WPGU (107.1 FM) is a fully commercial, student-run college radio station on the campus of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in Champaign, Illinois. It broadcasts an alternative rock radio format and other programming throughout Champaign-Urbana and surrounding communities. It is owned independently from the university by the Illini Media Company. WPGU has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 3,000 watts. The transmitter is atop the Tower at Third apartment complex on South 3rd Street in Champaign. History Early years WPGU is named for the "Parade Ground Units", where the station was originally located on the university campus. The units were Quonset huts, used to house soldiers returning from World War II, while getting training at the university. When the Parade Ground Units were demolished in the early 1960s to make room for regular dormitories, WPGU moved into the basement of Weston Hall. It remained there until 1995, when the station moved off-campus to 52 E. Green Street in Champaign, a few blocks from where its tower is currently located. In 2006, WPGU along with the other Illini Media outlets (Daily Illini newspaper, Technograph engineering journal, Illio yearbook) moved to a new building at 512 E. Green Street, Champaign. In 2018, the WPGU station moved to the basement of the campus YMCA building at 1001 S. Wright Street, Champaign, and is currently there. Carrier current and FM WPGU began as an experimental radio station by engineering students at the University of Illinois. It was not broadcast over the air, but sent its signal via carrier AM into the dorms and other campus buildings. If a radio was plugged into an electrical outlet, WPGU showed up on 640 AM. After an initial technical problem, WPGU signed on for three hours on December 7, 1953. It played an hour of jazz, an hour of classical music and an hour of news. In 1964, WPGU joined the Illini Publishing Company (forerunner of the Illini Media Company) and procured a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) construction permit for a new FM station. FM broadcasting began on April 17, 1967. WPGU started broadcasting in FM stereo, with student disc jockey Ted LeBlang at the controls, on April 16, 1972. The first song heard in stereo was "We Can Be Together (Unedited Version)" by Jefferson Airplane from their Volunteers album. In 1973, the station began broadcasting 24 hours a day. Carrier AM broadcasts were continued by WDBS, a