WCGO (1590 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 radio ...

broadcasting a

talk Talk may refer to: Communication * Communication, the encoding and decoding of exchanged messages between people * Conversation, interactive communication between two or more people * Lecture, an oral presentation intended to inform or instruct ...

format, with Korean Christian programming weekday mornings. Licensed to

Evanston, Illinois Evanston ( ) is a city, suburb of Chicago. Located in Cook County, Illinois, United States, it is situated on the North Shore along Lake Michigan. Evanston is north of Downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, Wil ...

, United States, it serves the

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

area. The station is currently owned by William Pollack's Pollack Broadcasting, through licensee Evanston Broadcasting LLC. It is also heard locally in Evanston and nearby neighborhoods of Chicago through a translator at 95.9 FM.

1590 AM The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 1590 kHz: 1590 AM is a Regional broadcast frequency. Argentina * LRI434 in Dolores, Buenos Aires. * Serodino in Serodino, Santa Fe. * Stentor in Buenos Aires. Colombia * HJIP at Envig ...

is a Regional broadcast frequency. There are no stations in Hawaii, Alaska or Canada on 1590 AM, and there is only one in Mexico.

History

WNMP

The station began broadcasting on September 29, 1947, and held the call sign WNMP. WNMP operated during daytime hours only, with a power of 1,000 watts.

Block programming Block programming is the broadcast programming, arrangement of programs on radio or television so that those of a particular genre, theme, or target audience are united. Overview Block programming involves scheduling a series of related shows whi ...

was aired in its early years. In 1959, the station adopted a

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...

/ light music format. In 1960, the station was sold to

Harry H. Semrow Harry H. Semrow (August 19, 1915 – November 23, 1987) was an American politician, businessman, baseball team owner. From 1957 until 1961, Semrow served in the Illinois House of Representatives as a Democratic Party (United States), Democr ...

and his brother Otto Semrow for $325,000. The station aired an

easy listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, n ...

format in the 1960s and carried

Northwestern Wildcats football The Northwestern Wildcats football team represents Northwestern University as an NCAA Division I college football team and member of the Big Ten Conference based near Chicago in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern began playing fo ...

. In December 1969, the station was sold to Alan H. Cummings and Buddy Black for $875,000.

WLTD

Its call sign was changed to WLTD on November 2, 1970. WLTD aired easy listening music,

old-time radio The Golden Age of Radio, also known as the old-time radio (OTR) era, was an era of radio in the United States where it was the dominant electronic home entertainment medium. It began with the birth of commercial radio broadcasting in the early ...

shows, and specialty talk shows. On May 2, 1970,

Chuck Schaden Charles Leroy "Chuck" Schaden, born June 29, 1934, is a Chicago-area broadcaster and historian who hosted the program ''Those Were the Days'' on local radio from 1970 to 2009. Schaden played recordings of classic old-time radio shows and reminisc ...

's first ''Those Were The Days'' program aired on WNMP.TWTD Archive – May 2, 1970
, Speaking of Radio. Retrieved March 22, 2019. It continued on WLTD until 1975, when the station changed format. In 1975, the station was sold to Kovas Communications for $400,000, and adopted a

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 musi ...

format.
Broadcasting Yearbook 1976
',

Broadcasting Broadcasting is the distribution (business), distribution of sound, audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio ...

, 1976. p. C-59. Retrieved March 22, 2019.

WONX

On April 9, 1979, the station's call sign was changed to WONX. The station switched to 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 peninsula. Today, it is a world language, global language with more than 500 millio ...

format.
Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 1981
',

Broadcasting & Cable ''Broadcasting & Cable'' (or ''Broadcasting+Cable'') is a weekly telecommunications industry trade magazine published by Future US. Previous names included ''Broadcasting-Telecasting'', ''Broadcasting and Broadcast Advertising'', and ''Broadcast ...

, 1981. p. C-70. Retrieved March 22, 2019.
Broadcasting/Cablecasting Yearbook 1985
',

, 1985. p. B-82. Retrieved March 22, 2019. Programming in other languages were also aired over the years.
The Broadcasting Yearbook 1990
',

, 1990. p. B-98. Retrieved March 22, 2019.
Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 1995
',

, 1995. p. B-123. Retrieved March 22, 2019.
Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 2000
',

, 2000. p. D-136. Retrieved March 22, 2019.
Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 2008
',

, 2008. p. D-185. Retrieved March 22, 2019. In 1982, the station added nighttime operations, running 2,500 watts. It used a four-tower

directional array An antenna array (or array antenna) is a set of multiple connected antennas which work together as a single antenna, to transmit or receive radio waves. The individual antennas (called ''elements'') are usually connected to a single receiver or ...

at night.AM Query Results: WCGO
fcc.gov. Retrieved March 22, 2019. In 1997, the station's daytime power was increased to 3,500 watts.

WCGO

On April 10, 2009, the previous

WCGO WCGO (1590 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a talk format, with Korean Christian programming weekday mornings. Licensed to Evanston, Illinois, United States, it serves the Chicago area. The station is currently owned by William Pollack's Po ...

on 1600, also owned by Kovas, was taken off the air. On April 13, 2009, WONX's call sign was changed to WCGO. With 1600 now vacant, the new WCGO was able to increase its daytime power to 7,000 watts. In 2014, the station's daytime power was increased to 10,000 watts. WCGO began airing talk programs in September 2014, with local shows hosted by Franklin Raff and Geoff Pinkus, as well as

Dana Loesch Dana Lynn Loesch ( ; ; born September 28, 1978) is an American radio and TV host. She is a former spokesperson for the National Rifle Association and a former writer and editor for ''Breitbart News''. Loesch was the host of the program ''Dana'' ...

's syndicated program. On April 6, 2015,

Milt Rosenberg Milton J. "Milt" Rosenberg (April 15, 1925 – January 9, 2018) was a prominent social psychologist who was professor of psychology at the University of Chicago and was the host of a long-running radio program in Chicago, Illinois. Rosenberg was ...

began hosting a program on the station. As of 2023, its programming is multilingual: Weekend programming includes ''Legal Eagles'' with William Pelarenos, '' The Dave Ramsey Show'', The ''The Assyrian Cultural Foundation: The Guiding Voice'' with Ninos Nirari, The Chicago Wine Report with Chip Dudley, Tom Hall, and Lainie Petersen, Domingo Felices with Frank Camacho, and Dialogo Politico with Robert Ameneiro. Weekdays features Korean Christian programming weekday mornings, Russian language programing via Radio NVC weekday afternoons, and Multiformat Network show highlights in the evenings. Overnight programming is ''

Coast to Coast AM ''Coast to Coast AM'' is an American late-night radio talk show that deals with a variety of topics. Most frequently the topics relate to either the paranormal or conspiracy theories. It was hosted by creator Art Bell from its inception in 19 ...

'' and Coast to Coast Weekends with

George Noory George Ralph Noory (born June 4, 1950) is an American radio talk show host. Since January 2003, Noory has been the weekday host of the late-night radio talk show ''Coast to Coast AM''. The program is syndicated to hundreds of radio stations in ...

. In 2017, the station was sold to William Pollack for $3 million.WCGO Being Purchased By William Pollack
, ''Chicagoland Radio and Media''. May 11, 2017. Retrieved March 23, 2019.Application Search Details – BAL-20170512AAE
fcc.gov. Retrieved March 23, 2019. In 2019, WCGO became the flagship station of the national SmartTalk Radio Network.

References

External links

{{News/Talk Radio Stations in Illinois CGO Talk radio stations in the United States Korean-language radio stations in the United States Evanston, Illinois Radio stations established in 1947 1947 establishments in Illinois