Chicago Public Media (CPM) is a not-for-profit radio and print media company. CPM operates as the primary

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

member organization for

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. It owns three

non-commercial educational A non-commercial educational station (NCE station) is a radio station or television station that does not accept on-air advertisements (television advertisement, TV ads or radio advertisement, radio ads), as defined in the United States by the Fed ...

FM broadcast stations and one

FM translator A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater ( two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tr ...

. In addition to local news and information productions, it produces the programs '' Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!'' for NPR stations, and '' This American Life'' which is distributed by PRX to other radio stations. On January 30, 2022, Chicago Public Media acquired the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

'' daily newspaper.

Radio stations

* 91.5

WBEZ WBEZ (91.5 FM) – branded ''WBEZ 91.5'' – is a non-commercial educational radio station licensed to Chicago, Illinois, and primarily serving the tri-state region of the Chicago metropolitan area. It is owned by Chicago Public Media and is f ...

is Chicago's main public radio station. CPM and WBEZ were both known as "Chicago Public Radio" in the past. It is rebroadcast by 90.7

WBEQ WBEZ (91.5 FM) – branded ''WBEZ 91.5'' – is a non-commercial educational radio station licensed to Chicago, Illinois, and primarily serving the tri-state region of the Chicago metropolitan area. It is owned by Chicago Public Media and is f ...

in Morris, 91.1 WBEK in Kankakee, and translators 91.1 W216CL in Chicago and 91.7 FM W219CD in Elgin. * 89.5

WBEW WBEW (89.5 FM) is a non-commercial educational (NCE), Class B1 public radio station at Chesterton in Northwest Indiana. Since June 2007, the station has been branded Vocalo, initially airing listener submitted content and later airing an ur ...

Chesterton, Indiana Chesterton is a town in Westchester Township, Porter County, Indiana, Westchester, Jackson Township, Porter County, Indiana, Jackson and Liberty Township, Porter County, Indiana, Liberty townships in Porter County, Indiana, Porter County, in the U ...

is an urban formatted station branded "Vocalo". * 90.7 WRTE in Chicago has rebroadcast

College of DuPage College of DuPage is a Public college, public community colleges in the United States, community college with its main campus in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. The college also owns and operates satellite campuses in Addison, Illinois, Addison, Carol St ...

-owned

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. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

station WDCB since 2016. The organization was started to take over the operation of 91.5

from the Chicago Board of Education in 1990. Until April 2010, the company's legal name was The WBEZ Alliance, Inc. and it used the name Chicago Public Radio (CPR) for its primary radio station and corporate identity. On June 22, 2012, it was announced that CPM had purchased troubled WRTE from the National Museum of Mexican Art. Chicago Public Radio/Chicago Public Media also previously managed Loyola University of Chicago's WLUW (88.7 FM), heard on the North Side of Chicago and adjacent suburbs, for several years in the early 21st century, until 2007. In 2024, Chicago Public Media declared Melissa Bell as the new CEO for WBEZ and Chicago Sun-Times. Bell is a digital journalist and co-founder of Vox.

Print media

On January 30, 2022, Chicago Public Media formally took over the financially-troubled ''

'' daily newspaper, which thereby became not-for-profit. A nonbinding agreement for the deal had been announced in September 2021, and the board of Chicago Public Media had signalled its approval on January 18, 2022. The final arrangement was backed with $61 million from several philanthropic organizations.

Productions

* Chicago Amplified — a web-based audio archive of educational events in Chicago. * Off-Air Series — non-broadcast events held around the Chicago area. * ''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; ) is one of two major epics of ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest surviving works of literature and remains popular with modern audiences. Like the ''Iliad'', the ''Odyssey'' is divi ...

'' — a daily talk show from 2001 to 2005. * '' Sound Opinions'' — a rock music talk show with news, interviews, commentary, and performances; in 2020 production transferred from Chicago Public Media to Columbia College Chicago; distributed by

Public Radio Exchange The Public Radio Exchange (PRX) is a non-profit web-based platform for digital distribution, review, and licensing of radio programs. The organization is the largest on-demand catalogue of public radio programs available for broadcast and internet ...

; previously on 93.1

WXRT WXRT (93.1 FM), also known as XRT and 93-XRT is an alternative rock radio station in Chicago, Illinois. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc. The station broadcasts from a transmitter atop John Hancock Center and its studios are located at T ...

. * '' Third Coast International Audio Festival'' — formerly part of Chicago Public Media; its program ''Re:sound'' aired on

until circa 2019. * '' This American Life'' — a radio magazine based around a theme in each episode. As of 2017 through 2022, the show is self-distributed, using

to send episodes to radio stations; the related TV show with the same name ran for 2 seasons from 2007 to 2009. * '' Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!'' — a comedy quiz show co-produced with

and distributed through NPR. * ''

Worldview A worldview (also world-view) or is said to be the fundamental cognitive orientation of an individual or society encompassing the whole of the individual's or society's knowledge, culture, and Perspective (cognitive), point of view. However, whe ...

'' — a daily international-affairs program that ran from 1994 to 2019.

References

External links

* {{Official website Organizations established in 1989 Mass media companies of the United States NPR member networks Mass media in Chicago Radio in Chicago Radio broadcasting companies of the United States Radio stations in Chicago Non-profit organizations based in Chicago Companies established in 1990 Public radio in the United States