Owned by Ball State University, it is a sister station to National Public Radio (NPR) member WBST (92.1 FM).

Burton expanded the WLBC radio facility on 29th Street in southeast Muncie and constructed a 500 feet (150 m) tower outside the building.

The group converted it into a non-commercial educational license, and changed the station's call letters to WIPB (for "Indiana Public Broadcasting").

[3] WIPB's claim to fame is having been the station that The Joy of Painting, a half-hour art program hosted by Bob Ross, originated from (except for its first season, which was recorded at WNVC in Falls Church, Virginia) from mid-1983 to 1994.

The jingle heard in WIPB's station identifications from the late 1980s was "Logo #7", a stock track composed by Vic Sepanski for the Omnimusic library.