FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Date: September 13, 2002

Contact: Sinta Seiber, 206-6516

Popular radio show Michael Feldman’s Whad’Ya Know? comes to UIS

SPRINGFIELD -- Area residents hoping for their 15 minutes of fame will have a chance when WUIS (91.9 Springfield)-WIPA (89.3 Pittsfield) brings Public Radio International’s popular comedy/quiz/interview show Michael Feldman’s Whad’Ya Know? to the University of Illinois at Springfield’s Sangamon Auditorium for a live broadcast on Saturday, September 28.

Whad’Ya Know? is heard Saturday mornings on WUIS-WIPA from 10 a.m. to noon.

Feldman, whose early radio career included a stint at WGN-Chicago in the 1980s, has been called “radio’s obscure comic genius” and “the king of small-talk radio.” Fans of the nationally syndicated show enjoy regular features including Feldman’s opening monolog, All the News That Isn’t, which skewers current events and rivals anything heard on late-night television.

Much of the character of the show is derived from the highlighting of local culture and interviews with local celebrities. The show’s crew also does extensive research on the eight towns they visit each year; on their previous visit to Springfield, in 1992, leaf burning was a hot topic. But what makes the show so entertaining for members of the studio audience – two of whom are ultimately chosen to take part in the Whad’Ya Know? quiz – is Feldman’s interaction with them.

Feldman is joined on-air by announcer Jim Packard and by band members John Thulin, Jeff Hamann, and Clyde Stubblefield, also known as “the funky drummer.” For the Springfield broadcast, a local band yet to be named will also perform. The show is regularly broadcast from the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center in Madison, Wisconsin.

Tickets for Whad’Ya Know? are $40, $35, $30, and $15 and are available at the UIS ticket office by

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calling (217) 206-6160 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The U of I Alumni Association at UIS is also offering an opportunity for special seating at the performance and a pre-show breakfast buffet. Brad Swanson, WUIS-WIPA general manager, will speak at the breakfast, which starts at 8 a.m. in the Public Affairs Center restaurant on the UIS campus. Cost of the buffet is $12, $8 for Alumni Association members and their guests. A limited number of premium tickets to the show are $40 and are available through the UIS Alumni Office. Reservations for the breakfast are required and can be made by e-mailing alumni@uis.edu or calling 206-7395 no later than Monday, September 23.

More information about the show, purchasing tickets, and other WUIS programming is available at www.wuis.org.

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