WBEK (91.1 FM) is a

public radio Public broadcasting (or public service broadcasting) is radio, television, and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service with a commitment to avoiding political and commercial influence. Public broadcasters receive ...

station licensed to

Kankakee, Illinois Kankakee ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Kankakee County, Illinois, United States. Located on the Kankakee River, as of 2020, the city's population was 24,052. Kankakee is a principal city of the Kankakee-Bourbonnais-Bradley, IL MSA, Kan ...

, and owned by

Chicago Public Media Chicago Public Media (CPM) is a not-for-profit radio and print media company. CPM operates as the primary National Public Radio member organization for Chicago. It owns three non-commercial educational FM broadcast stations and one FM transl ...

. Formerly known as WKCC and owned by Kankakee Community College, the station aired a format consisting of

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

and public radio programs from

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

American Public Media American Public Media (APM) is an American company that produces and distributes public radio programs in the United States, the second largest company of its type after NPR. Its non-profit parent, American Public Media Group, also owns and o ...

, and

Public Radio International Public Radio International (PRI) was an American public radio organization. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, PRI provided programming to over 850 public radio stations in the United States. PRI was one of the main providers of programmi ...

.About Us
WKCC. Accessed November 2, 2012 WKCC also aired a variety of

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

and

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

programs on weekends, some of which were locally produced.Schedule
WKCC. Accessed November 2, 2012 WKCC ceased local broadcast operations on Friday evening, December 18, 2015, at the conclusion of a special, final episode of ''In a Mellow Tone'', hosted by Willie Dixon, Jr. – on the occasion of his 400th show. Chicago Public Media announced that it would purchase ownership rights for the WKCC 91.1 FM broadcast license.

WBEZ WBEZ (91.5 FM) – branded ''WBEZ 91.5'' – is a non-commercial educational radio station licensed to Chicago, Illinois, and primarily serving the tri-state region of the Chicago metropolitan area. It is owned by Chicago Public Media and is f ...

's programming is now simulcast on WKCC, extending WBEZ's reach to an additional audience of more than 200,000 potential listeners in Kankakee and Iroquois Counties.Chicago Public Media Purchases WKCC
''Chicago Public Media'', December 16, 2015. Chicago Public Media's purchase of the station from Kankakee Community College was consummated on April 28, 2016, at a price of $250,000. On May 6, 2016, the station changed its call sign to WBEK.

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* {{coord, 41, 09, 39, N, 87, 52, 30, W, type:landmark_region:US-IL, display=title Public radio stations in the United States BEK (FM) Radio stations established in 1992 1992 establishments in Illinois