WBBM (780 kHz) – branded Newsradio 105.9 WBBM – is a commercial all-news AM radio station licensed to serve Chicago, Illinois. Owned by Audacy, Inc., its studios are located at Two Prudential Plaza in the Chicago Loop, while the station's transmitter—diplexed with sister station WSCR—is in the nearby suburb of Bloomingdale.
WBBM is a Class A station that broadcasts on a clear-channel AM frequency, powered with 35,000 watts by day and 42,000 watts at night, using a non-directional antenna. Its daytime signal provides at least grade B coverage to most of the northern two-thirds of Illinois (as far south as Springfield) as well as large portions of Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan and Indiana. Its city-grade coverage reaches as far north as Milwaukee. At night, WBBM can be heard across much of North America under favorable conditions, but is strongest in the Midwest.
In addition to a standard analog transmission, WBBM is simulcast over WCFS-FM (105.9), and is available online via Audacy.
Programming
The most-common program on WBBM is a live rolling news cycle that begins at the top of each hour, structured into segments of news, traffic, weather, sports, and business updates from Bloomberg Radio. The scheduling of these segments is similar to that of several co-owned all-news stations including KNX in Los Angeles, KCBS in San Francisco and WWJ in Detroit. This news cycle can be interrupted for breaking local or national news events that necessitate longer-form coverage.
WBBM is the Chicago affiliate station for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team.
Other programs featured on WBBM include: Noon Business Hour; At Issue, public affairs interviews with Craig Dellimore; CBS News Weekend Roundup; old-time radio program When Radio Was; audio portions of 60 Minutes and Face the Nation.
WBBM broadcasts 60-second light segments throughout the day, such as Real Estate Feature, Made in Chicago, Innovation Minute, Eating Right, among others. These segments are also available as podcasts. On-air staff includes: Cisco Cotto, Keith Johnson, Nick Young, Lisa Fielding, Bernie Tafoya, Mai Martinez, Andy Dahn, Rachel Pierson, Nancy Harty and Rob Hart.
History Early years WBBM was first licensed on January 31, 1924, to the Frank Atlass Produce Company at 110 Park Place in Lincoln, Illinois.History Cards for WBBM, fcc.gov. Retrieved April 6, 2019."New Stations", Radio Service Bulletin, February 1, 1924, page 4. The station's primary founder, 29-year-old Harry Leslie "Les" Atlass, had extensive earlier radio experience. In 1911, he had reportedly constructed a simple spark transmitter set."H. Leslie Atlass Dies; Founded Radio Station WBBM at Lincoln", Decatur (Illinois) Herald, November 19, 1960, page 1. Prior to 1923, there are no licensed amateur stations reported for either Atlass brother in the government's annual lists. Three years later, his then 11-year-old younger brother, Ralph, constructed an apparently unlicensed amateur radio station at the family home,"[Ralph] Atlass Recalls 50 Years in Radio" by Larry Wolters, Chicago Tribune, February 23, 1964, Section 10, Radio B. that was described as "chief wireless station" of the newly formed Lincoln United Wireless Association."Happenings at Lincoln", The Bloomington (Illinois) Pantagraph, September 10, 1914, page 10.
With the April 1917 entrance of the United States into World War I the federal government took full control of the radio industry, and it became illegal for civilians to operate radio transmitters and receivers."WAR!", QST, May 1917, page 3. After the conclusion of the war, the civilian radio restrictions were lifted."Removal of Restrictions on Radio Receiving Stations", United States Bulletin, April 28, 1919, page 11."Restrictions on Radio Amateurs Removed", Radio Service Bulletin, October 1, 1919, page 7. Les Atlass' continuing interest in radio led in mid-1923 to his obtaining a license to operate an amateur radio station, 9DFC."Ninth District", Amateur Radio Stations of the United States (June 30, 1923, edition) page 268. The leading "9" in 9DFC's call sign indicated that the station was located in the 9th Radio Inspection district, and the fact that the "D" fell in the range of A-W reflected the fact that the station was operating under a standard amateur station license.
Although the original spark radio transmitters were only capable of producing the dots-and-dashes of Morse code, the development of vacuum tube transmitters made audio transmissions practical. In the early 1920s, this led to the introduction of organized broadcasting, and by the end of 1922, over 500 broadcast stations were operating in the United States. Amateur radio stations were not permitted to make broadcasts intended for the general public. However, during April 1923, Les Atlass, in conjunction with the Lincoln Courier newspaper, broadcast local election results over 9DFC, claiming as a technicality that instead of a prohibited public broadcast, he was merely transmitting information to a second amateur, which by chance (and through newspaper publicity) others might overhear.
WBBM Lincoln A few months later, Atlass procured a proper broadcasting station license with the call sign WBBM, which made its debut on the evening of February 6, 1924, transmitting on 1330 kHz. The station's call letters had been randomly assigned from an alphabetic list maintained by the Department of Commerce, and during the inaugural broadcast, Atlass adopted a representative slogan of "We Broadcast Better Music". Over the years, additional slogans would include "We Broadcast Broadmoor Music","Radiophone Broadcasting Stations" (WBBM entry), Radio Digest, April 18, 1925, page 23. "World's Best Broadcast Medium","Boy's Hobby Grows Up Into Station WBBM", Radio Digest, November 21, 1925, pages 6, 28. and "Where Better Broadcasts Materialize"."A Continuing Study of Major Radio Markets: Study No. 7: Chicago.", Broadcasting – Telecasting, October 25, 1948. pp. 14, 17. Retrieved April 3, 2019.
WBBM's time in Lincoln was brief. In mid-February 1924, it was announced that the Frank Atlass Produce Company, the family business where Les Atlass was president, had been sold, and he was preparing to move to Chicago. The last reported broadcast in Lincoln occurred on April 14, after which the station was dismantled, and its equipment shipped to Les Atlass' newly purchased Chicago home. The station was officially deleted a few months later."Strike Out All Particulars", Radio Service Bulletin, October 1, 1924, page 6.
WBBM Chicago
Shortly after moving to Chicago, Les Atlass returned to the airwaves, and received a new license for a broadcasting station operated from his home at 7421 Sheridan Road, again with the call letters WBBM and transmitting on 1330 kHz, with himself as the licensee."New Stations", Radio Service Bulletin, December 1, 1924, page 2.
In 1925, station ownership was transferred to the Atlass Investment Company, with the station located at 1554 Howard Street, now transmitting with 1,500 watts."Alterations and Corrections", Radio Service Bulletin, July 1, 1925, page 10. On June 4, 1925, studios and transmitter were moved to the Broadmoor Hotel in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood. "95.99%" of the station's programming was devoted to music, including live musical broadcasts aired from a small studio in the lobby of the hotel. In 1926, the Stewart-Warner corporation leased the station's full schedule, and began producing all of its programming.Schaden, Chuck (1988). WBBM Radio: Yesterday & Today. WBBM Newsradio 78, Chicago, Il. Retrieved April 3, 2019.
On June 15, 1927, WBBM moved to 770 kHz with 1,000 watts, sharing time with Chicago stations WAAF and WJBT."Broadcasting Stations" (effective June 15, 1927), Radio Service Bulletin, May 31, 1927, page 5. Later in the year, power was increased to 5,000 watts. On November 11, 1928, under the provisions of General Order 40, the Federal Radio Commission reallocated frequencies on the AM broadcasting band. WAAF was reassigned to 920 kHz, while WBBM and WJBT remained at 770 kHz, with the frequency designated as a "clear channel" assignment. WJBT's license was acquired by the Atlass Investment Company, and the two stations were consolidated as WBBM-WJBT, although the latter call sign was rarely, if ever, used. Its transmitter was moved to Glenview, Illinois, and its studios were moved to the Wrigley Building. Power for clear channel stations could be up to 50,000 watts, and WBBM's was increased to 10,000 watts in 1928 and 25,000 watts the following year.
CBS Radio The station began a long association with the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) on September 27, 1928, when it joined as Chicago's second network affiliate. WMAQ (later WSCR) had joined the network at its launch one year earlier. CBS bought a controlling interest in WBBM in 1929,Report on Chain Broadcasting. Federal Communications Commission. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1941. p. 23. Retrieved April 6, 2019. and in 1931 it purchased the remaining station stock. Les Atlass remained at the station, while Ralph left and purchased station WLAP, then in Louisville."Brothers to Part", Washington (D.C) Evening Star, February 22, 1931, Part 4, page 9.
On May 15, 1933, the station discontinued the WJBT dual call letter usage and reverted to just WBBM, after the Federal Radio Commission requested that stations using only one of their call signs drop those that were no longer in regular use."Double Call Letters Are Being Eliminated", Washington (D.C.) Evening Star, June 25, 1933, Part 4, page 6.
As part of the November 11, 1928, AM band reorganization, KFAB in Lincoln, Nebraska, had also been assigned to transmit on 770 kHz. WBBM and KFAB were far enough apart to allow concurrent operation during the daytime, but their longer range nighttime signals required coordination to avoid mutual interference. Initially, the stations established a timesharing agreement for nighttime hours. However, in early 1932, KFAB switched network affiliation from the NBC Red Network to CBS. With much of their evening programming the same, the two stations establishing simultaneous synchronized broadcasting of their common network programming."CBS Adds Two", Broadcasting, January 15, 1932, page 6. The synchronized operation began on January 27, 1934."Present Practice in the Synchronous Operation of Broadcast Stations as Exemplified by WBBM and KFAB" by L. McC. Young, Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers, March 1936 (vol. 24, no. 3), page 440 (durenberger.com)
In 1945, WBBM broadcast "Five after the Hour", written by Les Weinrott.
Move to AM 780 WBBM's power was increased to 50,000 watts in 1935. In March 1941, as part of the implementation of the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA), both WBBM and KFAB shifted to 780 kHz. After the attack on Pearl Harbor and the resulting U.S. entry into World War II, there was an increase in air traffic at Naval Air Station Glenview. The Navy asked WBBM to move its towers to a new location. As a result, the station's towers and transmitter were moved to Itasca, Illinois, on May 1, 1942. During World War II, much of WBBM's programming was devoted to the war effort.Movie–Radio Guide. Programs for September 12–18, 1942. Retrieved April 8, 2019."Tower Site of the Week: WBBM 780, Chicago" by Scott Fybush, January 4, 2008 (fybush.com)