WHOI has been the dog station in Peoria for years. 

But, the station staffers finally go to do something they haven't been able to do in 30 years. They got to deliver the news from their own new news set. 

Quincy Media took over the station from Sinclair in 2016 and has merged it with WEEK-TV. The staff at WHOI play the role of orphans in the storm as their WEEK counterparts, for the past year, have enjoyed a new set with fancy lighting and computer projection boards.

Meanwhile, the HOI team toiled away in a small makeshift study in a room primarily used for storage.

But this week that changed. The WHOI news team members finally got to do a newscast on a new set of their own.

“The new set allows me to project a lot more action, plus it brings new life and confidence to the staff,” said Trish Christakes, 24, the HOI sports director. As the first female to hold a weekday sports director post in the Peoria TV market, Christakes exemplifies HOI’s desire to get noticed.

Molly Jirasek, 25, the assistant news director, said the new set and equipment allows the HOI news team to work with more tools — tools needed for better stories. “We want to practice enterprise journalism. What does this community need to know? We’ve seen journalism watered down in recent years. I’m not going to let that happen,” she said.

It’s part of a $6 million overhaul so far of the WEEK/HOI facility that has included new offices, newsrooms and control rooms as well as new technology, station manager Mark DeSantis said.

As Gordon Gekko would say, it will still be a dog, but it will be a dog with different fleas. 

H/T PJStar