WLS is a Chicago clear-channel AM station on 890 kHz. It uses C-QUAM

C-QUAM

C-QUAM is the method of AM stereo broadcasting used in Canada, the United States and most other countries. It was invented in 1977 by Norman Parker, Francis Hilbert, and Yoshio Sakaie, and published in an IEEE journal....

 AM stereo

AM stereo

AM stereo is a term given to a series of mutually incompatible techniques for wireless radio broadcasting stereo audio in the AM band in a manner that is compatible with standard AM receivers...

and transmits with 50,000 watts from transmitter and towers on the south edge of Tinley Park, Illinois

Tinley Park, Illinois

Tinley Park is a village located primarily in Cook County, Illinois, United States with a small portion in Will County. The population was 48,401 at the 2000 census, and 58,322 in the 2007 census. It is one of the fastest growing suburbs south of Chicago...

.

WLS is currently a talk radio

Talk radio

Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often feature interviews with a number of different guests. Talk radio typically includes an element of listener participation, usually by broadcasting live...

 station, with its programming consisting of about half local talk shows such as Don Wade and Roma and The Roe Conn Show

The Roe Conn Show

The Roe Conn Show, also known as The Roe Conn Show with Richard Roeper and Roe and Roeper, is a talk radio show hosted by Roe Conn and Richard Roeper on WLS-AM. The program is broadcast live every weekday, 2 pm to 6 pm CDT, from the studios of WLS in Chicago and aired online by Citadel Radio...

, and the rest syndicated programming such as Rush Limbaugh

Rush Limbaugh

Rush Hudson Limbaugh III is an American radio talk show host, conservative political commentator, and an opinion leader in American conservatism. He hosts The Rush Limbaugh Show which is aired throughout the U.S. on Premiere Radio Networks and is the highest-rated talk-radio program in the United...

, Sean Hannity

Sean Hannity

Sean Hannity is an American radio and television host, author, and conservative political commentator. He is the host of The Sean Hannity Show, a nationally syndicated talk radio show that airs throughout the United States on Premiere Radio Networks. Hannity also hosts a cable news show, Hannity,...

, Mark Levin

Mark Levin

Mark Reed Levin is a lawyer, author and the host of American syndicated radio show The Mark Levin Show. Levin served in the cabinet of President Ronald Reagan and was a chief of staff for Attorney General Edwin Meese...

, Adam Bold

Adam Bold

Adam Bold is an American author and businessman. He is the founder and minority shareholder of The Mutual Fund Store, and host of The Mutual Fund Show, a national weekly talk radio show focused on actively managed mutual fund investments...

 and others. WLS also covers Notre Dame

University of Notre Dame

The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...

 football and basketball.

WLS had been owned and operated by the radio division of the American Broadcasting Company

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 (ABC) since the purchase of its parent company in 1959 and the subsequent merging with WENR, a station with which WLS had shared its frequency since the 1920s.