WLS-AM 890 is celebrating a large milestone Friday, as the Chicago news/talk station marks the 100th anniversary of its sign-on date.
The station debuted on Saturday, April 12th, 1924 with the call letters WLS, which stood for “World’s Largest Store,” as it was owned by Sears, Roebuck and Co. The retailer sold the station to Prairie Farmer magazine in 1928. Through a series of ownership changes, it was eventually purchased by ABC before being sold to Citadel Broadcasting in 2007, before Citadel was acquired by Cumulus Media — the current owner of the station — in 2011.
The station has undergone several different formats throughout its life, spending decades as one of the nation’s premier CHR stations until it made the full-time switch to talk radio in 1989.
Several famous radio moments took place on WLS-AM 890 during its early days. The famous Hindenburg disaster was brought to audiences around the globe by WLS reporter Herbert Morrison who decided “Oh, the humanity!” while seeing the zeppelin burst into flames. The station was also the first to play The Beatles in the United States.
Currently, the Chicago news/talk station airs a combination of local and nationally syndicated programs. Steve Cochran helms mornings from 5:30-9 AM, before syndicated hosts Chris Plante, Dan Bongino, and Ben Shapiro run the station through middays. The Closing Bell, hosted by Bret Gogoel is a one-hour business program airing from 3-4 PM, while Gogoel also hosts PM Chicago, an additional one-hour local news program. Mark Levin and Michael Knowles round out the remaining hours of the programming lineup.
