WSCR (670 kHz) – branded 104-3 The Score – is a commercial AM sports radio station, licensed to Chicago, Illinois, which serves the Chicago metropolitan area. Owned by Audacy, Inc., WSCR is a clear-channel station, one of five in the Chicago market along with WGN, WMVP, WLS and co-owned WBBM. Studios are located at Two Prudential Plaza in the Chicago Loop, while its transmitter is in suburban Bloomingdale, diplexed with WBBM. Besides its main analog transmission, WSCR is simulcast on 104.3 WSCR-FM, and streams online via Audacy.
WSCR operates at 50,000 watts around the clock. Due to its low frequency, high power, and Illinois's flat land (with superior ground conductivity), it has an unusually large daytime coverage area, equivalent to that of a full-power FM station. It provides at least secondary coverage to three-fourths of Illinois, almost half of Indiana, much of southeastern Wisconsin, most of West Michigan, and a sliver of eastern Iowa. At night, its extended nighttime range allows it to be heard in much of the eastern half of North America with a good radio, though it is strongest in the Central United States.
Programming This is the third station in the Chicago market to hold the WSCR call sign and "Score" branding, adopting in 2000 a format that originated in 1992 on 820 AM, and was heard on 1160 AM from 1997 to 2000.
WSCR is the Chicago affiliate for the BetMGM Network, Westwood One Sports, the Fighting Illini Sports Network and the NFL on Westwood One Sports; the flagship station for the Chicago Cubs and Chicago Bulls radio networks; and the home of radio personalities David Haugh and Matt Spiegel. It is the exclusive Chicago radio outlet for DePaul Blue Demons men's basketball, Chicago Cubs baseball, and Chicago Bulls basketball. WSCR also carries other live sports programming from Westwood One Sports.
The Score's long-time listeners, callers, and e-mailers are known as "Score Heads", and often use colorful monikers. The station has also done remote broadcasts from various locations.
Beginning in 2005, WSCR aired Sporting News Radio programming overnights. Currently overnight, Westwood One Sports programming is heard on AM 670. WSCR also carries Westwood One Sports on its Audacy live stream audio whenever it airs the NFL on Westwood One.
History 1920s Effective December 1, 1921, the Department of Commerce, which regulated radio at this time, adopted a regulation creating a broadcasting station category, authorizing operation on the "entertainment" wavelength of 360 meters (833 kHz) and the "market and weather" wavelength of 485 meters (619 kHz)."Alterations and Corrections: Miscellaneous", Radio Service Bulletin, January 3, 1922, page 10.
The first two broadcasting stations located in Chicago were Westinghouse's KYW, licensed on November 9, 1921,"New Stations", Radio Service Bulletin, December 1, 1921, page 2. which moved to Philadelphia in 1934, and WBU, first licensed on February 21, 1922, by the City of Chicago,"New Stations", Radio Service Bulletin, March 1, 1922, page 2. which was deleted on November 7, 1923."Strike out all particulars", Radio Service Bulletin, December 1, 1923, pages 8-9. Therefore, although the third station licensed, WSCR is the oldest surviving Chicago radio station.
Just weeks before the station's inaugural broadcast, Walter A. Strong, business manager of the Daily News, realized the station would need a manager. Strong knew a young woman, Judith C. Waller, with some ad agency experience. He called her and said, "I've just bought a radio station; come down and run it." Waller protested that she did not know anything about running a station. Strong replied "neither do I, but come down and we'll find out". Waller was hired in February 1922. She went on to have a long and distinguished career in broadcasting. Waller remained in charge of the station until it was purchased by NBC. At that point, she became the director of public affairs programming for NBC's central division, holding that title until her retirement in 1957.
WSCR was first licensed on March 29, 1922, as WGU, with 100 watts on 360 meters, to The Fair Department Store in Chicago."New Stations", Radio Service Bulletin, April 1, 1922, page 2. The call letters were randomly assigned. A joint venture between The Fair and the Chicago Daily News, WGU's first transmitter was located atop the department store."NBC 25th Anniversary Edition", Billboard. December 1, 1951. pp. 52, 54. Retrieved February 7, 2020. WGU made its debut broadcast on April 12. There are questions whether anyone heard this initial half-hour broadcast, as technical problems forced WGU to shut down beginning the next day, while waiting for a replacement transmitter. Other limitations included interference from the tall buildings in the surrounding area, and the station's low power.
WGU was briefly deleted on September 29, 1922, "Alterations and Corrections"], Radio Service Bulletin, October 2, 1922, page 7. then relicensed three days later as WMAQ, jointly to The Fair Corporation and the Chicago Daily News, still on 360 meters."New Stations", Radio Service Bulletin, October 3, 1922, page 3. The new call letters were randomly assigned from a sequential roster of available call signs. The WMAQ call letters were first heard on October 2, 1922, with the inaugural show featuring comedian Ed Wynn. The station's longtime motto "We Must Answer Questions", was derived from this call sign.
By early 1923, there were 20 radio stations in Chicago-area alone. Most of the smaller stations were eventually shut down, because of financing issues. Stations that survived for many years usually had a store, newspaper or organization behind them, which was willing to weather the early times when radio stations did not make a profit. WMAQ had the financial backing of the Chicago Daily News and a very capable general manager in Judith Waller.
At first all stations in a given region shared time on the single entertainment wavelength of 360 meters. In September 1922, the Department of Commerce set aside a second entertainment wavelength, 400 meters (750 kHz) for "Class B" stations that had quality equipment and programming."Amendments to Regulations: Regulation 57", Radio Service Bulletin, September 1, 1922, pages 10-11. In May 1923, additional "Class B" frequencies were made available, with Chicago assigned the use of 670 kHz,"Radio Conference Recommendations: New Wave Lengths", Radio Age, May 1923, page 11. Beginning with these assignments, radio stations ended the practice of broadcasting their market reports and weather forecasts on the separate 485-meter wavelength. and WMAQ was assigned, initially exclusively, to this new frequency."Class B Calls and Waves", Radio Age, June 1923, page 12.[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.319510008420265&seq=113 "Alterations and corrections", Radio Service Bulletin, June 1, 1923, page 11. With a new location and new frequency of 670 kHz, WMAQ went on the air July 2, 1923, although it later had to share this frequency with another local station, WQJ, which was jointly owned by the Calumet Baking Powder Company and the Rainbo Gardens Ballroom on North Clark Street. Rainbo was one of the country's top ballrooms and Calumet's broadcasts brought the company much publicity for its products.
By early 1923, the Daily News bought out the Fair Store's 51% interest in WMAQ. The News moved the station and its transmitter to the tallest building in Chicago at the time—the La Salle Hotel on West Washington street in the West Loop. In late 1923, WMAQ's power was increased to 500 watts."Alterations and Corrections", Radio Service Bulletin, January 2, 1924, page 7.
Within four weeks after its move, WMAQ obtained the exclusive Chicago rights from American Telephone & Telegraph to broadcast President Warren Harding's address from San Francisco. It also had the rights for his memorial services on August 10, 1923. At the time, it was AT&T's policy to sell the exclusive broadcasting rights for an event to one radio station per city. Shortly before the special event, AT&T would send telegrams to all radio stations, informing them of what event was to take place. The first radio station to respond was then granted the exclusive broadcast rights in that city. WMAQ later broadcast both the 1924 Republican and Democratic conventions by this same arrangement.
By 1924, the station began broadcasting sporting events, airing the 1924 World Series and convincing William Wrigley to carry all Chicago Cubs home games from Wrigley Field in 1925, the first time one station aired an entire season of Cubs games. Hal Totten, a Daily News sportswriter, was WMAQ's first sportscaster. Beginning in the fall of 1925, college football games from the University of Chicago were also broadcast. WMAQ was the first to carry an intercollegiate football game in the United States.
WMAQ became a network affiliate of the NBC Red Network in January 1927. In September 1927, it severed its ties with NBC and joined the new Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) as a charter affiliate. It was one of the 16 stations that aired the first CBS network program on September 18, 1927. The Daily News bought out WMAQ's timesharing partner, WQJ, in 1927 which made the 670 frequency exclusively available for WMAQ.
Wanting to expand its coverage area, WMAQ needed a new stronger transmitter. A site was purchased outside of the city, and in 1928, the new transmitter was constructed in Elmhurst. It was also time to move the studios from the La Salle Hotel. Walter Strong, who by then had become the publisher of the Daily News, had just finished construction of new building for his newspaper that included studio space for WMAQ. By September 1929, the station had moved to Daily News Building at 400 West Madison (today 2 North Riverside Plaza).History Cards for WSCR, fcc.gov. Retrieved February 8, 2020. In April 1930, WMAQ was organized as a subsidiary corporation with Walter Strong as its chairman of the board, and Judith Waller as vice president and station manager.
A new radio show called Amos 'n' Andy aired for the first time on WMAQ on March 19, 1928. The actors were no strangers to Chicago radio as their program originally aired on WGN as Sam 'n' Henry. Their first appearance on Chicago radio is said to have been on WLS in the late 1920s.McLeod, Elizabeth. The Original Amos 'n' Andy: Freeman Gosden, Charles Correll and the 1928–1943 Radio Serial. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2005. Charles Correll and Freeman Gosden broke with WGN over syndication rights. General manager Judith Waller saw the potential of the radio show and granted these rights to the duo as part of their WMAQ contract. Because WGN owned the rights to the characters Sam and Henry, Gosden and Correll made some revisions to their act and renamed the characters for their new program Amos and Andy. Since WMAQ was affiliated with CBS at the time, Waller tried to convince the network to make Amos 'n' Andy a network program, but there was no interest. NBC brought the program to its Blue Network in the fall of 1929, paying the duo a record $100,000 for the right to broadcast the program.
1930s