WGN (AM)
From Sports Library
| WGN | |
| Image:WGNlogo1.gif | |
| Broadcast area | Chicago, Illinois |
|---|---|
| Branding | News/Talk 720 |
| Slogan | The Voice of Chicago |
| First air date | June 1, 1924 |
| Frequency | 720 kHz Template:HD Radio |
| Format | News/Talk/Sports |
| ERP | 50,000 watts |
| Class | A |
| Callsign meaning | "World's Greatest Newspaper" - reference to Chicago Tribune |
| Owner | Tribune Company (WGN Continental Broadcasting) |
| Website | wgnradio.com |
WGN-AM is a radio station on 720 kHz in Chicago. It is owned by the Tribune Company, which also owns the flagship television station WGN-TV, the Chicago Tribune newspaper and Chicago magazine locally. WGN's transmitter is located in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. The station offers a news and talk format and is the radio play-by-play home of the Chicago Cubs baseball games. WGN is usually the top rated radio station in Chicago.
WGN went on the air on June 1, 1924 from studios in the Drake Hotel, (Chicago) as the new name for WDAP, a station which had been broadcasting since May of 1922. Its call letters stood for "World's Greatest Newspaper", a reference to the station's owner, the Chicago Tribune. [1] To underscore that, in the Tribune's radio listings, their station was listed as "W-G-N", whereas the other stations were listed without hyphens.
WGN, a high-powered clear channel AM station (50,000 watts), which during nighttime hours is often audible over much of the USA, parts of Canada, and sometimes as far away as Australia and South America.
Early programming was noted for its creativity and innovation. It included live music, political debates, comedy routines, and some of radio's first broadcasts of sporting events, including the Indianapolis 500 automobile race, and a live broadcast of the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial from Dayton, TN.
WGN is now mainly a news and talk radio station. WGN broadcasts news, weather, traffic and sports every hour. Pat Hughes and Ron Santo serve as the play-by-play team for all games of the Chicago Cubs, another Tribune asset. WGN is also the radio home of Northwestern Wildcats football and basketball games.
WGN Radio's Monday-Friday schedule
- 5-9 a.m.: The Spike O'Dell Radio Program
- 9 a.m.-noon: Kathy O'Malley and Judy Markey
- Noon-1 p.m.: Bob Sirott
- 1-4 p.m.: John Williams
- 4-7 p.m.: Steve Cochran
- 7-9 p.m.: WGN Sports Central with David Kaplan
- 9-11 p.m.: Extension 720 with Milt Rosenberg
- 11 p.m.-5 a.m.: Steve King and Johnnie Putman
In June 2005, WGN Radio changed its slogan from "Chicago's News and Talk (and Cubs!)" to "The Voice of Chicago". In late August 2006, the word "Radio" in the slogan was replaced with "News/Talk", said fully on-air as The Voice of Chicago, News/Talk 720 WGN.
