On October 13, 1924, the station first signed on with the call sign WJJD.[4][5] The station was owned by the Loyal Order of Moose and was located in Mooseheart, Illinois.[4][6][7][8] It was powered at 500 watts and operated at 278 meters (1080 kHz).[4][6] In January 1925, its frequency was changed to 990 kHz and in December 1925 it was changed to 810 kHz.[4][9][10] By 1926, the station's power had been increased to 1,000 watts.[10]
In 1926, auxiliary studios were established in the Palmer House, from which a variety of musical programming was broadcast.[4][11][12][13] In 1927, the station's frequency was changed to 820 kHz, and the following year its frequency was changed to 1180 kHz and its power was increased to 20,000 watts.[7] In 1929, its frequency was changed to 1130 kHz.[7] For most of its history, WJJD was a daytimer, required to sign off at sunset in Salt Lake City, to protect clear-channel station, KSL.[7]
WJJD aired a variety of music, general entertainment, sports, and public interest programming in the 1920s,[4][11] 30s,[12][13][14] and 40s.[15][16]
Lew Fonseca and Charlie Grimm broadcast Chicago Cubsbaseball games on WJJD during the 1939 and 1940 seasons.[19] WJJD won the exclusive rights to broadcast Cubs games locally in 1944, though 560 WIND won exclusive rights to broadcast the following season.[20]Ed Short was the station's director of sports publicity and promotion from 1946 until 1950, when he became the Chicago White Sox press and promotion director.[21][22]
In 1944, the station was sold to Field Enterprises for approximately $750,000.[23][24][25] In 1947, the station's power was increased to 50,000 watts, although it could only broadcast during the daytime.[7] In 1947, WJJD began airing Here Comes Tomorrow, which was the first radio serial with an all African-American cast.[26][27]Al Benson was a R&B disc jockey on WJJD in the late 1940s.[28]
In 1953, Plough Broadcasting purchased WJJD for $900,000.[29] Plough Broadcasting was a subsidiary of the large pharmaceutical company Schering-Plough. WJJD featured both pop[30][31][32][33] and country music programs in the 1950s, in an era where country and western music was not common on radio stations in Northern U.S. cities.[34][35]
In June 1956, WJJD left country music for several years, flipping to a Top 40 format.[36] But with tough competition from 890 WLS in the early 1960s, WJJD shifted to a pop standard format.[37][38][39][40] In 1961, the studios were moved to the transmitter site in Des Plaines.[7]
WJJD's studio building in Des Plaines
On February 15, 1965, WJJD adopted a country music format.[40][41][42] The station's programming was simulcast on 104.3 WJJD-FM, with the FM station continuing WJJD's country programming after sunset.[42] In 1966, its studios and transmitter were moved one mile west.[7] In 1977, the simulcast ended when 104.3 FM switched to a "beautiful country" format as WJEZ.[43]
In April 1982, the station began 24-hour operations, running 2,500 watts at night, with plans to increase its nighttime power to 10,000 watts in July.[44][45] However, its nighttime power was reduced to 5,000 watts later that decade.[46][47]
In 1984, WJJD and WJEZ were sold to Infinity Broadcasting for $13.5 million.[59]Clark Weber joined WJJD in 1985, hosting a talk show weekday mornings, while adult standards continued to air in the remainder of the schedule.[60][61][62][55] In April 1993, the station began airing G. Gordon Liddy's syndicated talk show middays.[63][64]
In November 1994, WJJD dropped adult standards music altogether for a full-time talk format.[65][66] Hosts included Ed Vrdolyak, Ty Wansley, G. Gordon Liddy, David Brenner, the Don and Mike Show, Tom Leykis and Jim Bohannon.[66] WJJD began airing The Howard Stern Show mornings in October 1995.[67] Ed Vrdolyak and Ty Wansley were moved from mornings, and replaced Don and Mike in the afternoon.[67] On July 29, 1996, WJJD returned to an adult standards format, though it retained G. Gordon Liddy and Tom Leykis's programs.[68]
In 1996, Infinity Broadcasting was purchased by the parent company of CBS.[69] That meant WJJD was now sister stations with WBBM and WBBM-FM. On February 3, 1997, the station began simulcasting the oldies programming of 104.3 WJMK.[70]
On August 1, 2000, Infinity Broadcasting ended 670 WMAQ's all news format, leaving co-owned WBBM 780 as the only all-news formatted station in Chicago. At that point, WMAQ began simulcasting WSCR's sports programming.[75][76] Two weeks later, the WSCR call sign officially moved to AM 670, retiring the long-standing WMAQ call letters on 670 in the process.[76][77] On August 15, 2000, 1160's call sign was changed to WXRT, and the station began simulcasting the adult album alternative programming of 93.1 WXRT-FM.[77][1]
WYLL's daytime transmitter site in Des Plaines
WYLL
In late 2000, Salem Communications purchased the station for $29 million.[78] In February 2001, Salem moved the Christian talk programming of WYLL 106.7 FM to 1160 AM, along with the WYLL call letters.[79][1] The station was branded "Chicago's Word".[80] FM 106.7 switched to a Christian contemporary music format the following month.[81][82]
In addition to the primarily national Christian talk and teaching programming heard on the station, Sandy Rios hosted a local talk show weekday afternoons on WYLL from 1994 to 2001 and again from 2007 to 2010, when she moved to Washington, D.C.[83][84]
On April 7, 2005, WYLL's nighttime power was increased to 50,000 watts.[85][86] The higher power required a six-tower directional array, with the towers used for daytime broadcasts about 30 miles away from the towers used for nighttime operation.
^ abAlridge, Ron. "WJJD having time of its life with 'Music of Your Life'", Chicago Tribune. July 5, 1982. Section 2, p. 8.
^Duncan, James H. "Chicago: 12+ Metro Share", An American Radio Trilogy 1975 to 2004. Volume 1: The Markets. Duncan's American Radio. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
