to be. And it’s fun to watch my students get on there and say ‘well we’re doing really great at Eureka. You ought to come here.'”

Leslie Renken can be reached at (309) 370-5087 or lrenken@pjstar.com. Follow her on Facebook.com/leslie.renken.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Eureka College students get hands-on experience in the new radio & TV program