WCGO

For the station in Chicago Heights, Illinois on AM 1600 that held the call sign WCGO from 1959 to 2009, see WCGO (defunct).
WCGO
City Evanston, Illinois
Broadcast area Chicago, Illinois
Branding AM 1590 WCGO
Slogan WCGO is Chicago
Frequency 1590 kHz
First air date 1947
Format Ethnic
Power 10,000 watts day
2,500 watts night
Class B
Facility ID 35447
Transmitter coordinates 42°1′20.00″N 87°42′43.00″W / 42.0222222°N 87.7119444°W / 42.0222222; -87.7119444
Callsign meaning W ChicaGO
Former callsigns WNMP (1947-70s)
WLTD (70s-1979)
WONX (1979-2009)
Owner Kovas Communications
(Kovas Family GST Trust, Joseph W. Walburn, Trustee)
Website http://1590wcgo.com/

WCGO (1590 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a Talk format. Licensed to Evanston, Illinois, USA, it serves the Chicago area. The station is currently owned by Kovas Communications.

History

WONX logo used until 2009.
WCGO logo, 2009-2014

The station was launched September 29, 1947, as WNMP,[1] which had a light-classical and beautiful music format, along with broadcasting college sports on Saturday afternoons. State Representative Harry Semrow was one of the early owners. The station changed hands several times, and the call sign was changed to WLTD in the early 1970s.

On April 9, 1979, the station's call sign was changed to WONX.

On April 10, 2009, the previous WCGO on 1600, also owned by Kovas, went silent. On April 13, 2009, the call sign was changed to WCGO. With 1600 now vacant, WCGO on 1590 AM was able to increase daytime power to 10,000 Watts. Nighttime power is 2,500 watts using a four-tower directional antenna array.[2]

WCGO began producing talk radio shows starting on September 2, 2014 including "The Franklin Raff Show," "The Geoff Pinkus Show," "Legal Eagles" with William Pelarenos, and the legendary "Milt Rosenberg" who had previously hosted "Extension 720" on WGN-AM for 37 years.

The current daily talk line-up includes "The Kate Dalley Show", "French and Friends", and the nationally syndicated “Coast to Coast AM" with George Noory from 12 a.m. to 5 a.m. every night.

References

  1. "WNMP Started" (PDF). Broadcasting. October 6, 1947. Retrieved 12 October 2014.
  2. http://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/amq?call=WCGO
Daniel French during a live broadcast on WCGO-AM
"French and Friends" host Daniel French
WCGO Sports Director Kevin Burgess
Dennis "Sonar" Greene


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