WCKG
Encyclopedia
WCFS-FM known on-air as "WBBM Newsradio 780 & 105.9", is a radio station
licensed to Elmwood Park, Illinois
and serving the Chicago, Illinois market. Owned and operated by CBS Radio
, WCFS has simulcast the all-news
format of sister station WBBM (AM)
since August 1, 2011, and also airs an adult contemporary music format on its HD radio
subchannel.
, which contains Elmwood Park, the station's city of license
. Original programming was in English and Polish
.
In a discussion at his store (Metro Golden Memories), it was noted that an early English-language announcer at the station was Chuck Schaden
as a visitor, then employee in the early 1960s. At the time, WLEY was located in a non-air-conditioned three-room shack behind an awning store near Grand and Harlem in Elmwood Park, Illinois
. The broadcast tower still stands on the west side of Harlem Ave, but the WCKG transmitter
relocated to the Sears Tower
, one of the first to use its broadcast facility.
The Broadcasting Yearbook notes that WXFM was originally a local station for Elmwood Park. It was broadcast on 107.1 in the early 1950s, moving to 105.9 by 1960. When the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) shut down Chicago FM WCLM (because it broadcast horse race results on its sub-carrier), WXFM moved to the WCLM studio in the 333 N. Michigan Building, downtown.
The FCC website references that the station was sold by its original owner, Zeb Zarnecki, to Evelyn Schoenfield, a school teacher. Schoenfield hired Robert Victor to run the station. Victor was the son-in-law of Sol Polk, owner of Polk Brothers
appliance stores. Polk Brothers sponsored several fine arts programs on the station. In the early 1960s, Victor took financial control of WXFM, without FCC approval. That move caught up with him as the FCC revoked the station license and put the frequency up for bid. Bidders included a Blue Island, Illinois
station owner who had run WRBI-FM there, and Victor himself. Because of his radio programming experience, Robert Victor was awarded the new license, now called WXFM Incorporated.
Announcers in the 1960s included Stu Olsen (now in California
), Al Von Maisch (the overnight host), Tod Branson (later a Milwaukee sportscaster), George Miller (night host) and Tom Jurek (sportscaster).
WXFM played a mix of classical music
, folk music
, and broadway showtunes
. Sponsors included Polk Brothers (for the overnight show). The station also featured jazz
and was the original home of TRIAD—an "underground rock show". It was affiliated with the "Market One Network", a sales representative who also sold for WQXR
in New York City
.
, WXFM featured a brokered jazz format on weekdays and a gospel music
format on weekends, which included broadcasts of the Sunday services of several African-American Churches. Weekday jazz disc jockeys included Dick Buckley
and Daddy-O Holmes Daley.
In 1984 the station was sold to Cox Communications, and it became Top-40 as WAGO "G-106," featuring John Records Landecker
in mornings, who had made a name for himself on WLS
. The format was changed to AOR in February 1985 and the call letters became WCKG. Initially the station played rock from 1964 through the then-present day, focusing on 1970s rock, but still playing a lot of current product. WCKG hired several former on-air staff from the formerly AOR WMET
, which had evolved to AC.
, and by 1990, WCKG was a classic rock station. The station was sold to CBS Radio
in May 1996. The station evolved into a talk
format in July 1996 with the addition of Chicago radio legend Steve Dahl
in the afternoons and The Howard Stern Show in mornings, remaining classic rock in the other dayparts. By 1998, WCKG had evolved to a talk
format outside of overnights and weekends; the remaining music would be phased out by 1999. During this time, the station continually flipped monikers, from "Chicago's Super CKG" to "105.9 The PaCKaGe" to "105.9 WCKG" to "Chicago's Fun House".
to overnights and weekends in 2002 resulted in the station's re-positioning as "Talk That Rocks"; the playlist initially focused on active rock
which slowly evolved to mainstream rock
before being removed again by 2004. On October 25, 2005, with the re-branding of Infinity-owned FM talk stations to the "Free FM
" brand, WCKG became known as "105.9 WCKG, Chicago's Free FM".
With Stern's departure from terrestrial radio on December 16, 2005, Infinity announced that effective January 3, 2006, WCKG would become the flagship radio station of Rover's Morning Glory
. Following months of poor ratings, Rover's Morning Glory was dropped on August 1, 2006, and was replaced by the New York-based The Opie and Anthony Show
. Steve Dahl continued to anchor the radio station with his afternoon drive-time show featuring newsman Buzz Kilman
.
In early 2007, WCKG placed more emphasis on local announcers, with new programs featuring Matt Dahl and Garry Meier
, and dropped the "Free FM" name to become "Chicago's FM Talk Station". On July 23, 2007 at 2:00 p.m., the station began calling itself "The Package" once again, at the urging of Steve Dahl. These moves, however, were not enough to save the station's ratings, which despite an upward turn thanks to Meier, had still not recovered from loss of Stern.
October 29, 2007 was the last day of the talk format on WCKG, as hosts and station staff said their goodbyes on-air. At 5:00 p.m. that day, Steve Dahl announced that his show would continue to air through November 2 on WCKG, with best-of clips airing for the rest of the day, and his entire show moving to sister station WJMK on November 5.
From October 29 until November 4, 2007, WCKG played clips of the Steve Dahl Show around the clock. On November 2 CBS Radio planted stories with the media writers at the Chicago Sun-Times
and Chicago Tribune
that the station would switch to an all-Christmas
format that afternoon before an after-Christmas unveiling of its actual new format. However this was a ruse, designed to throw future competitor and long-time ratings leader WLIT-FM off from its plans to start playing all-Christmas beginning November 8. WLIT ended up switching to all-Christmas music the morning on the 2nd; CBS Radio "backed off" its all-Christmas plan (which was actually designed to give the future WCFS a two-month head start on WTMX), and continued to play the best of Dahl all weekend.
Dahl's show moved to WJMK and became its new morning show on Monday, November 5. That day, WCKG simulcast several of Chicago's other CBS Radio affiliates. From 5:30 to 10 am, it simulcast Dahl's first show on WJMK. From 10 am until 2 pm, it simulcast WSCR
. From 2 to 4 pm, it simulcast WXRT
, and from 4 to 5 pm, it simulcast WBBM-AM. At 5 pm local time, after the CBS Radio News
bell for the top of the hour newscast, WCKG became "Fresh 105.9" with an adult contemporary format. The first song played was "Beautiful Day
" by U2
. The station shared its branding with sister station
WWFS in the New York City area (that station flipped to hot AC in 2011
). However, this forced WLIT-FM's rimshot competitor WSSR 96.7 in Joliet, Illinois
to move from adult contemporary to adult top 40. The new station, even though considered as adult contemporary by CBS Radio and others, primiarily played hot adult contemporary/adult top 40 hits, but was still reported on Mediabase
& Nielsen BDS on the adult contemporary panel.
WCKG was the flagship station of the NBA's Chicago Bulls
from 2006 until 2007. With the demise of WCKG's talk format, the Bulls returned to WMVP
.
The station adopted the new WCFS calls on November 26, 2007, after FCC approval. A religious station owned by the Christian Fellowship Church
in Du Quoin, Illinois
also uses the same calls, but is a low power FM station, and thus identifies as WCFS-LP and will be able to keep those calls.
On Monday, February 25, Morning personality Mike LeBaron and Midday personality Lisa Greene signed on as the first DJ's on Chicago's "Fresh 105.9." On April 13, Program Director Mike Peterson named Rick Hall
as afternoon host. Previously, Lebaron had been well known as a longtime part-time market veteran at WTMX-FM and WUSN-FM. Fellow market veteran Greene previously hosted an Oldies dance party show on WJMK, similar features at WILV and WUBT (Jammin' Oldies "103.5 The Beat"), was an APD/MD for AC stations, and had worked for many years as a traffic and news reporter, and co-host. Hall worked double duty as weekend/fill-in host at sister station WUSN
/US*99.5 and music director–midday host at Milwaukee's WFZH
Contemporary Christian "105.3 The Fish."
On Monday, September 28, 2009, Roxanne Steele, former B96/Chicago radio DJ, announced she would be returning to CBS Radio for afternoon host duties at Fresh 105.9. Rick Hall moves to mornings on a temporary basis as morning man Mike LeBaron exits.
On November 30, Steve Fisher debuted as the new morning man on FRESH. Upon Fisher's arrival, Rick Hall was moved to middays. However less than a year later, new program director Jim Ryan told reporters that Hall had been released in favor of FRESH weekender Brook Hunter.
On August 1, 2011, WCFS replaced the "Fresh" AC format with an FM simulcast of its all-news sister station, WBBM
, which had been simulcast on WCFS' HD2
subchannel. The move was seen in some circles as a counter to FM competitor WWWN, which was in the process of transitioning to an all-news format, which formally occurred on July 29, 2011 (3 days before WCFS's move). The "Fresh" AC format was moved to WCFS-HD2 on August 1, rebranding as "The New Sound of Fresh 105.9 HD2" and continuing online streaming on the Fresh 105.9 website. Though WCFS uses WBBM's on-air branding ("NewsRadio 780 and 105.9 FM, WBBM"), its official call sign
remains as is (and was not converted to WBBM-FM
), thanks to Arbitron
's use of the Portable People Meter
for Chicago radio ratings, which does not need call letter verification. The move made WLIT-FM as the exclusive adult contemporary radio station in Chicago
. Even though WLIT-FM is softer than the former AC format at WCFS-FM, many of the hot adult contemporary fans moved to rivals WTMX
, WSSR & WXLC
, the latter two being rimshot stations. Plus, the WBBM-FM calls belong on its sister rhythmic contemporary
station on 96.3 FM in Chicago
. Three months later that same year, KNBQ
in Seattle would follow, entirely dropping country music
in favor of sports talk, simulcasting KJR-AM
. Clear Channel kept the KJR-FM
calls on its station (located at 95.7 FM), which is classic hits
instead of sports talk, making it one of two major stations in 2011 to retain the calls after format flips, even though the same callsign's FM counterparts would have different formats despite being owned the same owner.
This is the second CBS Radio
station in Chicago
to flip formats during 2011; WJMK ditched Jack FM
and its adult hits
format early in 2011
. In addition, WCFS-FM is the second Fresh FM station to ditch the adult contemporary format, the other being WIAD in Washington, D.C.
. WWFS/New York City
would follow two months later, switching to hot adult contemporary like WIAD, leaving KEZK
in St. Louis, Missouri
(which started using the branding in December 2010
) the last Fresh FM station with an AC format.
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
licensed to Elmwood Park, Illinois
Elmwood Park, Illinois
Elmwood Park is a village bordering the northwest side of the City of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 25,405 at the 2000 census. The community has long maintained a large Italian-American population, with a more recent influx of Polish-American and Hispanic...
and serving the Chicago, Illinois market. Owned and operated by CBS Radio
CBS Radio
CBS Radio, Inc., formerly known as Infinity Broadcasting Corporation, is one of the largest owners and operators of radio stations in the United States, third behind main rival Clear Channel Communications and Cumulus Media. CBS Radio owns around 130 radio stations across the country...
, WCFS has simulcast the all-news
All-news radio
All-news radio is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcast of news.All-news radio is available in both local and syndicated forms, and is carried in some form on both major US satellite radio networks...
format of sister station WBBM (AM)
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....
since August 1, 2011, and also airs an adult contemporary music format on its HD radio
HD Radio
HD Radio, which originally stood for "Hybrid Digital", is the trademark for iBiquity's in-band on-channel digital radio technology used by AM and FM radio stations to transmit audio and data via a digital signal in conjunction with their analog signals...
subchannel.
Early days
According to the "Broadcasting Yearbook", the station's original call letters were WLEY in honor of Leyden TownshipLeyden Township, Cook County, Illinois
Leyden Township is one of thirty townships in Cook County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2000 census, its population was 94,685.-Geography:Leyden Township is located just northwest of the city of Chicago, an edge of which lies within the township but as a separate entity...
, which contains Elmwood Park, the station's city of license
City of license
A city of license or community of license, in American and Canadian broadcasting, is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator....
. Original programming was in English and Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
.
In a discussion at his store (Metro Golden Memories), it was noted that an early English-language announcer at the station was Chuck Schaden
Chuck Schaden
Charles Leroy "Chuck" Schaden, born June 29, 1934, is a Chicago-area broadcaster and historian who hosted the program Those Were the Days on local radio from 1970 to 2009. Schaden plays recordings of classic old-time radio shows and reminisces with radio personalities about the early days of...
as a visitor, then employee in the early 1960s. At the time, WLEY was located in a non-air-conditioned three-room shack behind an awning store near Grand and Harlem in Elmwood Park, Illinois
Elmwood Park, Illinois
Elmwood Park is a village bordering the northwest side of the City of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 25,405 at the 2000 census. The community has long maintained a large Italian-American population, with a more recent influx of Polish-American and Hispanic...
. The broadcast tower still stands on the west side of Harlem Ave, but the WCKG transmitter
Transmitter
In electronics and telecommunications a transmitter or radio transmitter is an electronic device which, with the aid of an antenna, produces radio waves. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to the antenna. When excited by this alternating...
relocated to the Sears Tower
Sears Tower
Sears' optimistic growth projections were not met. Competition from its traditional rivals continued, with new competition by retailing giants such as Kmart, Kohl's, and Wal-Mart. The fortunes of Sears & Roebuck declined in the 1970s as the company lost market share; its management grew more...
, one of the first to use its broadcast facility.
The Broadcasting Yearbook notes that WXFM was originally a local station for Elmwood Park. It was broadcast on 107.1 in the early 1950s, moving to 105.9 by 1960. When 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...
(FCC) shut down Chicago FM WCLM (because it broadcast horse race results on its sub-carrier), WXFM moved to the WCLM studio in the 333 N. Michigan Building, downtown.
The FCC website references that the station was sold by its original owner, Zeb Zarnecki, to Evelyn Schoenfield, a school teacher. Schoenfield hired Robert Victor to run the station. Victor was the son-in-law of Sol Polk, owner of Polk Brothers
Polk Brothers
Polk Brothers was a large home appliance and electronics retailer in Chicago, Illinois that had 17 stores in the region at its peak in the 1980s....
appliance stores. Polk Brothers sponsored several fine arts programs on the station. In the early 1960s, Victor took financial control of WXFM, without FCC approval. That move caught up with him as the FCC revoked the station license and put the frequency up for bid. Bidders included a Blue Island, Illinois
Blue Island, Illinois
Blue Island is a city in Cook County, Illinois. The population was 22,556 at the 2010 census. Blue Island was established in the 1830s as a way station for settlers traveling on the Vincennes Trace, and the settlement prospered because it was conveniently situated a day's journey outside of Chicago...
station owner who had run WRBI-FM there, and Victor himself. Because of his radio programming experience, Robert Victor was awarded the new license, now called WXFM Incorporated.
Announcers in the 1960s included Stu Olsen (now in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
), Al Von Maisch (the overnight host), Tod Branson (later a Milwaukee sportscaster), George Miller (night host) and Tom Jurek (sportscaster).
WXFM played a mix of classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
, folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
, and broadway showtunes
Showtunes
Showtunes is the result of collaboration between Stephin Merritt with Chen Shi-zheng on three pieces of musical theatre; Orphan of Zhao , Peach Blossom Fan , and My Life as a Fairy Tale . Select tracks from these are featured on this album...
. Sponsors included Polk Brothers (for the overnight show). The station also featured jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and was the original home of TRIAD—an "underground rock show". It was affiliated with the "Market One Network", a sales representative who also sold for WQXR
WQEW
WQEW is a Radio Disney affiliate licensed to New York City. Its transmitter is located in Maspeth, Queens. WQEW has a transmitter power of 50,000 watts and is listed as a Clear-channel station...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
1980s
In its last days before being sold to Cox CommunicationsCox Communications
Cox Communications is a privately owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises providing digital cable television, telecommunications and wireless services in the United States...
, WXFM featured a brokered jazz format on weekdays and a gospel music
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
format on weekends, which included broadcasts of the Sunday services of several African-American Churches. Weekday jazz disc jockeys included Dick Buckley
Dick Buckley
Dick Buckley hosted the jazz program, Jazz with Dick Buckley, on Chicago Public Radio. His program, which was on WBEZ from 1977 through 2008, tended toward jazz of the 1930s and 1940s, or what he has called "Golden Era" jazz. In the early eighties, he also hosted a jazz program on WXFM...
and Daddy-O Holmes Daley.
In 1984 the station was sold to Cox Communications, and it became Top-40 as WAGO "G-106," featuring John Records Landecker
John Landecker
John Records Landecker is a Top40/Oldies disc jockey best known for creating "Boogie Check," "Americana Panorama," and satirical songs and bits based on current events such as "Make a Date with the Watergate," and "Press My Conference." He currently hosts a TKO Radio Networks syndicated weekend...
in mornings, who had made a name for himself on 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....
. The format was changed to AOR in February 1985 and the call letters became WCKG. Initially the station played rock from 1964 through the then-present day, focusing on 1970s rock, but still playing a lot of current product. WCKG hired several former on-air staff from the formerly AOR WMET
WNUA
WNUA is a Spanish Pop radio station located in Chicago, Illinois, owned and operated by Clear Channel Communications and branded as Mega 95.5.-History:...
, which had evolved to AC.
1990s
By the late 1980s the station began to lean toward classic rockClassic rock
Classic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on the hard rock genre that peaked in popularity in the...
, and by 1990, WCKG was a classic rock station. The station was sold to CBS Radio
CBS Radio
CBS Radio, Inc., formerly known as Infinity Broadcasting Corporation, is one of the largest owners and operators of radio stations in the United States, third behind main rival Clear Channel Communications and Cumulus Media. CBS Radio owns around 130 radio stations across the country...
in May 1996. The station evolved into a talk
Talk radio
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often feature interviews with a number of different guests. Talk radio typically includes an element of listener participation, usually by broadcasting live...
format in July 1996 with the addition of Chicago radio legend Steve Dahl
Steve Dahl
Steven Robert Dahl has been an American radio personality and humorist for more than thirty years. He is currently podcasting, and releases the podcasts for download daily from his own website as well as the iTunes store...
in the afternoons and The Howard Stern Show in mornings, remaining classic rock in the other dayparts. By 1998, WCKG had evolved to a talk
Talk radio
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often feature interviews with a number of different guests. Talk radio typically includes an element of listener participation, usually by broadcasting live...
format outside of overnights and weekends; the remaining music would be phased out by 1999. During this time, the station continually flipped monikers, from "Chicago's Super CKG" to "105.9 The PaCKaGe" to "105.9 WCKG" to "Chicago's Fun House".
2000s
The return of rockRock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
to overnights and weekends in 2002 resulted in the station's re-positioning as "Talk That Rocks"; the playlist initially focused on active rock
Active rock
Active rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations across the United States and Canada. Active rock plays contemporary rock artists with a mix of songs common in the classic rock radio format.-Format background:...
which slowly evolved to mainstream rock
Mainstream rock
Mainstream rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada.-Format background:...
before being removed again by 2004. On October 25, 2005, with the re-branding of Infinity-owned FM talk stations to the "Free FM
Free FM
Free FM was a short-lived, mostly-talk-radio format and brand name for eleven FM CBS Radio stations in the United States, and was created because of Howard Stern's departure to Sirius Satellite Radio in January 2006. Free FM was given its name to highlight that its stations broadcast free-to-air,...
" brand, WCKG became known as "105.9 WCKG, Chicago's Free FM".
With Stern's departure from terrestrial radio on December 16, 2005, Infinity announced that effective January 3, 2006, WCKG would become the flagship radio station of Rover's Morning Glory
Rover's Morning Glory
Rover’s Morning Glory is a syndicated hot-talk radio show airing weekday mornings Monday through Friday from 6:00 AM to 11:00 AM ET on 100.7 FM WMMS in Cleveland, Ohio. Hosted by Rover , the show is distributed by Clear Channel and features a blended discussion of current events and pop culture,...
. Following months of poor ratings, Rover's Morning Glory was dropped on August 1, 2006, and was replaced by the New York-based The Opie and Anthony Show
Opie and Anthony
Opie and Anthony are the hosts of The Opie & Anthony Show, a talk radio program airing in the United States and Canada on XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio. Since the merger of the two satellite companies, this is now called Sirius/XM...
. Steve Dahl continued to anchor the radio station with his afternoon drive-time show featuring newsman Buzz Kilman
Buzz Kilman
-Radio career:He started in radio as the public service director for WBUS-FM, "The Magic Bus" in Miami Beach, Florida. Kilman remained there until station management discovered many of his late night interviews were spoofs. In 1974, he was at WSHE-FM in Ft...
.
In early 2007, WCKG placed more emphasis on local announcers, with new programs featuring Matt Dahl and Garry Meier
Garry Meier
Garry Meier is a Chicago-based radio personality and is currently the afternoon host on WGN-AM 720 in Chicago, heard weekdays 3-7 PM CT.- Beginnings :...
, and dropped the "Free FM" name to become "Chicago's FM Talk Station". On July 23, 2007 at 2:00 p.m., the station began calling itself "The Package" once again, at the urging of Steve Dahl. These moves, however, were not enough to save the station's ratings, which despite an upward turn thanks to Meier, had still not recovered from loss of Stern.
October 29, 2007 was the last day of the talk format on WCKG, as hosts and station staff said their goodbyes on-air. At 5:00 p.m. that day, Steve Dahl announced that his show would continue to air through November 2 on WCKG, with best-of clips airing for the rest of the day, and his entire show moving to sister station WJMK on November 5.
From October 29 until November 4, 2007, WCKG played clips of the Steve Dahl Show around the clock. On November 2 CBS Radio planted stories with the media writers at the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
and Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
that the station would switch to an all-Christmas
Christmas music
Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music normally performed or heard around the Christmas season, which tends to begin in the months leading up the actual holiday and end in the weeks shortly thereafter.-Early:...
format that afternoon before an after-Christmas unveiling of its actual new format. However this was a ruse, designed to throw future competitor and long-time ratings leader WLIT-FM off from its plans to start playing all-Christmas beginning November 8. WLIT ended up switching to all-Christmas music the morning on the 2nd; CBS Radio "backed off" its all-Christmas plan (which was actually designed to give the future WCFS a two-month head start on WTMX), and continued to play the best of Dahl all weekend.
Dahl's show moved to WJMK and became its new morning show on Monday, November 5. That day, WCKG simulcast several of Chicago's other CBS Radio affiliates. From 5:30 to 10 am, it simulcast Dahl's first show on WJMK. From 10 am until 2 pm, it simulcast 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 2 to 4 pm, it simulcast WXRT
WXRT
WXRT, also known as WXRT 93.1, XRT, and 93-XRT is a AAA radio station in Chicago, Illinois. For many years their slogan has been "Chicago's Finest Rock". WXRT is a primary sponsor of the Chicago nonprofit Rock For Kids.-History:...
, and from 4 to 5 pm, it simulcast WBBM-AM. At 5 pm local time, after the CBS Radio News
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
bell for the top of the hour newscast, WCKG became "Fresh 105.9" with an adult contemporary format. The first song played was "Beautiful Day
Beautiful Day
"Beautiful Day" is a song by the rock band U2. It is the first track from their 2000 album, All That You Can't Leave Behind, and it was released as the album's lead single. It was a commercial success, helping launch the album to multi-platinum status, and is one of U2's biggest hits to date...
" by U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
. The station shared its branding with sister station
Sister station
In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio and/or television stations operated by the same ownership....
WWFS in the New York City area (that station flipped to hot AC in 2011
2011 in radio
The following events occurred in radio broadcasting in 2011.-Events:*January 1: 2 Knoxville stations change formats as WDLF and WYLV flip to K-LOVE and Air 1 , and a few Pittsburgh station change formats, as ESPN Radio moves from WEAE to WBGG, and Radio Disney moves from WWCS to the renamed WDDZ,...
). However, this forced WLIT-FM's rimshot competitor WSSR 96.7 in Joliet, Illinois
Joliet, Illinois
Joliet is a city in Will and Kendall Counties in the U.S. state of Illinois, located southwest of Chicago. It is the county seat of Will County. As of the 2010 census, the city was the fourth-most populated in Illinois, with a population of 147,433. It continues to be Illinois' fastest growing...
to move from adult contemporary to adult top 40. The new station, even though considered as adult contemporary by CBS Radio and others, primiarily played hot adult contemporary/adult top 40 hits, but was still reported on Mediabase
Mediabase
Mediabase is a music industry service that monitors radio station airplay in 180 US and Canadian markets. Mediabase publishes music charts and data based on the most played songs on terrestrial and satellite radio, and provides in-depth analytical tools for radio and record industry professionals...
& Nielsen BDS on the adult contemporary panel.
WCKG was the flagship station of the NBA's Chicago Bulls
Chicago Bulls
The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago, Illinois, playing in the Central Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was founded in 1966. They play their home games at the United Center...
from 2006 until 2007. With the demise of WCKG's talk format, the Bulls returned to WMVP
WMVP
WMVP is the callsign of a commercial radio station in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It is owned by ABC. Its transmitter is located in Downers Grove. The station broadcasts live sports talk, both locally and nationally. Daily programming consists of talk shows that are both national and local...
.
The station adopted the new WCFS calls on November 26, 2007, after FCC approval. A religious station owned by the Christian Fellowship Church
Christian Fellowship Church
Christian Fellowship Church is a non-denominational mega-church located in Evansville, Indiana. David Niednagel, the current senior pastor, founded the church in 1974. As of August 2007 the church has an average weekly attendance of 2,800 adults. "...
in Du Quoin, Illinois
Du Quoin, Illinois
Du Quoin is a city in Perry County, Illinois, United States. The population was 6,448 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Du Quoin is located at ....
also uses the same calls, but is a low power FM station, and thus identifies as WCFS-LP and will be able to keep those calls.
On Monday, February 25, Morning personality Mike LeBaron and Midday personality Lisa Greene signed on as the first DJ's on Chicago's "Fresh 105.9." On April 13, Program Director Mike Peterson named Rick Hall
Rick Hall
Roe Erister "Rick" Hall is an American record producer, songwriter, music publisher and musician who is best known as the owner and proprietor of the FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama.-Life and career:...
as afternoon host. Previously, Lebaron had been well known as a longtime part-time market veteran at WTMX-FM and WUSN-FM. Fellow market veteran Greene previously hosted an Oldies dance party show on WJMK, similar features at WILV and WUBT (Jammin' Oldies "103.5 The Beat"), was an APD/MD for AC stations, and had worked for many years as a traffic and news reporter, and co-host. Hall worked double duty as weekend/fill-in host at sister station WUSN
WUSN
WUSN is an FM radio station in Chicago, Illinois, The station broadcasts on 99.5 MHz and is a country radio station owned by CBS Radio. The station focuses on country music from the '90s, along with current product and some classic country from the '70s and '80s.-99.5 WEFM/99-"We" FM:Until 1978,...
/US*99.5 and music director–midday host at Milwaukee's WFZH
WLVE
WMIA-FM is a rhythmic AC radio station that is licensed to Miami Beach, Florida. Its slogan is "Your Feel Good Variety"-History:93.9 has been WMBM-FM , WGOS , WBUS, "The Magic Bus", progressive rock, then a full time traditional jazz station. In 1976, the station became "Love 94", changing to a...
Contemporary Christian "105.3 The Fish."
On Monday, September 28, 2009, Roxanne Steele, former B96/Chicago radio DJ, announced she would be returning to CBS Radio for afternoon host duties at Fresh 105.9. Rick Hall moves to mornings on a temporary basis as morning man Mike LeBaron exits.
On November 30, Steve Fisher debuted as the new morning man on FRESH. Upon Fisher's arrival, Rick Hall was moved to middays. However less than a year later, new program director Jim Ryan told reporters that Hall had been released in favor of FRESH weekender Brook Hunter.
2010s
On March 30, 2010, it was announced that Program Director Bill Gamble left CBS in Chicago. Besides WCFS, Gamble programmed for CBS country music WUSN ("US99.5").On August 1, 2011, WCFS replaced the "Fresh" AC format with an FM simulcast of its all-news sister station, 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....
, which had been simulcast on WCFS' HD2
HD Radio
HD Radio, which originally stood for "Hybrid Digital", is the trademark for iBiquity's in-band on-channel digital radio technology used by AM and FM radio stations to transmit audio and data via a digital signal in conjunction with their analog signals...
subchannel. The move was seen in some circles as a counter to FM competitor WWWN, which was in the process of transitioning to an all-news format, which formally occurred on July 29, 2011 (3 days before WCFS's move). The "Fresh" AC format was moved to WCFS-HD2 on August 1, rebranding as "The New Sound of Fresh 105.9 HD2" and continuing online streaming on the Fresh 105.9 website. Though WCFS uses WBBM's on-air branding ("NewsRadio 780 and 105.9 FM, WBBM"), its official 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...
remains as is (and was not converted to WBBM-FM
WBBM-FM
WBBM-FM, known on air as "B96", is a Rhythmic Contemporary outlet in Chicago, Illinois with a Rhythmic based playlist. The station is owned by CBS Radio and broadcasts at 96.3 MHz with an ERP of 4.2 kW. WBBM's main competition is WKSC-FM "103.5 Kiss FM", as well as urban rivals WGCI-FM &...
), thanks to Arbitron
Arbitron
Arbitron is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio audiences. It was founded as American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by merging with L.A. based Coffin, Cooper and Clay in the early 1950s...
's use of the Portable People Meter
Portable People Meter
The Portable People Meter is a system developed by Arbitron to measure how many people are listening to individual radio stations and television stations, including cable TV. The PPM is worn like a pager, and detects hidden audio tones within a station or network's audio stream, logging each...
for Chicago radio ratings, which does not need call letter verification. The move made WLIT-FM as the exclusive adult contemporary radio station in 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...
. Even though WLIT-FM is softer than the former AC format at WCFS-FM, many of the hot adult contemporary fans moved to rivals WTMX
WTMX
WTMX is an adult top 40 radio station licensed to Skokie, IL in the Chicago market. It is owned by Hubbard Broadcasting.-History:...
, WSSR & WXLC
WXLC
WXLC is an FM radio station that operates on the 102.3 frequency, based in Waukegan, Illinois. The format includes hits from the 1980s through today. WXLC broadcast throughout Lake County, Illinois....
, the latter two being rimshot stations. Plus, the WBBM-FM calls belong on its sister rhythmic contemporary
Rhythmic Contemporary
Rhythmic contemporary, also known as rhythmic top 40, rhythmic contemporary hit radio or rhythmic crossover, is a music radio format that includes a mix of EDM, upbeat rhythmic pop, hip-hop and R&B hits. Rhythmic contemporary rarely uses rock music or country music in its airplay, but it may...
station on 96.3 FM in 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...
. Three months later that same year, KNBQ
KNBQ
KNBQ is a sports talk formatted radio station serving the Seattle-Tacoma area. The station is licensed to Centralia, Washington. It became active in the 1990s...
in Seattle would follow, entirely dropping 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...
in favor of sports talk, simulcasting KJR-AM
KJR-AM
KJR is an all-sports radio station based in Seattle, Washington, owned by Clear Channel Communications. KJR currently is the flagship station of the University of Washington, including Husky football and men's basketball broadcasts...
. Clear Channel kept the KJR-FM
KJR-FM
KJR-FM is a Seattle, Washington,radio station that is broadcasting a classic hits format. It operates at 95.7 MHz at 98 kW, and also on the Internet via streaming audio. KJR-FM is owned by Clear Channel Communications, Inc.- KJR :...
calls on its station (located at 95.7 FM), which is classic hits
Classic hits
Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes rock and pop music from 1964 to 1989. The term is sometimes erroneously used as a synonym for the adult hits format, but is more accurately characterized as a contemporary style of the oldies format...
instead of sports talk, making it one of two major stations in 2011 to retain the calls after format flips, even though the same callsign's FM counterparts would have different formats despite being owned the same owner.
This is the second CBS Radio
CBS Radio
CBS Radio, Inc., formerly known as Infinity Broadcasting Corporation, is one of the largest owners and operators of radio stations in the United States, third behind main rival Clear Channel Communications and Cumulus Media. CBS Radio owns around 130 radio stations across the country...
station in 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...
to flip formats during 2011; WJMK ditched Jack FM
Jack FM
JACK FM is the alternative name and on-air brand of 60 radio stations in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Russia. Jack stations play a mix of 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s hits with some current hot adult contemporary singles. Jack's slogan "playing what we want" can also be...
and its adult hits
Adult hits
Adult hits is a radio format, popular in the early 2000s, that does not adhere to a specific music genre, but instead draws from a wider playlist...
format early in 2011
2011 in radio
The following events occurred in radio broadcasting in 2011.-Events:*January 1: 2 Knoxville stations change formats as WDLF and WYLV flip to K-LOVE and Air 1 , and a few Pittsburgh station change formats, as ESPN Radio moves from WEAE to WBGG, and Radio Disney moves from WWCS to the renamed WDDZ,...
. In addition, WCFS-FM is the second Fresh FM station to ditch the adult contemporary format, the other being WIAD in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
. WWFS/New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
would follow two months later, switching to hot adult contemporary like WIAD, leaving KEZK
KEZK
KEZK-FM is a radio station broadcasting a Adult Contemporary format. Licensed to St. Louis, Missouri, USA, the station serves the St. Louis and southwestern Illinois areas. The station is currently owned by CBS Radio. and features programing from Westwood One...
in St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
(which started using the branding in December 2010
2010 in radio
The following events occurred in radio in 2010.-Events:*Date Unknown: CHOI/Quebec City flips from Alternative Rock to News/Talk.*January 4: KJCS/Lufkin, Texas goes silent....
) the last Fresh FM station with an AC format.