WEAI 107.1 FM turned 20 years old this year.

Former owner Jerry Symons says the station has survived on local, local and local.

WEAI was initially launched in west central Illinois in 1941 and in  the mid-1980s saw a change in WEAI’s call letters to WYMG.

With that came a move to Springfield in 1988 and the disappearance of local FM radio from the Jacksonville area. Jacksonville’s AM station, WLDS, was then sold to Symons and Don Hamilton of Jerdon Broadcasting in 1989. Symons says he and Hamilton made it a point to get WEAI back in Jacksonville. WEAI officially went on the air November 15th, 1989 at 5 a-m with the phrase "The eagle has landed."

WEAI Program Director Perry Brown is the only member of the original FM staff still with the station. He says the anniversary reminds him of how things used to be.

Look for a WEAI History page to be added in the near future.