WDYS (1480

kHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that on ...

) is a commercial AM

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 soft

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as we ...

and adult standards

format Format may refer to: Printing and visual media * Text formatting, the typesetting of text elements * Paper formats, or paper size standards * Newspaper format, the size of the paper page Computing * File format, particular way that informatio ...

. Licensed to

Somonauk, Illinois Somonauk is a village in DeKalb and LaSalle Counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. The population was 1,786 at the 2020 Census, down from 1,893 at the 2010 Census. The DeKalb County portion of Somonauk is part of the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, ...

, it serves

DeKalb County DeKalb County may refer to one of several counties in the United States, all of which were named for Baron Johan DeKalb: * DeKalb County, Alabama * DeKalb County, Georgia * DeKalb County, Illinois * DeKalb County, Indiana * DeKalb County, Missouri ...

and the Fox Valley, suburbs west of

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

. It is owned by Nelson Multimedia Inc., with programming coming from Westwood One's "

America's Best Music America's Best Music is the on-air branding of a soft oldies and adult standards 24-hour radio network, formerly known as AM Only. The service is syndicated by Westwood One, a subsidiary of Cumulus Media. It was one of the original Transtar Ra ...

" service. WDYS is powered at 250

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...

s by day, and only 10 watts at night. Programming is also heard on 250-watt FM translator W268DB at 101.5

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...

, licensed to Yorkville. The studios and

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which i ...

are on Frazier Road in Plano.

History

WGSB

The station

signed on Signing may refer to: * Using sign language * Signature A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a handwritten (and often stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on do ...

the air on .
1971 Broadcasting Yearbook
',

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 ...

. 1971. p. B-64. Retrieved August 18, 2018. The original

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...

was WGSB.Ghrist, John R. (1996). ''Valley Voices: A Radio History''. Crossroads Communications. p. 107-115. The call letters stood for

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

, St. Charles,

Batavia Batavia may refer to: Historical places * Batavia (region), a land inhabited by the Batavian people during the Roman Empire, today part of the Netherlands * Batavia, Dutch East Indies, present-day Jakarta, the former capital of the Dutch East In ...

, or "Where Good Sounds Begin". The station was originally owned by the Fox Valley Broadcasting Corporation. Nelda Brickhouse, wife of

WGN-TV WGN-TV (channel 9) is an Independent station (North America), independent television station in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, it is sister station, sister to the company's sole radio property, talk ra ...

sportscaster Jack Brickhouse, bought into the station 1966, purchasing controlling interest in 1970. For many years, the station was known as the "Voice of the Fox River Valley".
Chicagoland Radio Waves
', MediaTies. Summer 1988. Retrieved August 22, 2018. The station primarily aired

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 ...

music, but in 1964 the station began carrying Dick Biondi's syndicated program from the

Mutual Broadcasting System The Mutual Broadcasting System (commonly referred to simply as Mutual; sometimes referred to as MBS, Mutual Radio or the Mutual Radio Network) was an American commercial radio network in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the Old-time radio, golden ...

. The station also carried the

Jim Ameche Jim Ameche (August 6, 1915 – February 4, 1983)Cox, Jim (2008). ''This Day in Network Radio: A Daily Calendar of Births, Debuts, Cancellations and Other Events in Broadcasting History''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . Page 29. was an American r ...

Show,WGSB: Voice of the Fox River Valley
. WGSB. Retrieved August 21, 2018. along with community programming including high school sports and local call in program "Party Line". Bill Blough hosted an overnight

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

program on the station from 1967 to 1970, and again in the late 1970s. The station otherwise aired a

MOR Mor or MOR may refer to: Names and titles * Mór (given name), a list of people named Mór or Mor * Mor (surname), a list of people named Mor or Mór * Mor (honorific), or Mar, in Syriac Radio and television * Middle of the road (music) genre * ...

format throughout the 1970s.
Broadcasting Yearbook 1978
',

. 1978. p. C-65. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
Broadcasting Yearbook 1979
',

. 1979. p. C-66. Retrieved August 22, 2018.

WFXW

In 1980, the station was purchased by Howard Miller, a former disc jockey and talk show host on 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 hou ...

.Presecky, William.
Static In Store For Fox Valley Local Radio
, ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

''. July 25, 2000. Retrieved August 19, 2018. In December 1980, Miller changed the station's call sign to WFXW, after being unable to obtain the call letters WFOX. In 1983, the station was sold to Gamel Broadcasting for $580,000. In 1988, Louis Pignatelli purchased a controlling interest in the station. WFXW aired a

full service Full service or Full Service may refer to: * Full-service radio, a wide range of programming * Full Service Network, a communications company Entertainment * "Full Service", a song by the New Kids on the Block from their album ''The Block'' * F ...

format, with local

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 ...

programs and a strong emphasis on local affairs, along with

adult contemporary 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, quie ...

music.
Broadcasting/Cablecasting Yearbook 1985
', Broadcasting/Cablecasting. 1985. p. B-82. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
Chicago Radio Guide
'. Vol. 1, No. 1. May 1985. Retrieved August 21, 2018. The station also aired

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s an ...

and

programs, as well as farm reports,

Paul Harvey Paul Harvey Aurandt (September 4, 1918 – February 28, 2009) was an American radio broadcaster for ABC News Radio. He broadcast ''News and Comment'' on mornings and mid-days on weekdays and at noon on Saturdays and also his famous ''The Rest o ...

, and Pacific Garden Mission's radio drama ''

Unshackled! ''Unshackled!'' is a radio drama series produced by Pacific Garden Mission, in Chicago, Illinois, that first aired on September 23, 1950. It is one of the longest-running radio dramas in history and one of a very few still in production in the Un ...

''.
Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 1993
',

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 ...

. 1993. p. B-110. Retrieved August 22, 2018. By 1998, the station had adopted a

classic hits Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes songs from the top 40 music charts from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, with music from the 1980s serving as the core of the format. Music that was popularized by MTV in the early 1980s ...

format. In 2001, the station was taken off the air, and its transmitter site was sold for residential development. The station was sold to Nelson Multimedia later that year.

WSPY

The station's call sign was changed to WSPY in 2002, and the station returned to the air under special temporary authority (STA), running 125 watts, using a long wire antenna in

Batavia, Illinois Batavia () is a city mainly in Kane County and partly in DuPage County in the U.S. state of Illinois. Located in the Chicago metropolitan area, it was founded in 1833 and is the oldest city in Kane County. Per the 2020 census, the population w ...

. The station aired an adult standards format, and was branded "Timeless Favorites", carrying

Timeless Timeless (or atemporal) or timelessness (or atemporality) may refer to: * Agelessness, the condition of being unaffected by the passage of time * Akal (Sikh term), timelessness in Sikhism * Eternity, timeless existence or infinite duration * Immo ...

network programming from Citadel Broadcasting until the network's shutdown in February 2010. The station then adopted a classic hits format, with programming from

Cumulus Broadcasting Cumulus Media, Inc. is an American broadcasting company and is the third largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States behind Audacy and iHeartMedia. As of June 2019, Cumulus lists ownership of 428 stations in 87 ...

's (formerly Citadel Media)

Classic Hits Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes songs from the top 40 music charts from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, with music from the 1980s serving as the core of the format. Music that was popularized by MTV in the early 1980s ...

network. In late summer of 2011, the station switched back to an adult standards format, with programming from Dial Global's America's Best Music. Until 2020, the station continued to operate under the aforementioned STA.Application Search Details
fcc.gov. Retrieved August 22, 2018. In May 2020, WSPY got a

construction permit Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building perm ...

to move its

city of license In American, Canadian, and Mexican broadcasting, a city of license or community of license is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator. In North American broa ...

to Somonauk. The studios moved in late 2020. Its call sign was changed to WDYS on May 1, 2021.

References

External links

{{coord, 41, 34, 59, N, 88, 36, 05, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title DYS Adult standards radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1961 1961 establishments in Illinois