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What radio station in Chicago will change format first in 2026

JoeU said:
When 670 WSCR degrades their signal moving to the WYLL transmitter site in Desplaines, 104.3 FM is likely to become WCSR FM to provide the much needed FM presence for the Score.
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Audacy only has a few viable-in-the-future stations/formats on AM that are not on FM. The Score is likely at the very top of the list and I would agree out of their current portfolio, 104.3 is the most likely. Off the top of my head... I would put KILT, WCCO, WBEN in the next tier.
 
No format changes. They may tweak things a bit, but when iheart, Audacy & Cumulus own the majority of the stations, no major changes will be coming. The only thing that you MAY want to count as format change is if they basically do a format swap by just switching frequencies, say oldies from 88.1 to 88.3 and country from 88.3 to 88.1. What little ad dollars remain in the market they may not want to rock the boat. All they'd be doing is swapping rating numbers between their stations.
 
Yabadabado1 said:
No format changes. They may tweak things a bit, but when iheart, Audacy & Cumulus own the majority of the stations, no major changes will be coming. The only thing that you MAY want to count as format change is if they basically do a format swap by just switching frequencies, say oldies from 88.1 to 88.3 and country from 88.3 to 88.1. What little ad dollars remain in the market they may not want to rock the boat. All they'd be doing is swapping rating numbers between their stations.
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What are oldies and country doing at the low end of the noncommercial FM segment?
 
CTListener said:
What are oldies and country doing at the low end of the noncommercial FM segment?
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They COULD do that on 88-92 MHz NCE-FM band, they just would have to run them as noncommercial stations. NCE-FM operators tend to eschew such formats, unless they are considered things like Rare R & B, Rare Pop Oldies, Folk Rock, and Bluegrass Country. The shows are often limited to short day parts often, on weekends, perhaps 2-4 hours per format. You can make a case where Pop Oldies and "Dusty" R & B are vastly underrepresented on Commercial stations, due to eschewing High Age Demographics (where the money is, maybe sponsored by condo and retirement communities, and Elder Law? Think Scottdale and The Villages.
 
Schroedingers Cat said:
They COULD do that on 88-92 MHz NCE-FM band, they just would have to run them as noncommercial stations. NCE-FM operators tend to eschew such formats, unless they are considered things like Rare R & B, Rare Pop Oldies, Folk Rock, and Bluegrass Country. The shows are often limited to short day parts often, on weekends, perhaps 2-4 hours per format. You can make a case where Pop Oldies and "Dusty" R & B are vastly underrepresented on Commercial stations, due to eschewing High Age Demographics (where the money is, maybe sponsored by condo and retirement communities, and Elder Law? Think Scottdale and The Villages.
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I realize there are no format limitations on that band, and I suspect the original poster was using 88.1 and 88.3 as typical FM frequencies, not as the actual frequencies of any Chicago station, but I asked anyway.

There's a station on Nantucket island, WNCK 89.5, that runs a very commercial-sounding country format, including all the big current artists and hits, but Nantucket Public Radio operates it. Since the Boston and Providence country stations are fringe at best out there, the format makes sense, but it's still surprising that a public broadcaster would air it.
 
Will Cumulus pull the plug on WLS 890 AM? Poor ratings for an undesirable demographic. Cumulus may like the conservative message and keep it on the air despite the financial loss.

Cumulus has not been shy on shutting down many mid market AM's in 2025 that were marginally profitable. Biggest shutdown was AM 560 in San Francisco. The KSFO conservative talk format was moved to what was formally KGO AM 810 in San Francisco which was kind of like the WGN of the bay area. Now KSFO lives on at 810 AM, killing the historic KGO call letters. A conservative talk format in the bay area seems to make no sense but lives on despite low ratings and a poor upper age demographic.
 
If Cumulus liked a conservative message, they wouldn't have removed Michael DelGiorno from WWTN Nashville. They would have syndicated him, and he would be on his all time favorite station now, WLS. Now he's on 107 radio stations, with Premier Radio Networks, iHeart Media, many of which compete with Cumulus, but not in Chicago yet.
 
I agree with all the above - likely no drastic changes.

WBMX, WCHI, and WBBM, are bottom three in the ratings for full-powered commerical stations. So if anything were to flip, logically it would be them.

In my perfect world - WBBM flips to Dance, WBMX goes Rhythmic AC, and WCHI goes Classic Alternative. Wouldn't that be fun!?

But in reality - one would flip to a 670 simulcast, another sells to an evangelical teaching outlet, and the remaining limp along.
 
Ryan Williams said:
Audacy only has a few viable-in-the-future stations/formats on AM that are not on FM. The Score is likely at the very top of the list and I would agree out of their current portfolio, 104.3 is the most likely. Off the top of my head... I would put KILT, WCCO, WBEN in the next tier.
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And WWJ. Can't believe that one slipped my mind.
 
Schroedingers Cat said:
If Cumulus liked a conservative message, they wouldn't have removed Michael DelGiorno from WWTN Nashville. They would have syndicated him, and he would be on his all time favorite station now, WLS. Now he's on 107 radio stations, with Premier Radio Networks, iHeart Media, many of which compete with Cumulus, but not in Chicago yet.
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He may end up one day on WIND where his dad used to work.
 
Agreed that 670 WSCR definitely needs an FM home. It’s almost 2026 for crying out loud, and Audacy has migrated almost all of their prominent spoken word stations to FM or FM simulcasts.
 


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