WGCI-FM (107.5

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...

) is an

urban contemporary Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, hip hop, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban conte ...

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...

that is

licensed A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, serving the

Chicago metropolitan area The Chicago metropolitan area, also colloquially referred to as Chicagoland, is a metropolitan area in the Midwestern United States. Encompassing 10,286 sq mi (28,120 km2), the metropolitan area includes the city of Chicago, its suburbs and h ...

and

Northwest Indiana Northwest Indiana, nicknamed The Region after the Calumet Region, comprises Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Newton and Jasper counties in Indiana. This region neighbors Lake Michigan and is part of the Chicago metropolitan area. According to the 2020 ...

. It is owned and operated by iHeartMedia (formerly known as Clear Channel Communications until September 2014). WGCI broadcasts with 3,700 watts (3.7 kilowatts) at 107.5 megahertz (

) from atop the

Willis Tower The Willis Tower (originally the Sears Tower) is a 108- story, skyscraper in the Loop community area of Chicago in Illinois, United States. Designed by architect Bruce Graham and engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM ...

Downtown Chicago ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distri ...

, and has studios located in the

Illinois Center Illinois Center is a mixed-use urban development in downtown Chicago, Illinois, USA, lying east of Michigan Avenue. It is notable in that the streets running through it have three levels. Elsewhere in Chicago, some streets have two levels, wit ...

complex on Michigan Avenue. Like many Clear Channel-owned urban radio stations, it uses the slogan ''"Chicago's #1 For Hip Hop and R&B"''. In 2005, WGCI began broadcasting in

IBOC In-band on-channel (IBOC) is a hybrid method of transmitting digital radio and analog radio broadcast signals simultaneously on the same frequency. The name refers to the new digital signals being broadcast in the same AM or FM band (in-band) ...

digital radio, using the HD Radio system from

iBiquity iBiquity Digital Corporation is a company formed by the merger of USA Digital Radio and Lucent Digital Radio. Based in Columbia, Maryland, with additional offices in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, and Auburn Hills, Michigan, iBiquity is a privately ...

History

WFMQ

The station began broadcasting on December 4, 1958, and held the call sign WFMQ.
1964 Broadcasting Yearbook
',

Broadcasting Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum ( radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting beg ...

, 1964. p. B-47. Retrieved February 12, 2019. The station was owned by Lester Vihon and broadcast from

One North LaSalle The One North LaSalle Building or One LaSalle Street Building is a building in the LaSalle Street corridor in the Loop community area of Chicago managed by MB Real Estate. It was for some time one of Chicago's tallest buildings. Built in 1930 by ...

with an ERP of 11,000 watts. It initially operated from 4 p.m. to midnight."WFMQ Now Operating on a Weekday Basis", ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

''. December 7, 1958. WFMQ aired

beautiful music Beautiful music (sometimes abbreviated as BM, B/EZ or BM/EZ for "beautiful music/easy listening") is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in North American radio from the late 1950s through the 1980s. Easy listening, elevator mu ...

, light classical, and classical music, along with

show tunes A show tune is a song originally written as part of the score of a work of musical theatre or musical film, especially if the piece in question has become a standard, more or less detached in most people's minds from the original context. T ...

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

, and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

programs.O'Connor, Richard. (2009).
A Brief History of Beautiful Music Radio
', Percy Faith Pages. Retrieved February 12, 2019. In 1960, the station's ERP was increased to 36,000 watts.

WNUS-FM

In 1965, the station sold to

Gordon McLendon Gordon Barton McLendon (June 8, 1921 – September 14, 1986Texas State Historical AssociationMcClendon, Gordon Barton/ref>) was a radio broadcaster. Nicknamed "the Maverick of Radio", McLendon is widely credited for perfecting, during the 1950s ...

for $400,000 and its call sign was changed to WNUS-FM.Demand is Heavy For FM Outlets
, '' Billboard''. December 5, 1964. p. 28. Retrieved February 12, 2019. The station adopted an

all-news All-news radio is a radio format devoted entirely to the discussion and broadcast of news. All-news radio is available in both local and syndicated forms, and is carried on both major US satellite radio networks. All-news stations can run the ...

format, simulcasting AM 1390 WNUS.WINS to Go News Round the Clock
, '' Billboard''. March 27, 1965. p. 62. Retrieved February 12, 2019. WNUS was the first all-news station in the United States. In 1968, the station returned to airing a beautiful music format. In 1973, the station's transmitter was moved to the

Civic Opera Building The Civic Opera Building is a 45-story office tower (plus two 22-story wings) located at 20 North Wacker Drive in Chicago. The building opened November 4, 1929, and has an Art Deco interior. It contains a 3,563-seat opera house, the Civic Opera ...

WGCI

In February 1975, Globetrotter Communications Inc. purchased 107.5 FM and its sister station 1390 AM for $3,550,000.

WVON WVON (1690 AM "The Voice of the Nation", originally "Voice of the Negro") is a radio station serving the Chicago market, which airs an African-American-oriented talk format. WVON is owned by Midway Broadcasting Corporation, and broadcasts at 1 ...

's programming moved to 1390, ending the simulcast. The station's call sign was changed to WGCI later that year, and it would air a disco-oriented format.Stations, everywhere: a listeners' guide to the AM and FM bands
, ''

Chicago Tribune Magazine The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television are ...

''. March 4, 1979. p. 37. Retrieved February 12, 2019.All things black and beautiful
, ''

''. March 4, 1979. p. 37. Retrieved February 12, 2019. The station was branded "Studio 107". In 1977, Globetrotter Communications was purchased by Combined Communications Corporation. The following year, Combined Communications merged with Gannett Co. WGCI shifted away from disco in 1980, in favor of a more broad

format. In 1983, WVON flipped its callsign to WGCI to match its FM partner, and 107.5's call sign was changed to WGCI-FM.Call letters
, ''

''. October 17, 1983. p. 82. Retrieved February 12, 2019. In the mid-1980s,

Tom Joyner Thomas Joyner (born November 23, 1949) is an American retired radio host, former host of the nationally syndicated ''The Tom Joyner Morning Show'', and also founder of Reach Media Inc., the Tom Joyner Foundation, and BlackAmericaWeb.com. Early l ...

, was simultaneously working for both a morning show at ''K-104''

KKDA-FM KKDA-FM (104.5 MHz), known as K104, has been a leading radio station in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex for 46 years. It is a longtime heritage urban contemporary formatted station. It is owned by Service Broadcasting Corporation alongside K ...

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

and an afternoon show at WGCI.'Hello, Dallas, Hello, Chicago, It's Tom Joyner Here, Live and in Person'
, ''

People A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of prope ...

''. January 20, 1986. Retrieved February 13, 2019. Instead of choosing between the two, Joyner chose to take both jobs, and for years he commuted daily by plane between the two cities, earning the nicknames "The Fly Jock" and "The Hardest Working Man in Radio".

Doug Banks Calvin Douglas Banks Jr. (June 9, 1958 – April 11, 2016) was an American radio personality and host of The Doug Banks Radio Show. Career highlights The Philadelphia-born, Detroit-raised Banks began his radio career broadcasting on his high sc ...

was morning drive host on WGCI from 1986 until 1993, when he was replaced by Tom Joyner's syndicated morning show. In 1997, comedian George Wallace co-hosted WGCI's morning show with Jeanne Sparrow. In 1997, Gannett sold both WGCI-FM and WGCI 1390 to Chancellor Media. Chancellor merged with Capstar and restructured as AMFM, Inc. in 1999, and in 2000, merged with Clear Channel Communications. In 2001, the station's transmitter was moved to the

Sears Tower The Willis Tower (originally the Sears Tower) is a 108- story, skyscraper in the Loop community area of Chicago in Illinois, United States. Designed by architect Bruce Graham and engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM ...

. In 2006 WGCI won a Marconi Award for Best Radio Station for Hip-Hop and R&B. The Crazy Howard McGee Show was replaced by the

Steve Harvey Broderick Stephen Harvey Sr. Also aired August 16, 2015. (born January 17, 1957) is an American television host, producer, actor, and comedian. He hosts '' The Steve Harvey Morning Show'', '' Family Feud'', ''Celebrity Family Feud,'' the Miss ...

Morning Show on August 1, 2007. Rosenthal, Phil.
WGCI looks to future with Steve Harvey
, ''

''. August 12, 2007. Retrieved February 13, 2019. Harvey had previously hosted mornings on WGCI from 1996 to 1997. In March 2009, Harvey moved to WVAZ, replacing Tom Joyner. On April 1, "The Morning Riot" debuted starring Tony Sculfield, Leon Rogers and Nina Chantele. Nina also did middays at Clear Channel sister station WKSC-FM. In January 2015, WGCI began airing a new morning show hosted by Leon Rogers, Kyle Santillian and Kendra G.Venta, Lance.
WGCI Launches New Morning Show
, ''RadioInsight''. January 27, 2015. Retrieved February 13, 2019. WGCI-FM formerly simulcast on

XM Satellite Radio XM Satellite Radio (XM) was one of the three satellite radio ( SDARS) and online radio services in the United States and Canada, operated by Sirius XM Holdings. It provided pay-for-service radio, analogous to subscription cable television. Its se ...

channel 241.Venta, Lance.
SiriusXM Adjusting Lineup: Z100/KIIS-FM Come to Sirius
, ''RadioInsight''. October 15, 2013. Retrieved February 13, 2019. Station owner Clear Channel sold off its ownership stake in

Sirius XM Radio Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. It was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius Sat ...

during the second quarter of fiscal year 2013.Venta, Lance.
Clear Channel Sells SiriusXM Stake; Stations to Leave Service
, ''RadioInsight''. August 2, 2013. Retrieved February 13, 2019. As a result of the sale, nine of Clear Channel's eleven XM stations, including the simulcast of WGCI FM, ceased broadcast over XM Satellite Radio on October 18, 2013.

References

External links

* * {{IHeartMedia GCI-FM Urban contemporary radio stations in the United States IHeartMedia radio stations Former Gannett subsidiaries