Northern Public Radio officially became a "network" in 1998, when WNIW in LaSalle and WNIQ in Sterling signed on the air. They were followed by WNIE in Freeport in 1999, bringing the Northern Public Radio network to five stations.

Today, Northern Public Radio looks forward to new ventures that will provide even more service to listeners. This website has helpful links to National Public Radio news and a search engine called Radio Scout that allows internet searches by subject for news stories produced by public radio organizations around the country.

The future will bring more forays into cyberspace. National Public Radio will soon provide programming direct to listeners via satellite. Northern Public Radio will continue to look for opportunities to provide true public service to listeners in our broadcast area. Thanks for listening!