Newsweb Corporation is a printer of ethnic and alternative newspapers in the United States, based inChicago,Illinois. The company also owns AM 750WNDZ. Newsweb was founded in 1971 by Chicago entrepreneur, political activist, and philanthropistFred Eychaner to continue his printing business.[1][2]
In early 2004, the company purchased 99.9 FMWRZA from Entravision and in late 2004, the company purchased three suburban Chicago radio stations fromSpanish Broadcasting System: 92.5 FMWDEK, 92.7 FMWKIE and 92.7 FMWKIF. Thetrimulcast was formerly the home to Energy 92.7&5. WKIF was broken away from the trimulcast and WRZA took its place. WKIF became a CNN Radio affiliate. The new trimulcast became avariety hits format asNine FM, and the station later became a split-format station with Nine FM during the day and Dance Hits formatDance Factory at night. Dance Factory is operated by TKC Entertainment, which leases the air time from Newsweb. Nine FM was discontinued as of October 19, 2008, in favor of Progressive Talk simulcast with sister stationWCPT.
WCPT-FM 92.7,WCPQ 99.9, andWCPY 92.5 was a trimulcast which simulcast WCPT between 5 AM and 9 PM, and operates Dance Hits formatDance Factory at night.
On June 2, 2014, WCPT-FM and 99.9WCPQ broke away from the Progressive Talk simulcast and changed their daytime format to Polish, branded as "Polski FM". WCPT-FM then swapped callsigns with 92.5WCPY in DeKalb, which remained part of the Progressive Talk simulcast.
Newsweb Corporation owns WCPT which was anAir America andCNN Radio affiliate, and also includes locally hostedProgressive talk programming. WCPT operates on 820 AM in the Chicago area.
Newsweb purchased AM 850WAIT in 2004. Newsweb also ownsWSBC 1240 AM andWNDZ 750 AM,WCPY 92.7 FM and formerly ownedWCFJ 1470 AM, until surrendering the station's license to theFederal Communications Commission on November 9, 2015.
In May 2018, Newsweb soldWCPQ toBible Broadcasting Network for $5,099,000.[3] WCPT-FM was sold toEducational Media Foundation for $1.6 million in autumn of 2018.[4][5]
In August 2019, Newsweb sold WAIT's transmitter site toMcHenry County College, and the station was taken off the air.[6][7] Newsweb surrendered WAIT's license on July 15, 2020, and the FCC cancelled the license on July 21.[8]
Newsweb had formerly owned theGary, Indiana-licensedUPN affiliate for Chicago,WPWR-TV, until 2003, when they sold the station toFox Television Stations.
In 2006, they also soldDenver UPN affiliateKTVD toGannett,[9] who made it part of a duopoly with Gannett's localNBC affiliate,KUSA-TV. Newsweb retained KTVD's former satellite station inSterling, Colorado, KUPN (nowKCDO-TV), which was operated as independent station from 2010 to 2020. The company later sold KCDO-TV, which was briefly affiliated withGrit, toScripps in November 2020.[10]
Coincidentally, both WPWR and KTVD are affiliates ofMyNetworkTV.