WMAQ-AM
Encyclopedia
WMAQ was an AM
radio station in located in Chicago, Illinois, USA
, and broadcast at 670 kHz with 50,000 watts. The station was in existence from 1922 to 2000, and was the oldest surviving broadcast outlet in Chicago. It was a class A clear channel station, and could be heard, particularly at night, over most of the eastern United States. WMAQ was owned in its later years by CBS radio but for much of its life it was owned by National Broadcasting Company (NBC) and later Westinghouse Broadcasting
. The station's original owner was the Chicago Daily News
newspaper, but its longest running ownership was as an NBC Radio
owned-and-operated station. Its transmitter was located in Bloomingdale, Illinois
just off of Army Trail Road, with a 780 foot tower where it remains today. The AM 670 transmitter is now in use by WMAQ's successor, All Sports Radio WSCR
and remains under Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) radio ownership.
. The station's first transmitter was atop the department store. There are questions as to whether anyone actually was able to hear the station's initial half-hour broadcast. Technical problems forced the station to shut down the following day, remaining off the air while a new ordered transmitter was awaited.
At the same time, the City of Chicago
also operated its own radio station, WBU, sharing a frequency with Westinghouse
's KYW (AM)
, which began in Chicago a year earlier. In an attempt to avoid confusion with the city's station, Herbert Hoover
inaugurated a new antenna and transmitter and gave the station the call letters WMAQ. (The station's longtime motto was "We Must Ask Questions," was derived from this call sign
.) WMAQ's call letters were first broadcast October 2, 1922 on a clear channel frequency of 750 KC.
Early radio had no real rules or regulations; there was no Federal Radio Commission
until 1927. (the Federal Communications Commission
succeeded it in 1934.) Anyone with some know-how and equipment could set up a radio station. Early 1923 records show there were 20 radio stations on the air in Chicago alone. While anybody might start a radio station, it was finances which kept it on the air. Most of the smaller radio stations faded out because of money issues. All of the Chicago stations that are or had been on the dial for many years had a business or organization behind them which was willing and able to weather the early times when having a radio station did not mean making a profit. WMAQ had the financial backing of the Chicago Daily News, but it also had a very astute and wise general manager, Judith Waller, who was in charge of the station until it was purchased by NBC. At that point she became the director of public affairs programming for NBC's central division, holding that title until retirement in 1957.
By early 1923, the Daily News was convinced enough in the power of radio to buy out the Fair Store's 51% interest in the station. The Daily News had big plans-moving the station and its transmitter to the tallest building in Chicago at the time-the La Salle Hotel on West Washington street in the West Loop. (The hotel was demolished in 1976 but its multi story parking garage remains.) With a new location and new frequency of 670 kilohertz, WMAQ went on the air July 2, 1923. The new frequency was not without a catch, however, as it was not clear channel. WMAQ had to share it with another local station, WQJ, which was jointly owned by the Calumet Baking Powder Company and the Rainbo Gardens Ballroom on North Clark Street. It would be a few years (1927) before the Daily News could buy out WQJ to make the 670 frequency a clear channel one; Rainbo was one of the country's top ballrooms and Calumet's broadcasts brought the company much publicity.
Within four weeks after its move, WMAQ obtained the exclusive Chicago rights from American Telephone & Telegraph
to broadcast President Warren Harding's address from San Francisco; it also had them for his memorial services on August 10, 1923. At the time, it was AT&T's policy to sell the exclusive broadcasting rights for an event to one radio station per city. Shortly before the special event, AT&T would send wires to all radio stations, informing them of what was to take place; the first radio station to respond to the telegram was then granted the exclusive broadcast rights in their respective city. WMAQ would later broadcast both the 1924 Republican
and Democratic
conventions by this same arrangement.
By 1924, the station took an active interest in broadcasting sporting events, broadcasting the 1924 World Series
and convincing P. K. Wrigley
to air all Chicago Cubs
home games from Wrigley Field
in 1925, making the station the first broadcaster of them. Hal Totten, who was also a Daily News sportswriter, was WMAQ's first sportscaster. Beginning in the fall of 1925, football games from the University of Chicago
were also broadcast. It's believed WMAQ was the first to broadcast a football game in the United States.
Even though the Daily News had formed a partnership with the new National Broadcasting Company
in 1926, the following year WMAQ severed its ties with NBC and joined the new Columbia Broadcasting System
(CBS) as a charter affiliate, being one of the 16 stations that aired the first CBS network program on September 18, 1927. It also brought the need for a new transmitter and a site outside of the city, so the station's coverage area could be enlarged. In 1928, the new station transmitter was constructed in Elmhurst
. It was also time to move the studios from the La Salle hotel; new studios were constructed at the Daily News Building, which was then at 400 West Madison (today 2 North Riverside Plaza). A new radio show called Amos 'n' Andy
also aired for the first time on WMAQ on March 19, 1928. The actors were no strangers to Chicago radio as their program originally aired on WGN
as Sam n' Henry; their first appearance on Chicago radio is said to have been on WLS in the late 1920s. Charles Correll
and Freeman Gosden
broke with WGN over syndication rights; General Manager Judith Waller saw the potential of the radio show and granted these rights to the duo as part of their contract. Since WMAQ was affiliated with CBS at the time, Waller made determined tries to convince the network to make Amos 'n' Andy a network program, but there was no interest. NBC brought the program to its Blue Network
in the fall of 1929.
By 1930, the Daily News began working with television broadcasting; a published announcement of March 30, 1930 indicated the equipment would be installed and operable within two months. The video signal was to be sent by the shortwave station W9XAP, while the audio would be broadcast on the normal WMAQ radio frequency. WMAQ did not receive an experimental license from the Federal Radio Commission
to operate station W9XAP until September 2, 1930. The first broadcast of the station actually occurred shortly before this was granted, on August 27, 1930. Only those with special receivers (radio stores who had received them from the Daily News-Sears stores were one of them) could see the video portion of the broadcast. The station distributed 200 receivers in the city and suburbs; those at the dealerships saw and heard Bill Hay (the announcer for Amos 'n' Andy
) present a variety-show broadcast from the Daily News Building. The man behind this and other early Chicago television broadcasts was Ulises Armand Sanabria
, who 2 years before used the WCFL
Navy Pier
transmitter to provide the video and radio station WIBO for the audio portions of the broadcast. Both the technical limitations and economic climate of the times brought an end to the station's broadcasts in August 1933. It was the beginning of WMAQ-TV
, which would not re-appear until a World War later.
On November 1, 1931, the Daily News sold WMAQ to the National Broadcasting Company; the arrangement originally began as NBC becoming a partner in the station with the Daily News. In May of the next year, NBC moved the station from the Daily News Building to the Merchandise Mart
, where it had newly completed a broadcasting center in 1930. WMAQ would remain there until a 1989 move to the NBC Tower
. It became a member of the NBC Red Network
, later known as the NBC Radio Network, and remained an NBC affiliate well into the 1990s, even after the station was sold to Westinghouse Broadcasting.
In 1935, WMAQ would once again change transmitter sites-this time to one in Bloomingdale purchased for a dollar. Clear channels were re-assigned in 1934, with Illinois losing a frequency and Pennsylvania gaining it. Preserving its clear channel frequency for KYW meant Westinghouse would need to move the station from Chicago. Westinghouse moved KYW east to Philadelphia in late 1934, leaving an unneeded transmitter building and site behind. This is also the present transmitter site.
WMAQ carried original local and network programming. Marian and Jim Jordan started at WLS
in 1927 with The Smith Family. They came to WMAQ, doing a local show called Smackout and later would move on to form Fibber McGee and Molly
, which was produced at WMAQ from 1935–1939, when the show moved to California. During its first months on the air, Fibber McGee and Molly was distributed over NBC's Blue Network
, which meant that in Chicago the program was produced at WMAQ but heard over WLS
, one of three NBC Blue Network affiliates in Chicago at the time. Amos 'n' Andy
was also a popular program that continued being broadcast from Chicago until 1938, when the program moved to Hollywood. Both of these shows moved production to the new NBC West Coast Radio City.
Edgar Bergen
was initially turned down for a radio spot at WMAQ as the station manager felt ventriliquism would not work on radio. Bergen received an offer from Rudy Vallee
to become a part of his radio show in late 1936; by May 1937, Bergen and Charlie McCarthy had their own show on the NBC Red Network
.
Radio from "the Mart" centered around the many studios on the 19th floor (only one studio, Studio F, was on the 20th). Like its Radio City
Rockefeller Center counterpart, there were NBC page
s (Bob Sirott
was one of them in the late 1960s) and a host of staff announcers; in 1947, Hugh Downs
(Today Show and 20/20), Garry Moore
(1915–1993) and Durward Kirby
(1912–2000) were on the WMAQ staff, as was Mike Wallace
, later of 60 Minutes
fame. Dave Garroway
(1913–1982) also arrived on the NBC airwaves via WMAQ with his 1160 Club playing big band and jazz in the 1940s. Garroway was also responsible for organizing a series of local jazz concerts and establishing a Chicago lounge "Jazz Circuit" in 1947 which revived interest in the music genre. In 1948 and 1949, Garroway was voted the nation's top Disk Jockey by his peers in Billboard's annual poll.
went on the air in 1948 and moved from an experimental station to a television pioneer. The call sign for the TV station was WNBQ a close match to the New York NBC TV station WNBC.
As television made waves around the nation, radio stations like WMAQ shifted to recorded music. For many years due to union constraints, all music broadcast on the network was live; stations had to maintain full-time orchestras on their payrolls. The organ music which was a part of many of the radio "soap operas" was provided by union musicians. When turntables entered studio control rooms, the engineer had a new "partner" in the broadcast—the turntable operator or "record turner". It was the job of the turntable operator (a member of the American Federation of Musicians
), to play any recorded music. The Musician's Union received jurisdiction over the turntables because it was reasoned that each turntable was responsible for five "live" musicians losing their employment. Not until the late 1960s did the union turntable operator leave the control rooms of NBC, Chicago.
For those who had aspirations of becoming broadcasters, WMAQ was a good place to get started in the medium, even if the job wasn't on the air. The station encouraged its young employees with dreams of working at a microphone by assisting with tuition for college broadcasting courses and holding workshops at the station where those with stars in their eyes were given the chance to display their skills in a "real world" setting. Herb Kent, a Chicago radio institution, first came to work in the mailroom at WMAQ as a young high school graduate in the late 1940s. He credits WMAQ and Hugh Downs (former Today Show host, 20/20 host and WMAQ staff announcer) with providing him with the tools and encouragement he needed. After getting some announcing experience, Kent returned to WMAQ, this time on the air as a radio actor.
Over the years 1948-1966, the WMAQ Radio live studios in the Merchandise Mart were converted to TV studios for use by the new TV station. In the mid 1930's the popularity of the radio soap operas which were born in Chicago, made it necessary for NBC to construct six more radio studios on the 19th floor; WMAQ Radio moved to these smaller studios. The Blue Network move to the Civic Opera House
in 1952 (sold to American Broadcasting System
in 1943, continued leasing Merchandise Mart space from NBC) freed up more space for WMAQ.
The station was a leader in the use of helicopters for traffic reports. In 1948, it used a two man crew in the air to report traffic on the July 4 weekend. The traffic team covered the Chicago area by air, landing to phone in their reports, which were then put on the air.
In 1949, the station suffered what could have been a crippling blow; the collapse of its main antenna at the Bloomingdale transmitter site. WMAQ was able to be on the air, but not at its normal 50,000 watt power. While the main antenna was being rebuilt, NBC found a solution with some history to it to get WMAQ back broadcasting at full power. RCA had a tower in storage in one of its New Jersey
facilities that was used as part of its 1939 New York World's Fair
exhibit. (The tower originally came from NBC's WTAM
in Cleveland.) It was shipped to Chicago and became the acting main antenna until the original main antenna was rebuilt; it stands today at Bloomingdale.
nightclub on North Fairbanks in Chicago's Streeterville neighborhood. It was one of the places to be, as celebrities of all genres could be found there, either as performers or as patrons. The original hosts of this weekday late-night interview program were Mike Wallace and his wife, Buff Cobb. 1951 found Jack Eigen (1983) taking over the program, a position he held for most of the next 20 years. After the night spot closed in the spring of 1960 and never re-opened (possibly due to tax problems), Eigen's show became the Jack Eigen Show and the interviews continued from WMAQ's Studio G, where there was room enough for a small audience, and from Chicago's Sherman House hotel; their College Inn was another popular local venue for entertainment and entertainers.
Beginning in 1956, the overnight hours were the domain of Holmes "Daddy-O" Daylie (1920–2003) ("your musical host who loves you the most") who brought his sense of humor, way with words and musical knowledge to WMAQ as he played cool jazz through the night. "Daddy-O" was the first African-American hosting a regularly scheduled radio show on a Chicago network owned and operated radio station. It was WMAQ's Dave Garroway
who discovered him tending bar in 1947 and suggested he train for work in radio; by 1948, "Daddy-O" was on the air on Chicago's WAIT
. When Garroway discovered Daylie, he was the host of the 1160 Club overnight
on WMAQ, also playing jazz.
Other performers who would go on to make their mark on local broadcasting got their "break" at WMAQ too. One of them was Ned Locke
(1992), who hosted a Saturday children's radio show, Uncle Ned's Flying Squadron, on the station in 1950. His radio work led to his being asked to substitute for the host of a popular weekday children's program on WMAQ-TV
. He went on to WGN-TV
, where he continued to participate in local children's television. Ned Locke is known best to Chicagoans as "Ringmaster Ned"; he assumed that role on the very successful and popular Chicago version of Bozo's Circus
in 1961.
During the 1950s and 1960s, they played adult popular music by artists such as Frank Sinatra
and Perry Como
. A 1964 campaign asking listeners to vote for Elvis Presley
or Chubby Checker
was just a publicity stunt, but it was enough to start rumors in the broadcasting and record industries that the station would move to a Top-40 format.
In 1964, WNBQ TV changed its call letters to match WMAQ radio as the stations emphasized the common NBC ownership.
When Floyd Brown joined the staff in 1965, his photo wound up on the cover of the RCA Employee magazine next to one of Bill Cosby
, who was starring in I Spy on NBC-TV; Floyd was the first African-American hired as a network announcer. A radio veteran, having been involved at the start of Gordon McLendon
's WYNR
, his smooth voice, his upbeat personality, and his ability to discuss everything from Big Bands to Beatles to Chicago Bears, informed and entertained WMAQ listeners when he became a regular program host.
, Jim Stagg (1935–2007), Joel Sebastian (1986), "World Famous" Tom Murphy, and Howard Miller (1994), all spent some time working at WMAQ and previously at WCFL
. A 1975 format change to country music
saw WMAQ taking on WJJD-AM; the entire WMAQ air staff was replaced. Jim Hill (2005), long-time staff announcer and radio host, moved into the WMAQ-TV
announcer's booth where he remained until retiring. The first song played under the new format was "Your Cheatin' Heart" by Hank Williams Sr. The station's fortunes were helped in no small part by the infamous "WMAQ is Gonna Make Me Rich!" cash giveaway promotion, which was eventually used on other NBC-owned radio outlets. WMAQ also served as the flagship station for Chicago White Sox
broadcasts throughout the 1970s and 1980s, as well as the Chicago Blackhawks
.
By 1986 a mix of talk and music was bringing on a change. Music listening was shifting to FM and WMAQ saw a transition to a short lived news/talk format. After 57 years, NBC sold all of their radio stations following RCA's merger with General Electric
. NBC sold WMAQ to Group W in 1988. This was Westinghouse's third stint at station ownership in the Chicago market, having founded KYW
before relocating that station to Philadelphia in 1934, and later with WIND
from 1955 to 1985. Group W switched WMAQ to an all news format of the "give us 22 minutes" variety, patterned after its successful all-news outlets in Philadelphia, New York and Los Angeles. Long-time WMAQ morning news anchor Pat Cassidy (now with WBBM-AM, Chicago) was on the air when the switch was made to all-news. The news staff included two veteran WMAQ reporters–Bill Cameron and Bob Roberts– holdover anchor Nancy Benson, Jay Congdon, Christopher Michael, Lisa Meyer, Larry Langford, (son of the late Chicago Ald. Anna Langford and now the media voice of the Chicago Fire Department) Dave Berner, Mike Doyle, John Dempsey, Chris Robling, Mike Krauser and Corrie Wynns. Chicago news veteran (WCFL, WIND) Jim Frank (1940–2007) was hired as the news director, following a stint at WIOD-AM in Miami. Other news directors included Bonnie Buck (daughter of late sports broadcaster Jack Buck) and Krauser, who took the same position at rival WBBM-AM after Viacom shuttered WMAQ and fired the staff. WMAQ was among the first Chicago AM stations to use Motorola C-Quam AM stereo even though its format was all-news.
The station moved to the new NBC Tower in 1989 with the television station despite their being owned by different companies, as studios for them had been designed by NBC before the sale. Up to 1996, the radio station continued to feature segments with WMAQ-TV's newsroom personalities on their air, and likewise with Channel 5 featuring radio reporters for WMAQ.
A series of acquisitions in the 1990s, precipitated by the Telecommunications Act of 1996
, would eventually doom the station. Westinghouse merged with CBS
in 1995. This made WMAQ a sister station to longtime arch-rival, WBBM
. While both stations were able to successfully run separate newsrooms after the first buyout, Viacom
then purchased CBS in 1999. With the second merger, Viacom exceeded the allowed number of stations in the Chicago market and had to spin off a station to different owners. The company's choice was to sell the frequency then occupied by WSCR and to move the sports station to the 670 kHz frequency.
) who arrived at the station that morning in formal attire. Langford had also signed off Westinghouse station WIND in December 1985 when that station folded. Following the live sign off, the traditional NBC chimes
were played for the last time with a very old historic ID that although inaccurate, was appropriate as it spoke, "This is NBC, the National Broadcasting Company. WMAQ and WMAQ-FM, NBC in Chicago," at 6 AM CDT. After a short simulcasted period of guiding 1160 listeners to 670 and reminding 670 listeners of the change, Viacom relocated all-sports WSCR
from 1160 AM to WMAQ's former dial position at 670 AM, and spun off the 1160-AM frequency to Salem Communications
. The WMAQ call sign
is retained by its former TV sister station WMAQ-TV, channel 5.
AM broadcasting
AM broadcasting is the process of radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation. AM was the first method of impressing sound on a radio signal and is still widely used today. Commercial and public AM broadcasting is carried out in the medium wave band world wide, and on long wave and short wave...
radio station in located in Chicago, Illinois, USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and broadcast at 670 kHz with 50,000 watts. The station was in existence from 1922 to 2000, and was the oldest surviving broadcast outlet in Chicago. It was a class A clear channel station, and could be heard, particularly at night, over most of the eastern United States. WMAQ was owned in its later years by CBS radio but for much of its life it was owned by National Broadcasting Company (NBC) and later Westinghouse Broadcasting
Westinghouse Broadcasting
The Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, also known as Group W, was the broadcasting division of Westinghouse Electric Corporation. It owned several radio and television stations across the United States and distributed television shows for syndication....
. The station's original owner was the Chicago Daily News
Chicago Daily News
The Chicago Daily News was an afternoon daily newspaper published between 1876 and 1978 in Chicago, Illinois.-History:The Daily News was founded by Melville E. Stone, Percy Meggy, and William Dougherty in 1875 and began publishing early the next year...
newspaper, but its longest running ownership was as an NBC Radio
NBC Red Network
The NBC Red Network was one of the two original radio networks of the National Broadcasting Company. After NBC was required to divest itself of its Blue Network , the Red Network continued as the NBC Radio Network.It, along with the Blue Network, were the first two commercial radio networks in the...
owned-and-operated station. Its transmitter was located in Bloomingdale, Illinois
Bloomingdale, Illinois
Bloomingdale is a village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States, approximately 25 miles west of Chicago. The population was 21,675 at the 2000 census.-History:...
just off of Army Trail Road, with a 780 foot tower where it remains today. The AM 670 transmitter is now in use by WMAQ's successor, All Sports Radio WSCR
WSCR
WSCR is a sports radio station in the Chicago, Illinois radio market. The station is owned by CBS Radio and transmits on 670 kHz on the AM dial. Its transmitter is located just off Army Trail Road in Bloomingdale, which is a western suburb of Chicago. It is known as "The Score," and has been on...
and remains under Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) radio ownership.
1920s
WMAQ came to life as WGU on April 13, 1922. The station was formed as a joint venture between The Fair Department Store and the Chicago Daily NewsChicago Daily News
The Chicago Daily News was an afternoon daily newspaper published between 1876 and 1978 in Chicago, Illinois.-History:The Daily News was founded by Melville E. Stone, Percy Meggy, and William Dougherty in 1875 and began publishing early the next year...
. The station's first transmitter was atop the department store. There are questions as to whether anyone actually was able to hear the station's initial half-hour broadcast. Technical problems forced the station to shut down the following day, remaining off the air while a new ordered transmitter was awaited.
At the same time, the City of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
also operated its own radio station, WBU, sharing a frequency with Westinghouse
Westinghouse Broadcasting
The Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, also known as Group W, was the broadcasting division of Westinghouse Electric Corporation. It owned several radio and television stations across the United States and distributed television shows for syndication....
's KYW (AM)
KYW (AM)
KYW is a class A AM radio station on 1060 kHz licensed to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. KYW is owned by the CBS Radio unit of CBS Corporation, and has broadcasted an all-news format since 1965. The station's studios are located on Market Street in Center City Philadelphia, and it transmitters...
, which began in Chicago a year earlier. In an attempt to avoid confusion with the city's station, Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
inaugurated a new antenna and transmitter and gave the station the call letters WMAQ. (The station's longtime motto was "We Must Ask Questions," was derived from this call sign
Call sign
In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign is a unique designation for a transmitting station. In North America they are used as names for broadcasting stations...
.) WMAQ's call letters were first broadcast October 2, 1922 on a clear channel frequency of 750 KC.
Early radio had no real rules or regulations; there was no Federal Radio Commission
Federal Radio Commission
The Federal Radio Commission was a government body that regulated radio use in the United States from its creation in 1926 until its replacement by the Federal Communications Commission in 1934...
until 1927. (the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
succeeded it in 1934.) Anyone with some know-how and equipment could set up a radio station. Early 1923 records show there were 20 radio stations on the air in Chicago alone. While anybody might start a radio station, it was finances which kept it on the air. Most of the smaller radio stations faded out because of money issues. All of the Chicago stations that are or had been on the dial for many years had a business or organization behind them which was willing and able to weather the early times when having a radio station did not mean making a profit. WMAQ had the financial backing of the Chicago Daily News, but it also had a very astute and wise general manager, Judith Waller, who was in charge of the station until it was purchased by NBC. At that point she became the director of public affairs programming for NBC's central division, holding that title until retirement in 1957.
By early 1923, the Daily News was convinced enough in the power of radio to buy out the Fair Store's 51% interest in the station. The Daily News had big plans-moving the station and its transmitter to the tallest building in Chicago at the time-the La Salle Hotel on West Washington street in the West Loop. (The hotel was demolished in 1976 but its multi story parking garage remains.) With a new location and new frequency of 670 kilohertz, WMAQ went on the air July 2, 1923. The new frequency was not without a catch, however, as it was not clear channel. WMAQ had to share it with another local station, WQJ, which was jointly owned by the Calumet Baking Powder Company and the Rainbo Gardens Ballroom on North Clark Street. It would be a few years (1927) before the Daily News could buy out WQJ to make the 670 frequency a clear channel one; Rainbo was one of the country's top ballrooms and Calumet's broadcasts brought the company much publicity.
Within four weeks after its move, WMAQ obtained the exclusive Chicago rights from American Telephone & Telegraph
American Telephone & Telegraph
AT&T Corp., originally American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American telecommunications company that provides voice, video, data, and Internet telecommunications and professional services to businesses, consumers, and government agencies. AT&T is the oldest telecommunications company...
to broadcast President Warren Harding's address from San Francisco; it also had them for his memorial services on August 10, 1923. At the time, it was AT&T's policy to sell the exclusive broadcasting rights for an event to one radio station per city. Shortly before the special event, AT&T would send wires to all radio stations, informing them of what was to take place; the first radio station to respond to the telegram was then granted the exclusive broadcast rights in their respective city. WMAQ would later broadcast both the 1924 Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
and Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
conventions by this same arrangement.
By 1924, the station took an active interest in broadcasting sporting events, broadcasting the 1924 World Series
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...
and convincing P. K. Wrigley
Philip K. Wrigley
Philip Knight Wrigley , sometimes also called P.K. or Phil. Born in Chicago, he was an American chewing gum manufacturer and executive in Major League Baseball, inheriting both those roles as the quiet son of his much more flamboyant father, William Wrigley Jr. After his father died in 1932, Philip...
to air all Chicago Cubs
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...
home games from Wrigley Field
Wrigley Field
Wrigley Field is a baseball stadium in Chicago, Illinois, United States that has served as the home ballpark of the Chicago Cubs since 1916. It was built in 1914 as Weeghman Park for the Chicago Federal League baseball team, the Chicago Whales...
in 1925, making the station the first broadcaster of them. Hal Totten, who was also a Daily News sportswriter, was WMAQ's first sportscaster. Beginning in the fall of 1925, football games from the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
were also broadcast. It's believed WMAQ was the first to broadcast a football game in the United States.
Even though the Daily News had formed a partnership with the new National Broadcasting Company
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
in 1926, the following year WMAQ severed its ties with NBC and joined the new Columbia Broadcasting System
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
(CBS) as a charter affiliate, being one of the 16 stations that aired the first CBS network program on September 18, 1927. It also brought the need for a new transmitter and a site outside of the city, so the station's coverage area could be enlarged. In 1928, the new station transmitter was constructed in Elmhurst
Elmhurst, Illinois
Elmhurst is a suburb of Chicago in DuPage and Cook Counties, Illinois. The population is 46,013 as of the 2008 US Census population estimate.-History:...
. It was also time to move the studios from the La Salle hotel; new studios were constructed at the Daily News Building, which was then at 400 West Madison (today 2 North Riverside Plaza). A new radio show called Amos 'n' Andy
Amos 'n' Andy
Amos 'n' Andy is a situation comedy set in the African-American community. It was very popular in the United States from the 1920s through the 1950s on both radio and television....
also aired for the first time on WMAQ on March 19, 1928. The actors were no strangers to Chicago radio as their program originally aired on WGN
WGN (AM)
WGN is a radio station in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It is the only radio station 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...
as Sam n' Henry; their first appearance on Chicago radio is said to have been on WLS in the late 1920s. Charles Correll
Charles Correll
Charles James Correll was an American radio comedian, best known for his work on the Amos 'n' Andy show with Freeman S. Gosden. Correll voiced the central character of Andy Brown, along with various supporting characters. Before teaming up with Gosden, Correll worked as a stenographer and a...
and Freeman Gosden
Freeman Gosden
Freeman Fisher "Gozzie" Gosden was an American radio comedian, and pioneer in the development of the situation comedy form. He is best known for his work in the Amos 'n' Andy series.-Biography:...
broke with WGN over syndication rights; General Manager Judith Waller saw the potential of the radio show and granted these rights to the duo as part of their contract. Since WMAQ was affiliated with CBS at the time, Waller made determined tries to convince the network to make Amos 'n' Andy a network program, but there was no interest. NBC brought the program to its Blue Network
Blue Network
The Blue Network, and its immediate predecessor, the NBC Blue Network, were the on-air names of an American radio production and distribution service from 1927 to 1945...
in the fall of 1929.
1930s
Federal Radio Commission
The Federal Radio Commission was a government body that regulated radio use in the United States from its creation in 1926 until its replacement by the Federal Communications Commission in 1934...
to operate station W9XAP until September 2, 1930. The first broadcast of the station actually occurred shortly before this was granted, on August 27, 1930. Only those with special receivers (radio stores who had received them from the Daily News-Sears stores were one of them) could see the video portion of the broadcast. The station distributed 200 receivers in the city and suburbs; those at the dealerships saw and heard Bill Hay (the announcer for Amos 'n' Andy
Amos 'n' Andy
Amos 'n' Andy is a situation comedy set in the African-American community. It was very popular in the United States from the 1920s through the 1950s on both radio and television....
) present a variety-show broadcast from the Daily News Building. The man behind this and other early Chicago television broadcasts was Ulises Armand Sanabria
Ulises Armand Sanabria
Ulises Armand Sanabria was born in southern Chicago of Puerto Rican and French-American parents.-Career:...
, who 2 years before used the WCFL
WCFL (AM)
WCFL was the callsign of a commercial radio station in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was owned by the Chicago Federation of Labor, hence its call letters. The station is now known as WMVP. Its transmitter is located in Downers Grove and is still in use by WMVP...
Navy Pier
Navy Pier
Navy Pier is a long pier on the Chicago shoreline of Lake Michigan. It is located in the Streeterville neighborhood of the Near North Side community area. The pier was built in 1916 at a cost of $4.5 million, equivalent to $ today. It was a part of the Plan of Chicago developed by architect and...
transmitter to provide the video and radio station WIBO for the audio portions of the broadcast. Both the technical limitations and economic climate of the times brought an end to the station's broadcasts in August 1933. It was the beginning of WMAQ-TV
WMAQ-TV
WMAQ-TV, channel 5, is an owned-and-operated television station of the NBC Television Network, located in Chicago, Illinois. WMAQ-TV's main studios and offices are located within the NBC Tower in the Streeterville neighborhood, with an auxiliary street-level studio on the Magnificent Mile at 401...
, which would not re-appear until a World War later.
Merchandise Mart
When opened in 1930, the Merchandise Mart or the Merch Mart, located in the Near North Side, Chicago, Illinois, was the largest building in the world with of floor space. Previously owned by the Marshall Field family, the Mart centralized Chicago's wholesale goods business by consolidating vendors...
, where it had newly completed a broadcasting center in 1930. WMAQ would remain there until a 1989 move to the NBC Tower
NBC Tower
The NBC Tower is an office tower on the Near north side of Chicago, Illinois, United States located at 454 North Columbus Drive in downtown Chicago's Magnificent Mile area. Completed in 1989, the 37-story building reaches a height of 627 feet...
. It became a member of the NBC Red Network
NBC Red Network
The NBC Red Network was one of the two original radio networks of the National Broadcasting Company. After NBC was required to divest itself of its Blue Network , the Red Network continued as the NBC Radio Network.It, along with the Blue Network, were the first two commercial radio networks in the...
, later known as the NBC Radio Network, and remained an NBC affiliate well into the 1990s, even after the station was sold to Westinghouse Broadcasting.
In 1935, WMAQ would once again change transmitter sites-this time to one in Bloomingdale purchased for a dollar. Clear channels were re-assigned in 1934, with Illinois losing a frequency and Pennsylvania gaining it. Preserving its clear channel frequency for KYW meant Westinghouse would need to move the station from Chicago. Westinghouse moved KYW east to Philadelphia in late 1934, leaving an unneeded transmitter building and site behind. This is also the present transmitter site.
WMAQ carried original local and network programming. Marian and Jim Jordan started at WLS
WLS
WLS may refer to:* White light scanner, a device for measuring physical geometry* WLS , a radio station * WLS-FM, a radio station * WLS-TV, a television station...
in 1927 with The Smith Family. They came to WMAQ, doing a local show called Smackout and later would move on to form Fibber McGee and Molly
Fibber McGee and Molly
Fibber McGee and Molly was an American radio comedy series which maintained its popularity over decades. It premiered on NBC in 1935 and continued until its demise in 1959, long after radio had ceased to be the dominant form of entertainment in American popular culture.-Husband and wife in real...
, which was produced at WMAQ from 1935–1939, when the show moved to California. During its first months on the air, Fibber McGee and Molly was distributed over NBC's Blue Network
Blue Network
The Blue Network, and its immediate predecessor, the NBC Blue Network, were the on-air names of an American radio production and distribution service from 1927 to 1945...
, which meant that in Chicago the program was produced at WMAQ but heard over WLS
WLS (AM)
WLS is a Chicago clear-channel AM station on 890 kHz. It uses C-QUAM AM stereo and transmits with 50,000 watts from transmitter and towers on the south edge of Tinley Park, Illinois....
, one of three NBC Blue Network affiliates in Chicago at the time. Amos 'n' Andy
Amos 'n' Andy
Amos 'n' Andy is a situation comedy set in the African-American community. It was very popular in the United States from the 1920s through the 1950s on both radio and television....
was also a popular program that continued being broadcast from Chicago until 1938, when the program moved to Hollywood. Both of these shows moved production to the new NBC West Coast Radio City.
Edgar Bergen
Edgar Bergen
Edgar John Bergen was an American actor and radio performer, best known as a ventriloquist.-Early life:...
was initially turned down for a radio spot at WMAQ as the station manager felt ventriliquism would not work on radio. Bergen received an offer from Rudy Vallee
Rudy Vallée
Rudy Vallée was an American singer, actor, bandleader, and entertainer.-Early life:Born Hubert Prior Vallée in Island Pond, Vermont, the son of Charles Alphonse and Catherine Lynch Vallée...
to become a part of his radio show in late 1936; by May 1937, Bergen and Charlie McCarthy had their own show on the NBC Red Network
NBC Red Network
The NBC Red Network was one of the two original radio networks of the National Broadcasting Company. After NBC was required to divest itself of its Blue Network , the Red Network continued as the NBC Radio Network.It, along with the Blue Network, were the first two commercial radio networks in the...
.
Radio from "the Mart" centered around the many studios on the 19th floor (only one studio, Studio F, was on the 20th). Like its Radio City
NBC Radio City Studios
NBC Radio City Studios is the name given to radio and television studio complexes in New York's Rockefeller Center, San Francisco, and the former radio-TV complex located at the northeast corner of Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street in Hollywood, California....
Rockefeller Center counterpart, there were NBC page
NBC page
An NBC page is a person usually in his or her early twenties working in various departments of the NBC television network during a one-year period as a training ground for careers in television broadcasting and entertainment...
s (Bob Sirott
Bob Sirott
Robert Michael "Bob" Sirott , is a Chicago broadcaster who currently is one of the two principal news anchors at WFLD-TV in Chicago and is a radio host at WGN-AM.- Early life and education :...
was one of them in the late 1960s) and a host of staff announcers; in 1947, Hugh Downs
Hugh Downs
Hugh Malcolm Downs is a long time American broadcaster, television host, news anchor, TV producer, author, game show host, and music composer; and is perhaps best known for his role as co-host the NBC News program Today from 1962 to 1971, host of the Concentration game show from 1958 to 1969, and...
(Today Show and 20/20), Garry Moore
Garry Moore
Garry Moore was an American entertainer, game show host and comedian best known for his work in television...
(1915–1993) and Durward Kirby
Durward Kirby
Homer Durward Kirby , known professionally as Durward Kirby , was an American television host and announcer...
(1912–2000) were on the WMAQ staff, as was Mike Wallace
Mike Wallace
Michael Wallace may refer to:*Mike Wallace , television correspondent**The Mike Wallace Interview, his TV series*Mike Wallace , American historian...
, later of 60 Minutes
60 Minutes
60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....
fame. Dave Garroway
Dave Garroway
David Cunningham "Dave" Garroway was the founding host of NBC's Today from 1952 to 1961. His easygoing, relaxed, and relaxing style belied a battle with depression that may have contributed to the end of his days as a leading television personality—and, eventually, his life...
(1913–1982) also arrived on the NBC airwaves via WMAQ with his 1160 Club playing big band and jazz in the 1940s. Garroway was also responsible for organizing a series of local jazz concerts and establishing a Chicago lounge "Jazz Circuit" in 1947 which revived interest in the music genre. In 1948 and 1949, Garroway was voted the nation's top Disk Jockey by his peers in Billboard's annual poll.
1940s
Sister station WMAQ-TVWMAQ-TV
WMAQ-TV, channel 5, is an owned-and-operated television station of the NBC Television Network, located in Chicago, Illinois. WMAQ-TV's main studios and offices are located within the NBC Tower in the Streeterville neighborhood, with an auxiliary street-level studio on the Magnificent Mile at 401...
went on the air in 1948 and moved from an experimental station to a television pioneer. The call sign for the TV station was WNBQ a close match to the New York NBC TV station WNBC.
As television made waves around the nation, radio stations like WMAQ shifted to recorded music. For many years due to union constraints, all music broadcast on the network was live; stations had to maintain full-time orchestras on their payrolls. The organ music which was a part of many of the radio "soap operas" was provided by union musicians. When turntables entered studio control rooms, the engineer had a new "partner" in the broadcast—the turntable operator or "record turner". It was the job of the turntable operator (a member of the American Federation of Musicians
American Federation of Musicians
The American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada is a labor union of professional musicians in the United States and Canada...
), to play any recorded music. The Musician's Union received jurisdiction over the turntables because it was reasoned that each turntable was responsible for five "live" musicians losing their employment. Not until the late 1960s did the union turntable operator leave the control rooms of NBC, Chicago.
For those who had aspirations of becoming broadcasters, WMAQ was a good place to get started in the medium, even if the job wasn't on the air. The station encouraged its young employees with dreams of working at a microphone by assisting with tuition for college broadcasting courses and holding workshops at the station where those with stars in their eyes were given the chance to display their skills in a "real world" setting. Herb Kent, a Chicago radio institution, first came to work in the mailroom at WMAQ as a young high school graduate in the late 1940s. He credits WMAQ and Hugh Downs (former Today Show host, 20/20 host and WMAQ staff announcer) with providing him with the tools and encouragement he needed. After getting some announcing experience, Kent returned to WMAQ, this time on the air as a radio actor.
Over the years 1948-1966, the WMAQ Radio live studios in the Merchandise Mart were converted to TV studios for use by the new TV station. In the mid 1930's the popularity of the radio soap operas which were born in Chicago, made it necessary for NBC to construct six more radio studios on the 19th floor; WMAQ Radio moved to these smaller studios. The Blue Network move to the Civic Opera House
Civic Opera House (Chicago)
The Civic Opera House is an opera house located at 20 North Wacker Drive in Chicago. It is part of a building which contains a 45-story office tower and two 22-story wings. This structure opened on November 4, 1929 and has an Art Deco interior....
in 1952 (sold to American Broadcasting System
American Broadcasting System
American Broadcasting System, Inc. was the corporate entity created by Edward J. Noble to purchase the assets of the Blue Network, a radio network that was being divested by the National Broadcasting Company under pressure from anti-trust regulators....
in 1943, continued leasing Merchandise Mart space from NBC) freed up more space for WMAQ.
The station was a leader in the use of helicopters for traffic reports. In 1948, it used a two man crew in the air to report traffic on the July 4 weekend. The traffic team covered the Chicago area by air, landing to phone in their reports, which were then put on the air.
In 1949, the station suffered what could have been a crippling blow; the collapse of its main antenna at the Bloomingdale transmitter site. WMAQ was able to be on the air, but not at its normal 50,000 watt power. While the main antenna was being rebuilt, NBC found a solution with some history to it to get WMAQ back broadcasting at full power. RCA had a tower in storage in one of its New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
facilities that was used as part of its 1939 New York World's Fair
1939 New York World's Fair
The 1939–40 New York World's Fair, which covered the of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park , was the second largest American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904. Many countries around the world participated in it, and over 44 million people...
exhibit. (The tower originally came from NBC's WTAM
WTAM
WTAM — branded Newsradio WTAM 1100 — is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, serving Greater Cleveland and much of surrounding Northeast Ohio. Owned by Clear Channel Communications, the station broadcasts primarily a news/talk format...
in Cleveland.) It was shipped to Chicago and became the acting main antenna until the original main antenna was rebuilt; it stands today at Bloomingdale.
1950s and 1960s
In 1950, The Chez Show originated from the Chez PareeChez Paree
The Chez Paree was a Chicago nightclub, which opened in 1932 and closed in 1960. Located in the Streeterville neighborhood of Chicago at 610 N Fairbanks Ct, the club was host to many great entertainers, ranging from singers to comedians to vaudeville acts. A "new" Chez Paree opened briefly in the...
nightclub on North Fairbanks in Chicago's Streeterville neighborhood. It was one of the places to be, as celebrities of all genres could be found there, either as performers or as patrons. The original hosts of this weekday late-night interview program were Mike Wallace and his wife, Buff Cobb. 1951 found Jack Eigen (1983) taking over the program, a position he held for most of the next 20 years. After the night spot closed in the spring of 1960 and never re-opened (possibly due to tax problems), Eigen's show became the Jack Eigen Show and the interviews continued from WMAQ's Studio G, where there was room enough for a small audience, and from Chicago's Sherman House hotel; their College Inn was another popular local venue for entertainment and entertainers.
Beginning in 1956, the overnight hours were the domain of Holmes "Daddy-O" Daylie (1920–2003) ("your musical host who loves you the most") who brought his sense of humor, way with words and musical knowledge to WMAQ as he played cool jazz through the night. "Daddy-O" was the first African-American hosting a regularly scheduled radio show on a Chicago network owned and operated radio station. It was WMAQ's Dave Garroway
Dave Garroway
David Cunningham "Dave" Garroway was the founding host of NBC's Today from 1952 to 1961. His easygoing, relaxed, and relaxing style belied a battle with depression that may have contributed to the end of his days as a leading television personality—and, eventually, his life...
who discovered him tending bar in 1947 and suggested he train for work in radio; by 1948, "Daddy-O" was on the air on Chicago's WAIT
WCPT
WCPT could refer to:In the Chicago area:* 820 WCPT at Willow Springs — had the call sign WAIT from 2005 to 2007, and WCSN before that* 850 WAIT at Crystal Lake — had the call sign WCPT from 2005 to 2007, and WAIT before that...
. When Garroway discovered Daylie, he was the host of the 1160 Club overnight
Dayparting
In Broadcast programming, dayparting is the practice of dividing the day into several parts, during each of which a different type of radio programming or television programming apropos for that time is aired...
on WMAQ, also playing jazz.
Other performers who would go on to make their mark on local broadcasting got their "break" at WMAQ too. One of them was Ned Locke
Ned Locke
Norbert Locke, better known as Ned Locke , was an American television personality and radio announcer, best known for the role of "Ringmaster Ned" on WGN-TV's Bozo's Circus from 1961 - 1976....
(1992), who hosted a Saturday children's radio show, Uncle Ned's Flying Squadron, on the station in 1950. His radio work led to his being asked to substitute for the host of a popular weekday children's program on WMAQ-TV
WMAQ-TV
WMAQ-TV, channel 5, is an owned-and-operated television station of the NBC Television Network, located in Chicago, Illinois. WMAQ-TV's main studios and offices are located within the NBC Tower in the Streeterville neighborhood, with an auxiliary street-level studio on the Magnificent Mile at 401...
. He went on to WGN-TV
WGN-TV
WGN-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the CW-affiliated television station in Chicago, Illinois built, signed on, and owned by the Tribune Company. WGN-TV's studios and offices are located at 2501 W...
, where he continued to participate in local children's television. Ned Locke is known best to Chicagoans as "Ringmaster Ned"; he assumed that role on the very successful and popular Chicago version of Bozo's Circus
The Bozo Show
The Bozo Show is a locally-produced children's television program that aired on WGN-TV in Chicago and nationally on what is now WGN America. Recognized as the most popular and successful locally-produced children's program in the history of television, it only aired under this title for 14 of its...
in 1961.
During the 1950s and 1960s, they played adult popular music by artists such as Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
and Perry Como
Perry Como
Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como was an American singer and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century he recorded exclusively for the RCA Victor label after signing with them in 1943. "Mr...
. A 1964 campaign asking listeners to vote for Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
or Chubby Checker
Chubby Checker
Chubby Checker is an American singer-songwriter. He is widely known for popularizing the twist dance style, with his 1960 hit cover of Hank Ballard's R&B hit "The Twist"...
was just a publicity stunt, but it was enough to start rumors in the broadcasting and record industries that the station would move to a Top-40 format.
In 1964, WNBQ TV changed its call letters to match WMAQ radio as the stations emphasized the common NBC ownership.
When Floyd Brown joined the staff in 1965, his photo wound up on the cover of the RCA Employee magazine next to one of Bill Cosby
Bill Cosby
William Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer, educator, musician and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a starring role in the 1960s action show, I Spy. He later starred in his own series, the...
, who was starring in I Spy on NBC-TV; Floyd was the first African-American hired as a network announcer. A radio veteran, having been involved at the start of Gordon McLendon
Gordon McLendon
Gordon Barton McLendon was a radio pioneer and pirate radio broadcaster. He has been coined the Maverick of Radio. McLendon is widely credited for perfecting, with great commercial success, the Top 40 radio format during the 1950s and 1960s which was first invented by Todd Storz and for developing...
's WYNR
WGRB
WGRB, 1390 AM, is a radio station in Chicago owned by Clear Channel Communications. It airs a gospel music format targeted to Chicago's African-American religious community...
, his smooth voice, his upbeat personality, and his ability to discuss everything from Big Bands to Beatles to Chicago Bears, informed and entertained WMAQ listeners when he became a regular program host.
1970s
During the early 1970s, WMAQ's formats were music or talk, using the on-air name "67-Q". Although the station never shifted completely to Top 40, by the early 1970s, WMAQ's playlist could be considered something of a Hot Adult Contemporary. One of the first "sports-talk" programs, Sound off on Sports, with Pat Sheridan (1920–2005), also debuted during this time. Many of the on-air personalities during this time period were well-known to listeners from previous radio stations. Clark WeberClark Weber
Clark Weber has been an American radio personality in Chicago, Illinois. He runs his own radio advertising consultancy, Clark Weber Associates. In July 2008 he published a book, Clark Weber's Rock and Roll Radio: The Fun Years, 1955-1975...
, Jim Stagg (1935–2007), Joel Sebastian (1986), "World Famous" Tom Murphy, and Howard Miller (1994), all spent some time working at WMAQ and previously at WCFL
WCFL (AM)
WCFL was the callsign of a commercial radio station in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was owned by the Chicago Federation of Labor, hence its call letters. The station is now known as WMVP. Its transmitter is located in Downers Grove and is still in use by WMVP...
. A 1975 format change to country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
saw WMAQ taking on WJJD-AM; the entire WMAQ air staff was replaced. Jim Hill (2005), long-time staff announcer and radio host, moved into the WMAQ-TV
WMAQ-TV
WMAQ-TV, channel 5, is an owned-and-operated television station of the NBC Television Network, located in Chicago, Illinois. WMAQ-TV's main studios and offices are located within the NBC Tower in the Streeterville neighborhood, with an auxiliary street-level studio on the Magnificent Mile at 401...
announcer's booth where he remained until retiring. The first song played under the new format was "Your Cheatin' Heart" by Hank Williams Sr. The station's fortunes were helped in no small part by the infamous "WMAQ is Gonna Make Me Rich!" cash giveaway promotion, which was eventually used on other NBC-owned radio outlets. WMAQ also served as the flagship station for Chicago White Sox
Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are a Major League Baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois.The White Sox play in the American League's Central Division. Since , the White Sox have played in U.S. Cellular Field, which was originally called New Comiskey Park and nicknamed The Cell by local fans...
broadcasts throughout the 1970s and 1980s, as well as the Chicago Blackhawks
Chicago Blackhawks
The Chicago Blackhawks are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . They have won four Stanley Cup championships since their founding in 1926, most recently coming in 2009-10...
.
1980s
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
. NBC sold WMAQ to Group W in 1988. This was Westinghouse's third stint at station ownership in the Chicago market, having founded KYW
KYW (AM)
KYW is a class A AM radio station on 1060 kHz licensed to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. KYW is owned by the CBS Radio unit of CBS Corporation, and has broadcasted an all-news format since 1965. The station's studios are located on Market Street in Center City Philadelphia, and it transmitters...
before relocating that station to Philadelphia in 1934, and later with WIND
WIND (AM)
WIND "AM 560" is a radio station based in Chicago, Illinois, broadcasting its talk radio format on 560 kHz.Its current owner is Salem Media, a company specializing primarily in Christian radio...
from 1955 to 1985. Group W switched WMAQ to an all news format of the "give us 22 minutes" variety, patterned after its successful all-news outlets in Philadelphia, New York and Los Angeles. Long-time WMAQ morning news anchor Pat Cassidy (now with WBBM-AM, Chicago) was on the air when the switch was made to all-news. The news staff included two veteran WMAQ reporters–Bill Cameron and Bob Roberts– holdover anchor Nancy Benson, Jay Congdon, Christopher Michael, Lisa Meyer, Larry Langford, (son of the late Chicago Ald. Anna Langford and now the media voice of the Chicago Fire Department) Dave Berner, Mike Doyle, John Dempsey, Chris Robling, Mike Krauser and Corrie Wynns. Chicago news veteran (WCFL, WIND) Jim Frank (1940–2007) was hired as the news director, following a stint at WIOD-AM in Miami. Other news directors included Bonnie Buck (daughter of late sports broadcaster Jack Buck) and Krauser, who took the same position at rival WBBM-AM after Viacom shuttered WMAQ and fired the staff. WMAQ was among the first Chicago AM stations to use Motorola C-Quam AM stereo even though its format was all-news.
The station moved to the new NBC Tower in 1989 with the television station despite their being owned by different companies, as studios for them had been designed by NBC before the sale. Up to 1996, the radio station continued to feature segments with WMAQ-TV's newsroom personalities on their air, and likewise with Channel 5 featuring radio reporters for WMAQ.
1990s
WMAQ eventually added more long-form news programming and some assorted call-in shows in the late 1990s.The highest rated long form show was Cameron and Langford – a nightly talk show with City Hall reporter Bill Cameron and WMAQ police beat reporter Larry Langford who grew up covering crime and politics in the 1960s. The two had a good mix of conservative versus liberal views and city versus suburbs.A series of acquisitions in the 1990s, precipitated by the Telecommunications Act of 1996
Telecommunications Act of 1996
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was the first major overhaul of United States telecommunications law in nearly 62 years, amending the Communications Act of 1934. This Act, signed by President Bill Clinton, was a major stepping stone towards the future of telecommunications, since this was the...
, would eventually doom the station. Westinghouse merged with CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
in 1995. This made WMAQ a sister station to longtime arch-rival, WBBM
WBBM (AM)
WBBM is an all-news CBS radio station in Chicago, Illinois broadcasting on the AM dial at 780 kHz. It is owned by CBS along with WBBM-TV....
. While both stations were able to successfully run separate newsrooms after the first buyout, Viacom
Viacom
Viacom Inc. , short for "Video & Audio Communications", is an American media conglomerate with interests primarily in, but not limited to, cinema and cable television...
then purchased CBS in 1999. With the second merger, Viacom exceeded the allowed number of stations in the Chicago market and had to spin off a station to different owners. The company's choice was to sell the frequency then occupied by WSCR and to move the sports station to the 670 kHz frequency.
The end of WMAQ-AM
On August 1, 2000, after 78 years, WMAQ-AM signed off for the last time with a live sign off message from nighttime police beat reporter Larry Langford (currently the media spokesperson for the Chicago Fire DepartmentChicago Fire Department
The Chicago Fire Department, also known as the CFD, is the principal fire suppression, prevention, and rescue agency of Chicago, Illinois, under the jurisdiction of the mayor of Chicago. The Chicago Fire Department is the second largest fire department in the United States after the New York City...
) who arrived at the station that morning in formal attire. Langford had also signed off Westinghouse station WIND in December 1985 when that station folded. Following the live sign off, the traditional NBC chimes
NBC chimes
The NBC chimes, named for the radio and television network on which they have been used, consists of a succession of three distinct pitches: G3, E4, and C4 , sounded in that order, creating an arpeggiated C-major chord in the second inversion, within about two seconds time, and reverberating for...
were played for the last time with a very old historic ID that although inaccurate, was appropriate as it spoke, "This is NBC, the National Broadcasting Company. WMAQ and WMAQ-FM, NBC in Chicago," at 6 AM CDT. After a short simulcasted period of guiding 1160 listeners to 670 and reminding 670 listeners of the change, Viacom relocated all-sports WSCR
WSCR
WSCR is a sports radio station in the Chicago, Illinois radio market. The station is owned by CBS Radio and transmits on 670 kHz on the AM dial. Its transmitter is located just off Army Trail Road in Bloomingdale, which is a western suburb of Chicago. It is known as "The Score," and has been on...
from 1160 AM to WMAQ's former dial position at 670 AM, and spun off the 1160-AM frequency to Salem Communications
Salem Communications
Salem Communications is a U.S. radio broadcaster, Internet content provider, and magazine and book publisher specializing in evangelical Christian and conservative political talk radio. It owns 99 commercial radio stations, 65 of which are in the top 25 markets. Salem is the fifth largest U.S....
. The WMAQ call sign
Call sign
In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign is a unique designation for a transmitting station. In North America they are used as names for broadcasting stations...
is retained by its former TV sister station WMAQ-TV, channel 5.
External links
- WMAQ Official Web site from 1999
- Scott Childers on WMAQ AM History.
- Rich Samuels WMAQ page
- Old Radio pictures of WMAQ building
- Chicago Radio Guide week ending January 16, 1937 A guide listing local programs for Chicago's radio stations.
- Billboard December 1, 1951-NBC 25th Anniversary Section-pages 52 & 54 detail WMAQ's history-in keeping with the Gootee account