WRTO (1200 AM) is a

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 ...

broadcasting a Spanish

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

format. Licensed to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Roc ...

, United States, the station serves the Chicago area. It is owned by

Univision Univision () is an American Spanish-language free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the Latino public and inclu ...

subsidiary Univision Radio Illinois, Inc., and features local programming as well as shows originating at other

Univision Radio Uforia Audio Network () is the radio broadcasting and music events division of TelevisaUnivision USA. Formerly known as Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation and Univision Radio, it is the eighth-largest radio broadcaster in the United States, and ...

stations. The station is the flagship station of the Chicago Fire of

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Cana ...

and the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

. It also broadcasts select

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on Januar ...

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is locate ...

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

and

Chicago Blackhawks The Chicago Blackhawks (spelled Black Hawks until 1986, and known colloquially as the Hawks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago. The Blackhawks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division i ...

games in Spanish.

History

The station began broadcasting in January 1990, and held the call sign WOPA. It was owned by CID Broadcasting Inc. In 1993, its format was changed from

Regional Mexican Regional Mexican is a Latin music radio format encompassing the musical genres from the different parts of rural Mexico and the Southwestern United States. Genres include banda, country en español, Duranguense, grupero, mariachi, New Mex ...

to Spanish AC. In 1995, the station was sold to Heftel Broadcasting for $4.5 million. Concurrent with the sale, its call sign was changed to WLXX, and it switched back to a Regional Mexican format branded "La X". Feder, Robert. "New WLXX Goes 'Mexican Country'", ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

''. June 13, 1995. p. 35. On September 20, 1996, the station adopted a

tropical music Tropical music ( es, música tropical) is a term in the Latin music industry that refers to music genres deriving from or influenced by the Spanish-speaking areas of the Caribbean. It includes the islands of Cuba, Puerto Rico, The Dominican Repub ...

format. On January 12, 2003, the station adopted a Spanish

Hot AC Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, qui ...

format branded "Viva", simulcasting 103.1 WXXY. On January 17, 2003, its call sign was changed to WVIV, while its FM sister station's call sign was changed to WVIV-FM. In October 2003, the station's call sign was changed to WRTO, and it began airing Spanish-language talk programming, which Univision had moved from AM 560

WIND Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few ...

. It became a full time Spanish-language news/talk station in February 2004. WRTO became a part of the

Univision America Univision America (stylized as Univision AMerica) was a Spanish-language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsu ...

Talk Radio network 4 July 2012. While the network itself ceased operations in 2015, WRTO aired remnants of Univision America's programming, as well as its local news, sports, and weather. On March 16, 2017, the station switched to a Spanish language all-sports format, as an affiliate of

Univision Deportes TUDN (formerly Univision Deportes) is a sports programming division of Univision, a Spanish language broadcast television network owned by TelevisaUnivision USA, that is responsible for the production of televised coverage of sports events and m ...

.WRTO-AM Flips To Univision Deportes 1200 AM
, ''Chicagoland Radio and Media''. March 21, 2017. Retrieved July 29, 2017.

References

External links

{{TUDN Radio Hispanic and Latino American culture in Chicago Sports radio stations in the United States RTO RTO Univision Radio Network stations Radio stations established in 1990 1990 establishments in Illinois