Chicago share timers

[Dan Strassberg]

Thanks for explaining the 1240 Chicago call letters. It appears that the
original WEBH (AM) must have been somehow connected to the station that is
now on 820 in Chicago. Didn't the Pre-NARBA 810 become today's 820? The 820
station has had several sets of calls in recent years but I think is best
known as WAIT, which may or may not be the current calls. Except for a brief
period 10 or 15 years ago when it operated nights until it lost its Tx site,
the 820 station has been a daytimer (limited-time actually--signing off at
Fort Worth--WBAP, and before that WFAA/WBAP--sunset). I think that the 820
station, which now transmits days from the WXRT (FM) tower on Chicago's
North Side, again holds a CP for night operation using a new CoL (Willow
Springs?) and 1500W from a six-tower array outside the Chicago city limits
southwest of the Loop. At one point many decades ago, the FCC forced the
Chicago 820 station (it was probably still on 810 at that time) to share
time with a station that had the calls WCBD licensed to (I think) Zion IL.
As I've heard the story, WCBD then bought out WAIT and operated during its
entire boradcast day as WAIT using WAIT's transmitter site and Chicago CoL.
Chicago absolutely has some of America's most interesting radio history!

Here is an interesting, apocryphal story about the Chicago 1240 trio.
According to the story, when Fred Eyechaner's NewsWeb Corp bought out WEDC
and WCRW and merged them into WSBC, NewsWeb kept all three licenses for
quite a while and MAY actually have used all three transmitter sites during
different dayparts. Since WSBC's format is multi-ethnic, the speculation was
that WSBC used whichever site delivered the best signal to each program's
target ethnic group. However, when the licenses were up for renewal, the
FCC's position was, "It's one station now, so pick a site and use it
full-time. An auxiliary site is acceptable but you can't use it
routinely--only when there is a reason--such as tower maintenance--not to
use the main site. Surrender the two licenses that you aren't using."

--
Dan Strassberg, dan.strassberg@att.net
eFax 707-215-6367

----- Original Message -----
From: "Russ Butler" <songbook2@comcast.net>
To: <boston-radio-interest@rolinin.bostonradio.org>; "Russ Butler"
<songbook2@comcast.net>
Sent: Saturday, August 11, 2007 2:06 PM
Subject: Chicago share timers


> Three, 250watt stations shared the broadcast day in Chicago from 1928 to
> 1997.  They were all first on 1210AM, then beginning in 1941, shared
1240AM.
>
> WSBC started in 1923 by the Silvertone Battery Company, later World
> Battery Company, makers of batteries for radio power before
> electricity.  (The Atlass Brothers also made batteries for radios when
> they started Chicago's WBBM in 1911 with the slogan "World's Best
> Battery Maker" W=B=B=M)  Broadcast tower for WSBC 1Kw signal is still at
> 4949 W. Belmont Ave.
>
> WEDC started in 1926 by The Emil Denemark Cadillac dealership to
> advertise their cars at Ogden and Cermak.  Their broadcast time was from
> Midnight to 8 a.m. (nighttime only) with a deejay in the showroom with
> turntables who took phone requests for records from the nurses and
> flight attendants living in an apartment complex across the street.
> Just for fun, he occasionally tooted the Cadillac's horn in the showroom
> when a caller won a onair contest! Transmitter was on top of the
> dealership.
>
> Incidentally as an aside and somewhat comparable - WEBH-FM returned to
> Chicago's Edgewater Beach Hotel in the mid-1950's with "fishbowl"
> studios in the elegant lobby of the hotel (I worked onair there as hotel
> guests gawked in the window) with transmitter on the hotel's roof.
> Originally, WEBH 810AM started in 1924 to broadcast dance bands in the
> same hotel location until 1929 - and, Amos 'n Andy got their start as
> "Sam and Henry" at the WEBH hotel studios before they went to WMAQ-NBC.
>
> WCRW was started by Clinton R. White (W=C=R=W) and his wife, Josephine
> also in 1926 to broadcast the live orchestras who played on the roof top
> of their Pine Grove Apartments where they lived at 2756 N. Pine Grove.
> The transmitter tower was on the roof  with 100watts of power, originally.
>
> Their shared time was a divided day with WSBC, each had some daytime
> hours and nighttime hours to broadcast programs 8 a.m. until Midnight.
> Josephine was the only deejay in the 1920's and 30's and did the office
> work, while Clinton sold advertising and did the technical work.  He
> died in the 1950's during a meeting on the roof about his transmitter
> and tower improvements, and Josephine died in 1990 at age 90.  In later
> years, she would take the elevator to the penthouse where WCRW was
> located wearing slippers and a housecoat and nobody thought anything
> about it, it was "their radio station" after all!
>
> WSBC bought out the other share time stations in 1997 and all were
> programming ethnic shows by then and all were broadcasting 1Kw.
>
> =Russ Butler  songbook2@comcast.net
>