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WGN Radio 100 years old today

CADXER

CADXER

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There's some dispute about that. The station signed on as WDAP with Elgin, IL on this date in 1922. It became WGN a few years later (1925, IIRC) when Chicago Tribune owner Col. Robert McCormack bought it and renamed it WGN, which stood for "World's Greatest Newspaper. Some "purists" are of the opinion that the WDAP years should not count. Personally, I'm in the (larger) school of thought that thinks the stint as WDAP should be counted,
 
CADXER said:
WGN AM is 720 marking its 100th anniversary today. The first broadcast was on May 19, 1922 as WDAP.

WGN TV will broadcast "100 Years of WGN Radio: A Retrospective" today at 7pm and on May 22 at 2pm.

History of WGN: https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Station-Albums/WGN-History.pdf

Interesting WGN transmitter article: WGN Transmitter — chicagology
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Will the actual AM station run any commemorative programming? In 2022, it is a long shot, but it would be awesome
 
A modern audio processor would have really impressed an engineer from back then.
 
cyberdad said:
There's some dispute about that. The station signed on as WDAP with Elgin, IL on this date in 1922. It became WGN a few years later (1925, IIRC) when Chicago Tribune owner Col. Robert McCormack bought it and renamed it WGN, which stood for "World's Greatest Newspaper. Some "purists" are of the opinion that the WDAP years should not count. Personally, I'm in the (larger) school of thought that thinks the stint as WDAP should be counted,
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The tricky part for WGN is it first took over another station affiliated with the Edgewater Beach Hotel and operated by Zenith. WGN on WJAZ, so to speak, began on 3/24/1924 and lasted for a few weeks. Then connecting with WDAP became the goal. The license was transferred 6/1/1924, but WGN produced a broadcast of the Indianapolis 500 on Memorial Day.

WDAP/WGN is the second Chicago station to turn 100. WGU/WMAQ/WSCR did so on April 12, not that anyone at WSCR cared. And the WSCR-WBBM transmitting site is likely the oldest in Chicago. RCA bought it from Westinghouse when it moved WMAQ's transmitter from Elmhurst to Bloomingdale in the 1930s. Westinghouse had used it for KYW until the forced move to Philadelphia.
 
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tvnut said:
WDAP/WGN is the second Chicago station to turn 100. WGU/WMAQ/WSCR did so on April 12, not that anyone at WSCR cared
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To me it's a little sad that WSCR didn't make note of that. But really, all that WSCR has in common with WGU/WMAQ is the frequency and a 50kw transmitter. WSCR began life on 820, then moved on to 1160, and finally landed on 670, when WMAQ was shut down.
 
One new and one returning after a long absence this morning between about 3:30 and 4:30am CDT. On 1490. (Yes, yours truly hanging out in yet another graveyard..."Ghoulish behavior" once again.) Anyway....

The new: KDRPO, Sedalia, MO. 'Hometown Country" 353 miles

The return visitor: WLXR La Crosse, WI. "The Eagle" (Oldies). 166 miles. It's been about twnty years since I've snagged it at my home location. This station is the current incarnation of the former WLCX, a terrific top 40 station in the '60s and '70s. My wife went to college at what was then known as La Crosse State University (the other LSU). Not exactly a small place, so little WLCX had a healthy following in what was then....as now....a party town. WLCX also had what was then a state of the art main studio which really impressed my college kid self..
 
tvnut said:
The tricky part for WGN is it first took over another station affiliated with the Edgewater Beach Hotel and operated by Zenith. WGN on WJAZ, so to speak, began on 3/24/1924 and lasted for a few weeks. Then connecting with WDAP became the goal. The license was transferred 6/1/1924, but WGN produced a broadcast of the Indianapolis 500 on Memorial Day.

WDAP/WGN is the second Chicago station to turn 100. WGU/WMAQ/WSCR did so on April 12, not that anyone at WSCR cared. And the WSCR-WBBM transmitting site is likely the oldest in Chicago. RCA bought it from Westinghouse when it moved WMAQ's transmitter from Elmhurst to Bloomingdale in the 1930s. Westinghouse had used it for KYW until the forced move to Philadelphia.
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Actually, WAAF/WGRT/WJPC/.../WNTD was licensed on April 7, 1922, the 49th remaining station to be licensed. For decades, until circa 1980, 920/950 in Chicago was a 1000 watt Daytimer, though having high profile owners such as Ralph Atlass. DAs only appeared in the 1930s, and not more than about 40 until after WW II ended, and there was no way to protect WWJ as a Class III-A even with 500 watts nondirectional. A quick rough calculation shows 500 watts nondirectional would limit WWJ to 7.5 mV/m, 3 times the 2.5 mV/m limit prescribed for Class III-As. Plus, increasing power at Night was not an option before the late 1960s, and that was necessary to provide an interference free signal over enough of Chicago with 5000 watts DA at Night. So you wouldn't think of it being a 100 year old broadcasting pioneer.
 
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Schroedingers Cat said:
Actually, WAAF/WGRT/WJPC/.../WNTD was licensed on April 7, 1922, the 49th remaining station to be licensed. For decades, until circa 1980, 920/950 in Chicago was a 1000 watt Daytimer, though having high profile owners such as Ralph Atlass. DAs only appeared in the 1930s, and not more than about 40 until after WW II ended, and there was no way to protect WWJ as a Class III-A even with 500 watts nondirectional. A quick rough calculation shows 500 watts nondirectional would limit WWJ to 7.5 mV/m, 3 times the 2.5 mV/m limit prescribed for Class III-As. Plus, increasing power at Night was not an option before the late 1960s, and that was necessary to provide an interference free signal over enough of Chicago with 5000 watts DA at Night. So you wouldn't think of it being a 100 year old broadcasting pioneer.
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I dixn't know that WAAF went all the way back to 1922. But I'm not totally surprised. I remember them when I was in high school when Daddy-O Daylie was the in-house star of the jazz format they were running. I also was aware that Ralph Atlass had owned WAAF.

Fast forward to today and FWIW, WNTD has a fair signal out here in Crystal Lake, but not as strong as WKBM on 950 which simulcasts the same Catholic Radio programming. At night, WNTD goes up to 5kw directional north...and completely disappears! The oddity is that both WNTD and WKBM increase power at night. (The signal here remains about the same as it is during daytime.

I'm not aware of any other two stations simulcasting that both increase power at night. But I suppose there is such a pair somewhere.
 
We know that many early stations had three letter callsigns, but the WAA% four letter callsigns were also an early series. Also WBA%, WCA%, WDA%, WEA%, WFA%, WGA%, WHA%, and WIA% series were also assigned in 1922, but we apparently lost quite a few along the way, never signed on, and other attrition, including the license purge in the 1920s. By the mid 1920s, "vanity" callsigns were allowed. So WAAF was actually an early series callsign, the first four letter series.
 
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Schroedingers Cat said:
Actually, WAAF/WGRT/WJPC/.../WNTD was licensed on April 7, 1922, the 49th remaining station to be licensed. For decades, until circa 1980, 920/950 in Chicago was a 1000 watt Daytimer, though having high profile owners such as Ralph Atlass. DAs only appeared in the 1930s, and not more than about 40 until after WW II ended, and there was no way to protect WWJ as a Class III-A even with 500 watts nondirectional. A quick rough calculation shows 500 watts nondirectional would limit WWJ to 7.5 mV/m, 3 times the 2.5 mV/m limit prescribed for Class III-As. Plus, increasing power at Night was not an option before the late 1960s, and that was necessary to provide an interference free signal over enough of Chicago with 5000 watts DA at Night. So you wouldn't think of it being a 100 year old broadcasting pioneer.
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Great stuff. Forgot about them. They were the stock yards station, with studio and transmitter there or close by in the early years.
 
cyberdad said:
Do you know if they came before or after WIOD? My understanding has been that WIOD was one of the first, if not the first, on the air in Miami.
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WQAM and what used to be WDAE (1250) in Tampa had each promoted themselves as FL's first radio station,
but I would not be borne for another thirty years.
 
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