On June 23, 1923, the station signed on using the call sign WCBD, broadcasting at 870 kHz.[4][5] The station was located inZion, Illinois, and was owned byWilbur Glenn Voliva, who was the "General Overseer" of theChristian Catholic Apostolic Church, and was known for hisflat Earth beliefs.[4][5][6] WCBD was non-commercial, airingreligious programming that reflected Voliva's viewpoints, along with vocal and instrumental music.[5][7][8] The station originally ran at 500 watts.[4] On February 2, 1925, its power was increased to 5,000 watts.[9] From April 1924 until November 11, 1928, WCBD shared time on its frequency withWLS.[4][6] In November 1928, its frequency was changed to 1080 kHz, where it shared time withWMBI.[6][4] Both WCBD and WMBI were restricted to daytime operations to protectWBT inCharlotte, North Carolina.[10][5]
In 1934, WCBD's studios were moved to theKarcher Hotel inWaukegan, Illinois, and Gene T. Dyer was appointed station director.[6][5] The station began to air someItalian language programming.[11][12] In 1936, the station was sold to Gene T. Dyer and its studios were moved to theGuyon Paradise Ballroom in Chicago.[5][6] It became acommercial operation, and aired religious, ethnic, and music programming.[5][13][14] On April 2, 1937, the station's transmitter and the Christian Catholic Apostolic Church's Shiloh Tabernacle were destroyed in a fire set by a teenager who believed Voliva had swindled his father.[15][5] Its transmitter site was relocated toAddison Township, in what today is part ofElmhurst, Illinois, and its studios were moved to 2400 W. Madison in Chicago.[6] WCBD shared WMBI's transmitter while its new transmitter was being built.[6]
In 1940, Voliva filed suit against WCBD, alleging that the station's insistence that he provide scripts of speeches violated the terms of his contract, which allowed him to speak on the station without censorship.[16] Dyer stated that the requirement was necessary because Voliva had violated his promise not to air his political views.[16] WCBD's frequency was changed to 1110 kHz in March 1941, as a result of theNorth American Regional Broadcasting Agreement.[6]
In June 1941, the station's frequency was changed to 820 kHz.[6] It ran 5,000 watts, signing off at sunset inDallas to protectWBAP inFort Worth.[6] The call sign was changed to WAIT on September 15, 1941.[6] In 1947, the station began sharing time with a new WCBD, owned by the Christian Catholic Church in Zion, Illinois, which operated on Sundays only.[5][6][17] In 1959, WAIT's owners purchased WCBD for $132,000, and WAIT was granted full daytime operations on the frequency.[17][18]Daddy-O Daylie began his radio career on WAIT in 1948, hosting ajazz program.[19][20] Daylie remained on the station until 1956, when he began hosting a nighttime show on 670WMAQ.[21]
In 1951, the station's studios were moved to its transmitter site in Elmhurst.[6] In 1954, it was sold to Robert Oscar Miller and family.[6][22]Nelson Eddy, theWayne King Orchestra,Liberace,Coke Time with Eddie Fisher, andThe Hour of Charm were heard on WAIT in the 1950s.[23] In the mid-1950s, WAIT published a chart of the top 20 popular songs in Chicago.[24] Reed Farrell and Lloyd 'Spider' Webb were DJs on the station during this period.[24][25][26][27] In 1957, the station's studios were moved to theSteuben Club Building.[6] In 1963, its studios were moved back to its transmitter site in Elmhurst, though its offices remained in the Steuben Club Building.[6][28]
In 1962, the station was sold to a partnership led by Maurice and Lois Rosenfield, for $1 million.[29][30][31] It adopted abeautiful music format in early 1963, which it continued to air through the 1970s.[32][30][33][34] It was branded "The World's Most Beautiful Music" and used the slogan "try a little tenderness".[35] Personalities heard on WAIT during this era included Ken Alexander,Dick Buckley, andJohn Doremus.[36][37] In 1967, the station applied to theFederal Communications Commission for a waiver of itsclear-channel rules so that it could operate at night.[38] When the FCC denied its application, it appealed to theD.C. Court of Appeals, which upheld the FCC's decision.[38][39]
In autumn 1976, the station shifted to anadult contemporary format.[40][41] In October 1977, WAIT switched to atalk format.[42] However, its ratings dropped considerably after it abandoned the beautiful music format, and in August 1978 it returned to the beautiful music format it had long aired.[43][44][45][34] In 1979, the station's license was assigned to Century Chicago Broadcasting, a partnership of Century Broadcasting Corporation and the station's previous owners.[6][46] In 1980, it applied to the FCC for aconstruction permit to add nighttime operations at 1,000 watts.[6] The permit was granted in 1981, and it began nighttime operations by 1982.[47][48][49][50] In 1981, the station started carryingNorthwestern Wildcats football games.[47]
In October 1982, WAIT began airing anadult standards format branded "Great Hits", featuring the hits of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s.[51][52][53][54] The station airedChuck Schaden's Radio Theatre weekday evenings.[54]Eddie Hubbard joined WAIT in 1983, and hosted the morning drive show.[55][56] Dick Buckley hosted a jazz program Saturday nights from 1984 to 1985.[57][58]
On April 7, 1986, the station began airing asoft adult contemporary format as "Cozy" WCZE.[59][60] Gary Parks hosted morning drive, while the rest of its programming was delivered by satellite fromTranstar Radio Networks' "Format 41" service.[59][60][61] In April 1988, its call sign was changed to WXEZ, standing for "Extra Easy", and it became asimulcast ofWXEZ-FM, airingeasy listening music.[62][63] In 1989, it shifted back to a soft AC format, playing more vocals and fewer instrumentals.[64] On November 16, 1990, the station's call sign was changed to WPNT, and it briefly aired ahot AC format branded "The Point," simulcasting WPNT-FM.[65] In early January 1991, the station was taken off the air, as its owner disposed of its transmitter site in Elmhurst, Illinois.[66][67]
Former studio and transmitter site in Chicago's Cragin neighborhood
In late 1991, the station was sold to Diamond Broadcasting.[68][69] At 7:15 a.m. on January 2, 1992, it returned to the air from a new site in Chicago'sCragin neighborhood, though without nighttime operations.[70][71] It becameWSCR "The Score," the firstall-sports station in Chicago.[72][73] The Score's original hosts included Tom Shaer,Dan Jiggetts partnered withMike North, and Dan McNeil.[73] McNeil would later be partnered withTerry Boers.[74] FormerChicago Bears coachMike Ditka hosted a weekly show in 1992, and served as an analyst during football season until 1997, when he was hired to coach theNew Orleans Saints.[75][74][76] WSCR carriedIllinois Fighting Illini basketball in the 1993–1994 season, but their status as a daytimer limited the number of games they could air.[77][78][79] Night games instead aired on 92.7WCBR-FM.[77][80]
On November 10, 1994, WSCR was granted a construction permit to broadcast at night, running 1,200 watts from a site inLemont, Illinois.[81] In 1995, the station was sold toWestinghouse (Group W), along withWXRT, for $60 million.[82] Westinghouse decided against building the nighttime transmitter site in Lemont, and instead made plans to move "The Score" to1160 AM.[83] The construction permit to add nighttime operations was cancelled.[84] On April 7, 1997, at 2:30 p.m., "The Score" moved to 1160 AM, along with the WSCR call letters.[85][86]
In early 1997, the station was sold to N. John Douglas's Personal Achievement Radio, Inc. for $7.5 million.[87][88][89] On April 7, 1997, it began airing a motivational talk format as "Personal Achievement Radio", and its call sign was changed to WYPA.[85] Its programming was presented in short segments, less than ten minutes long, and included material culled from the libraries of self-help publishers featuring speakers such asTony Robbins, as well as locally produced segments featuringWayne Messmer and Mary Laney.[90][91] Weekends featured longer shows, with local hosts such asLes Brown, as well asbrokered programming.[90]
On June 9, 1998, "Personal Achievement Radio" moved toWNDZ, and WYPA adopted a Spanish language talk format as an affiliate of "Radio Unica."[92][93] Personalities heard on Radio Unica includedPedro Sevcec,Isabel Gómez-Bassols, among others.[94] In 1998, the station's owner, Achievement Radio Holdings, merged with Z-Spanish Media.[95] On May 15, 1999, Radio Unica moved to 950WNTD, though it continued to simulcast on WYPA.[96][97][98]
In mid-1999, the station was purchased by Catholic Family Radio for $10.5 million, and on June 9 it began airing aCatholic talk format.[99][100][98][101] Hosts includedRay Guarendi,Raymond Flynn,Dan Lungren, andAl Kresta.[102][103] In April 2000, Catholic Family Radio placed all of its radio stations up for sale, and on May 29, most of Catholic Family Radio's programming was replaced byEWTN Radio, with Al Kresta's show being the only Catholic Family Radio show remaining on the station.[104][103]
In April 2003,Starboard Broadcasting began leasing two hours of airtime a day to air theRelevant Radio Catholic network.[116] On December 1, 2003, it began leasing the entire day.[117] On May 3, 2005, the station's call letters were changed back to WAIT when Newsweb'sWAIT (850 AM) launched a progressive talk format with the new call letters WCPT.[110][118][119] Newsweb's owner,Fred Eychaner, is a significant donor toDemocratic Party causes.[120][119] Later that year, the station'scity of license was changed from Chicago to Willow Springs.[121] In October 2007, Relevant Radio moved to WNTD, though it continued to simulcast on WAIT until November 25.[122][123]
In late October 2008, the station started simulcasting on 92.7WCPT-FM inArlington Heights, 92.5WCPY inDeKalb, and 99.9WCPQ inPark Forest.[130][134][135] On March 19, 2009, WCPT andWIND hosted "The Great Debate", featuring Thom Hartmann representing the liberal viewpoint andMichael Medved representing the conservative viewpoint, and moderated byCisco Cotto and Dick Kay.[136] On April 29, 2010, WCPT began broadcasting 24 hours a day, although it reduces power to 1,500 watts after sunset so not to interfere with WBAP in Fort Worth.[137][138][2] On June 2, 2014, WCPT-FM and WCPQ broke away from the simulcast, and 92.5 in DeKalb took the WCPT-FM call sign.[139] In 2016, WCPT's daytime power was increased to 5,800 watts, and its daytime transmitter was moved to Chicago's Jefferson Park neighborhood.[3][140] In 2018, WCPT-FM was sold toEducational Media Foundation and became an affiliate ofK-Love, aChristian contemporary music network.[141]
Joan Esposito joined WCPT as weekday afternoon host on February 11, 2019.[142] In late February 2019, the station began carryingThe Rick Ungar Show.[143]Santita Jackson joined WCPT as morning drive host on June 3, 2019.[144] On November 18, 2021, the station launched an associated digital newsroom, Heartland Signal.[145]
In 2024, Newsweb transferred WCPT andWSBC to Heartland Signal for $1.[146]
^Deeb, Gary. "WAIT takes a different Muzak tack by softly rocking bland and bland",Chicago Tribune. November 17, 1976. Section 2, p. 14.
^Deeb, Gary. "'60 Minutes' has new cousin: 'Who's Who'",Chicago Tribune. November 29, 1976. Section 2, p. 10.
^Deeb, Gary. "Miller tops list at WAIT",Chicago Tribune. September 19, 1977. Section 3, p. 12.
^Deeb, Gary. "WAIT has some problems that just won't wait",Chicago Tribune. January 12, 1978. Section 2, p. 10.
^Duncan, James H. "Chicago: 12+ Metro Share",An American Radio Trilogy 1975 to 2004. Volume 1: The Markets. Duncan's American Radio. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
^Deeb, Gary. "Mutual's feeling is that WCFL should join the all-talk trend",Chicago Tribune. August 22, 1978. Section 2, p. 8.
^De Luca, Chris. "Sox' skid is over - But trade speculation overshadows victory",Chicago Sun-Times. May 25, 2001. p. 96.
^Coppock, Chet. "Simply the Best - When all is said and done, Bears-Packers rivalry has no equal, writes Chet Coppock",Chicago Sun-Times. November 11, 2001. p. 130.
^Feder, Robert. "'Fix' is finished - Emmis pulls the plug on Q101.1's bold morning show after 14 months",Chicago Sun-Times. November 9, 2007. p. 63.
^Feder, Robert. "Meter's stuck - Arbitron bows to industry complaints by delaying new radio ratings system",Chicago Sun-Times. November 27, 2007. p. 47.
