I arrived at WLS after WENR was integrated into WLS. I was told by management that it was a merger of the two stations with Prairie Farmer voting one more member to the board of directors than did ABC. That made some difficulties for me as I occasionally got conflicting direction from ABC and Prairie Farmer in terms of local news coverage. We also carried some Mutual news which reportedly did not make ABC happy. ABC, I was told, wanted to buy out the Prairie Farmer co-ownership but Prairie Farmer did not want to sell. Meanwhile there were rumors that Gordon McLendon wanted to buy the station, but I have no direct knowledge of this. After I resigned to go into public relations, ABC finally got total ownership by buying Prairie Farmer and splitting the farm publications away from the radio operation. During the joint ownership the WENR call letters were retained on the FM which carried the audio of WBKB, channel 7 owned by ABC, to fill the minimum hours required of operation to hold the license. The antenna was on top of the State Lake building with failed clamps holding it in place, causing the main lobe to be directed to the street below.
In the ABC Paramont merger a few years earlier, ABC had to dispose of then channel 4, later moved to channel 2. They offered it to WLS according to what I was told while working at WLS, but Prairie Farmer management said there was no future in TV.
In the ABC Paramont merger a few years earlier, ABC had to dispose of then channel 4, later moved to channel 2. They offered it to WLS according to what I was told while working at WLS, but Prairie Farmer management said there was no future in TV.