WVON (1690 AM "The Voice of the Nation", originally "Voice of the Negro") 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 ...

serving the

Chicago market The Chicago metropolitan area, also colloquially referred to as Chicagoland, is a metropolitan area in the Midwestern United States. Encompassing 10,286 sq mi (28,120 km2), the metropolitan area includes the city of Chicago, its suburbs and hint ...

, which airs an

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

-oriented

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. WVON is owned by Midway Broadcasting Corporation, and broadcasts at 1690 kHz via a

local marketing agreement In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it is a sort of lease or tim ...

with frequency owner

iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company fou ...

. WVON's origins date back to 1963, when the radio station's owner

Chess Records Chess Records was an American record company established in 1950 in Chicago, specializing in blues and rhythm and blues. It was the successor to Aristocrat Records, founded in 1947. It expanded into soul music, gospel music, early rock and r ...

began programming

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '':wikt:soul, soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The ea ...

, and

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a Music genre, genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed p ...

music. The station played an active role during the

Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

during this era. Its present African-American-oriented talk format began in 1986. The station served as a springboard for

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

during the early days of his political career. Licensed to Berwyn, Illinois, WVON has studios in the

South Loop The Loop, one of Chicago's 77 designated community areas, is the central business district of the city and is the main section of Downtown Chicago. Home to Chicago's commercial core, it is the second largest commercial business district in Nort ...

,Iconic WVON radio station moving from Chatham
, '' The Chicago Crusader''. October 3, 2018. Retrieved April 17, 2020. and its transmitter is located at 87th and Kedzie in Chicago's Ashburn community.

History

Station's origins

WVON's origins lie in WHFC, which began in 1926, broadcasting from the Hotel Flanders in Chicago.Ghrist, John R. (1996). ''Valley Voices: A Radio History''. Crossroads Communications. p. 358-364.AM Histories
, '' Broadcasting — Telecasting''. A Continuing Study of Major Radio Markets: Study No. 7: Chicago. October 25, 1948. p. 18. Retrieved January 18, 2020. It was owned by

Richard W. Hoffman Richard William Hoffman (December 23, 1893 – July 6, 1975) was a U.S. Representative from Illinois. Born in Chicago, Illinois, Hoffman was a veteran of the First World War. He engaged in the printing and publishing business. He owned and ...

. Like many stations of the time, WHFC shared time with other stations on its frequency. Its city of license was later changed to

Cicero, Illinois Cicero (originally known as Hawthorne) is a suburb of Chicago and an incorporated town in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 85,268. making it the 11th largest municipality in Illinois. The town of Cic ...

, and it studios and transmitter were moved to Cermak Rd. in Cicero.
Broadcasting 1935 Yearbook
'.

Broadcasting Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began ...

. 1935. p. 29. Retrieved January 18, 2020. In early years, WHFC aired pop music from singers like

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...

, and aired live band performances from Cicero's Olympic Ballroom. In 1930, WHFC moved to 1420, where it shared time with WEHS and WKBI. Hoffman bought out the other two stations, and by 1936 it operated on 1420 full-time. WHFC's frequency was changed to

1450 Year 1450 ( MCDL) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events January–December * February 7 – John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk, marries Lady Margaret Beaufort ...

in 1941, as a result of the

North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement The North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA, es, Convenio Regional Norteamericano de Radiodifusión) refers to a series of international treaties that defined technical standards for AM band ( mediumwave) radio stations. These agre ...

. In the early 1950s, WHFC's studios and transmitter were moved to 3350 S. Kedzie, in Chicago's

South Lawndale South Lawndale is a community area on the West Side of Chicago, Illinois. Over 80% of the residents are of Mexican descent and the community is home to the largest foreign-born Mexican population in Chicago. Neighborhoods Little Village ...

community. In the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, WHFC aired ethnic and African-American programming.

Ernie Banks Ernest Banks (January 31, 1931 – January 23, 2015), nicknamed "Mr. Cub" and "Mr. Sunshine", was an American professional baseball player who starred in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a shortstop and first baseman for the Chicago Cubs between ...

hosted a program on the station in the late 1950s. WHFC's programming was simulcast on 97.9 WEHS after WEHS's storecasting contract expired in the 1950s.

Beginnings of WVON

In 1963, WHFC became WVON when it was purchased by Leonard and Phil Chess, the owners of

, for $1 million.New Chess R.&B. 'Baby' Shows Face in Chicago
, ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

''. April 13, 1963. p. 24. Retrieved January 19, 2020.Radio Stations Hot Item in Sales Market
, ''

''. February 18, 1963. p. 106. Retrieved January 20, 2020. 97.9 WEHS was included in the sale. WVON debuted on April 1, 1963 and quickly became a success playing

R&B music Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...

, becoming the second most listened to Chicago station during evening hours by early 1964.Reich, Howard.
WVON timeline
, ''

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 a ...

''. March 29, 2013. Retrieved January 20, 2020.Biro, Nick.
Chicago Radio: Kings Remain Assumptive; Heirs Presumptive
, ''

''. March 28, 1964. p. 12. Retrieved January 20, 2020. 97.9 WEHS's call sign was changed to WHFC, and simulcast WVON's programming until 1965, when 97.9 adopted a jazz format as WSDM.
1964 Broadcasting Yearbook
',

, 1964. p. B-48. Retrieved January 19, 2020. WVON ran 1,000 watts during the day and 250 watts at night. Though the station was initially geared strictly to a black audience, by 1968 its playlist had expanded to include songs by white artists that were compatible with the station's sound, in an effort to reach a wider audience. WVON was a "heritage" station to Chicago's black community featuring great Black air personalities like Moses "Lucky" Cordell, Bruce Brown, Herb Kent "The Cool Gent", E. Rodney Jones, Cecil Hale, Joe "Youngblood" Cobb,Danois, Ericka Blount (2013).
Love, Peace and Soul: Behind the Scenes of America's Favorite Dance Show Soul Train: Classic Moments
'. Rowman & Littlefield. Retrieved January 20, 2020. Ed "Nassau Daddy" Cook, Bill "Butterball" Crane,

Pervis Spann Pervis Spann (August 16, 1932 – March 14, 2022) was an American broadcaster, music promoter, and radio personality. He was a disc jockey on WVON and was influential in the development of blues music in Chicago, Illinois. Early life Spann was ...

, Don Cornelius, Sid McCoy (who would accompany Cornelius when he formed ''

Soul Train ''Soul Train'' is an American musical variety television show. It aired in syndication from October 2, 1971, to March 25, 2006. Across its 35-year history the show primarily featured performances by R&B, soul, and hip hop artists. The series ...

''), Richard Pegue, Bernadine C. Washington, Jay Johnson, newsmen Roy Wood and Jim Moloney, a very young reporter/engineer Larry Langford and many others. WVON became well known outside the Chicago area as well.

Berry Gordy Berry Gordy III (born November 28, 1929), known professionally as Berry Gordy Jr., is a retired American record executive, record producer, songwriter, film producer and television producer. He is best known as the founder of the Motown record la ...

, the president of

Motown Records Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...

, sent every song he produced immediately to WVON before any other station. Other similar stations across the country took inspiration from WVON's format. The station also had an active role during the

, covering it extensively. Rev.

Jesse Jackson Jesse Louis Jackson ( né Burns; born October 8, 1941) is an American political activist, Baptist minister, and politician. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as a shadow U.S. senato ...

called into the station to report the

assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr., an African-American clergyman and civil rights leader, was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968, at 6:01 p.m. CST. He was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital, where he died at 7 ...

Sale to Globetrotter and move to 1390

After Leonard Chess died in 1969, the Chess family decided to sell WVON to Globetrotter Communications, owned by George N. Gillett Jr. and Potter Palmer for $9 million.$9-million Chicago sale OK'd by FCC
, ''

''. September 28, 1970. p. 30. Retrieved January 20, 2020. The sale was consummated in 1970. In 1975, Globetrotter bought WNUS-AM-FM from the McLendon interests for $4,450,000; they moved WVON from 1450 to the 5,000-watt former WNUS signal on 1390 on February 5 of that year at 3:30 p.m., which increased WVON's coverage area significantly. The 1450 frequency was left silent for a time. On August 24, 1976, FM classical music station

WFMT WFMT is an FM radio station in Chicago, Illinois, featuring a format of fine arts, classical music programming, and shows exploring such genres as folk. The station is managed by Window to the World Communications, Inc., owner of WTTW, Chicago's ...

was allowed to simulcast on 1450 as an interim operator while the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisd ...

(FCC) evaluated applications for a new license for the frequency. WVON reduced its news and community programming beginning in 1974, but continued to air a weekly broadcast by Jesse Jackson. In 1977, Combined Communications Corporation purchased Globetrotter Communications, and the following year Combined Communications merged with

Gannett Co. Gannett Co., Inc. () is an American mass media holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.Yvonne Daniels joined WVON as morning drive host.

Shared-time on 1450

The FCC process of assigning a license for the vacant 1450 AM frequency resulted in a shared-time arrangement, as applicants Midway Broadcasting Corporation and Migala Communications reached an agreement to split the broadcast day. Two former WVON personalities,

and Wesley South, were the principals of Midway Broadcasting. They accepted the random issue call sign WXOL, while Migala chose WCEV ("We're Chicagoland's Ethnic Voice") as their call sign.History Cards for WXOL
fcc.gov. Retrieved January 20, 2020.History Cards for WCEV
fcc.gov. Retrieved January 20, 2020. Jan Under the agreement, WCEV would operate from 1PM to 10PM Monday through Friday, with WXOL taking the rest of the hours. Both stations were on the air by October 1979 and shared a transmitting tower.
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 ''Broadca ...

, 1981. p. C-68. Retrieved January 20, 2020.Penchansky, Alan.
Black Stations Give Blues Another Look
, ''

''. November 3, 1979. pp. 6, 82. Retrieved January 20, 2020. The 317-foot tower was located at the old WVON site at 3350 South Kedzie Avenue. WXOL broadcast from studios at that location, while WCEV built its own facilities on the northwest side of Chicago. WXOL aired a blues oriented format, and its appearance on the dial sparked an immediate increase in the sales of blues records in the Chicago area. 107.5 WGCI was also programmed to appeal to black audiences, and it and other FM stations won away many of WVON's listeners. Zorn, Eric. "WGCI Alphabet Change Doesn't Soup Up Listener Ratings", ''

''. February 4, 1985. WGCI became so successful that Gannett changed the call letters of 1390 from WVON to WGCI in 1983.Call letters
, ''

''. October 17, 1983. p. 82. Retrieved May 8, 2019. Midway Broadcasting immediately filed a request with the FCC to change WXOL's call sign to WVON, and on March 28, 1984 the WVON call letters returned to their former home at 1450. The station experienced a 50% increase in its audience after the call sign change. In 1986, WVON adopted its current black-oriented

talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...

format. In 2002, then State Senator

filled in for vacationing Cliff Kelley. Roland Martin hosted a program on WVON from October 2005 to October 2008.

Move to 1690

Wendell Pierce and Jesse Jackson (7946361992)

On September 18, 2006, the station got another signal upgrade when WVON's call letters and programming moved to

1690 AM Year 169 ( CLXIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Senecio and Apollinaris (or, less frequently, year 922 ''Ab urbe co ...

broadcasting with 10,000 watts during the day. This happened when Midway Broadcasting took over management of the station using an LMA (like a lease agreement) on the frequency licensed to Berwyn, Illinois and owned by Clear Channel Communications (now known as

). The move displaced the

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 wel ...

format of Clear Channel-operated WRLL on 1690. The WRLL call letters were assigned to Midway's half of the time-share on 1450 at Cicero, Illinois. In 2007, the station's studios were moved from their longtime home at 3350 S. Kedzie to the former Soft Sheen Products Building on 87th Street in Chicago's Chatham neighborhood. In late 2018, its studios were moved to the South Loop. In May 2019, former Cook County Board President

Todd Stroger Todd H. Stroger (born January 14, 1963) is the former president of the Cook County, Illinois Board and a former alderman for the 8th Ward in Chicago. Stroger is a member of the Democratic Party. In 2001, he was appointed to the Chicago City Counc ...

joined the station as morning co-host. In Summer 2020, Stroger left WVON, along with his co-host Maze Jackson, after being told by station management that they could no longer discuss Mayor

Lori Lightfoot Lori Elaine Lightfoot (born August 4, 1962) is an American attorney and politician serving since 2019 as the 56th mayor of Chicago. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Before becoming mayor, Lightfoot worked in private legal practice as a ...

, and to disconnect any callers who were critical of her, immediately joining 1570 WBGX in the same time slot.Report: Maze Jackson, Todd Stroger Quit Morning Show At WVON/Chicago
, ''All Access''. July 7, 2020. Retrieved December 15, 2021.

References

External links

* {{Portal bar, United States, Chicago, Radio VON News and talk radio stations in the United States IHeartMedia radio stations