WGN Radio Timeline

1921

December - The Chicago Tribune agrees to supply news and market reports for Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company's KYW, Chicago's first radio station. Thousands of listeners in a 500 mile radius from Chicago tune in to a nightly music and news program broadcast from the top of the Commonwealth Edison building.

1922

May 19 - Two socially prominent young Chicagoans and radio enthusiasts--Thorne Donnelley and Elliott Jenkins--form Midwest Radio Central, Inc., and start WDAP as an experimental station. The first broadcasts originate from the Wrigley Building, where they are said to have had an "erratic effect" on the famous tower clock. Programming includes talks, weather reports, and three concerts a week.

July - After a tornado damages the antenna at the Wrigley Building, WDAP moves its studios to two handball courts on top of the Drake Hotel. The station has only one employee, Ralph Shugart, whose duties include engineering, programming, announcing and marketing. The station also has only one microphone, which is occasionally carried downstairs to the Drake ballroom, while on the air, for live dance music from Jack Chapman and his Orchestra. Chapman's programs increase the volume of station mail from 200 to 800 letters received a day.

October - Donnelley and Jenkins hire employee #2--Myrtle E. Stahl--who handles programming, publicity and public relations. Her radio career would last until her retirement in 1960.

1923

The Board of Trade purchases WDAP from Jenkins and Donnelley. . . . WDAP programming expands to include luncheon and dinner music by Henry Selinger and his Drake Hotel Concert Ensemble and music by Irving Margraff and the Blackstone Hotel Quintet. . . . Col. Robert R. McCormick, editor and publisher of the Chicago Tribune, arranges for his mother a demonstration of "the little box that picks up sounds from the air."

May 12 - Zenith launches radio station WJAZ, broadcasting from the Edgewater Beach Hotel. Broadcasts originate from the glass-enclosed "Crystal Room" studio in the hotel.

1924

January - A Chicago Tribune survey reveals that there are more than 100,000 radio receiving sets in the Chicago area.

March 24 - Under the leadership of Col. Robert R. McCormick, The Chicago Tribune leases enough time on the Zenith Edgewater Beach Hotel station, WJAZ, to assure program dominance. The Tribune obtains the call letters WGN (World's Greatest Newspaper) from Great Lakes skipper Carl D. Bradley.

March 29 - The Chicago Tribune assumes control of WJAZ and begins using the call letters WGN. The frequency changes from 670AM (shared with WMAQ) to 810AM. A broadcast that night, a Saturday, features Mayor William E. Dever, opera star Edith Mason, and "Zippy jazz tunes by the Oriole Orchestra, coached by Ted Fio Rito." (Click to see the opening night schedule.) The schedule includes a five hour experimental broadcast prearranged to be heard 8,640 miles across the Pacific in Australia and New Zealand.

May - The Whitestone Company, the management company of the Drake Hotel, briefly takes ownership of WDAP.

May 9 - Tribune ends its ties with the Zenith Edgewater Beach Hotel station (which changes its call letters to WEBH) and begins an association with WDAP.

May 31 - Coverage of the Memorial Day 500 mile auto race from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the first broadcast of what has come to be known as the Indy 500. Surprised listeners hear a new station identification during the race: "This is WDAP, soon to be WGN, located on the Drake Hotel, Chicago." As announcer A.W. (Sen) Kaney calls the race over seven hours, guests such as Barney Oldfield and Henry Ford speak into the WDAP/WGN microphone.

June 1 - With the words "This is WGN, formerly WDAP..." spoken by Elliott Jenkins, the Chicago Tribune's radio endeavor takes form as we know it now when WDAP's studios and programs are taken over. WGN moves into WDAP's studio, described as a "soundproof sanctum of heavy carpets, canopies, and drapes." Sen Kaney is on staff along with Jack Nelson and various hotel entertainers, Chapman's Orchestra, the Drake Concert Ensemble, the Blackstone Quintet, and the Barton Organ Program. Col. McCormick delegates principal tasks to the Tribune's business manager Samuel Emory Thomason who in turn selects James M. Cleary to lend a hand. WGN in its full form, takes to the air.

June-July - WGN carries the full proceedings of the Republican National Convention from Cleveland and the Democratic National Convention from New York.

August 11 - Quin Ryan, the editor of the Tribune in-house publication, is assigned to WGN. His background includes work as a student actor at Northwestern University, column contributor, cub reporter, theatrical ghost writer and free lance announcer.

September - As the WGN audience listens in, Judge John R. Caverly delivers the life imprisonment sentence in the infamous Leopold and Loeb case.

October 1 - Sen Kaney is at the microphone as WGN broadcasts its first baseball game, a City Series matchup between the Cubs and the White Sox.

October 18 - WGN is on hand as a crowd of 67,000 watches Illinois beat Michigan following the dedication of Memorial Stadium in Champaign. Quin Ryan, broadcasting from the roof of the stadium, brings listeners an account of "Red" Grange scoring four touchdowns in the first 12 minutes.

1925

January 1 - While in a studio at the Drake hotel in Chicago, Quin Ryan broadcasts the Tournament of Roses game using ticker-tape reports from Pasadena, California. A brass band, alumni and cheerleaders in the studio add atmosphere to the broadcast. Notre Dame beats Stanford 27-10 in the final appearance of the famed Four Horsemen.

Spring - WGN hosts a Prohibition debate featuring Clarence Darrow and Wayne B. Wheeler. Some 47,000 listeners vote 3 to 1 against Prohibition.

April 14 - Quin Ryan calls the action for the first broadcast of a regular season baseball game. In Charlie Grimm's Cubs debut, the Cubs beat Pittsburgh 8-2.

May 16 - A team of eight--including Quin Ryan, Frank Dahm, and the singing team of Charles Correll and Freeman Gosden--broadcasts the 51st running of the Kentucky Derby from the cupola above the stands at Churchill Downs.

Summer - A new production unit is formed, headed by Chicago Symphony concert master Henry Selinger, to produce regularly scheduled music-drama presentations. Early productions include In the Old Heidelberg with the Student Prince and scenes from Les Miserables and Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch.

July 13-August 21 - At a cost of more than $1,000 a day just for telephone lines, WGN provides coverage of the "Scopes Monkey Trial" from Dayton, Tennessee. Quin Ryan reports, along with engineer Paul Neal, at the trial of high school teacher John Thomas Scopes who was indicted for teaching evolutionary theory. William Jennings Bryan argues for the prosecution, with Clarence Darrow for the defense. The seating arrangement in the courtroom is rearranged around the WGN microphone. Listeners across the midwest tune in, including, at one point, the jury itself after being sent to the lawn outside the courthouse while a point was argued. After intense questioning of Bryan by Darrow exposing weaknesses in Bryan's arguments, Darrow requests an immediate verdict to prevent Bryan from delivering a prepared closing statement. The jury finds Scopes guilty, and the judge assesses the minimum fine possible. Five days later, Bryan dies while taking a nap. Eventually the Tennessee Supreme Court reverses the decision based on a technicality but dismisses the case rather than sending it back for further action.

Fall - The Chicago Tribune purchases two Elgin radio stations from Charles Erbstein to expand the coverage area. Erbstein was known for having a microphone attached to his office desk so he could comment on topics whenever he wanted. For a time, WGN and WLIB (named for Tribune's national magazine, Liberty) share the 980 kHz frequency and alternate programs, with WLIB carrying programs from the NBC network.

October - Quin Ryan and Graham MacNamee share the microphone to broadcast the World Series between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Washington Senators.

December - Bill Hay performs A Christmas Carol with an organ background.

December 25 - As part of the new WGN-WLIB partnership, Carl J. Meyers, the engineer who built the Elgin stations, joins the WGN family. He would remain with WGN until the 1960's, eventually serving as Director of Engineering.

1926

January 12 - Freeman Gosden and Charlie Correll debut their new program, Sam 'n' Henry, the forerunner of Amos 'n' Andy.

October - The combined WGN-WLIB operation moves to a new high-power transmitter in Elgin.

1927

July 28 - Quin Ryan broadcasts an eyewitness account from the WGN studios in the Drake Hotel as the Lincoln Park excursion steamer Favorite sinks off Oak Street Beach.

September - WGN broadcasts the controversial bout between Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney at Soldier Field. Although it appears Dempsey scored a knockout blow, referee Dave Barry allows Tunney 14 seconds, instead of the usual ten, to return to his feet and retain his title.

December 1 - As part of a nationwide reassignment of frequencies by the Federal Radio Commission (the forerunner of today's FCC) designed to reduce radio interference, WGN moves to the frequency of 720 kHz, where it remains to this day.

1928

January - The Radio Floor Walker, WGN's first commercial program, debuts. The mostly-music variety program has commercials interspersed through the show. Although the show raises some revenue, listeners complain about "the constant barrage of advertising." The trend will lead to the single-sponsor programs that were common in radio's "Golden Age." (In the early years, Chicago Tribune management do not consider radio a true commercial enterprise, so losses totaling nearly $1 million over the first fifteen years of the station are accepted as a part of the endeavor.)

June - WGN is the only independent station to broadcast full coverage from the Republican (Kansas City) and Democratic (Houston) National Conventions. Listeners throughout the midwest tune in to the coverage, although Quin Ryan in the Houston announce booth is occasionally drowned out by a "cowboy band."

November 11 - The Federal Radio Commission, in an attempt to impose order over the ever-more-crowded radio spectrum, orders that the combined WGN-WLIB operation merge into one station, WGN.

1929

March - WGN begins interrupting programs to carry police bulletins to officers in their squad cars, and the general public as well. The experiment, implemented by chief engineer Carl Meyers, would lead to the police radio systems in use today.

1930

September 25 - WGN announces plans to begin its broadcast day an hour earlier, at 7:30am instead of 8:30am, because "the listeners have become educated to expect service via radio at an earlier hour." The broadcast day would continue to end at 12:30am "to enable D.X. fans to tune in on distant stations." The station had earlier had a sign-off time of 1:30am, and would change the sign off to 1:00am the next month.

October 11 - In a filing by Tribune Company to the Federal Radio Commission, it is requested that WGN be permitted to increase its signal strength from 25,000 Watts to 50,000 Watts. The filing notes that the station has 108 full time and 25 part time employees. Annual cost of operating WGN is listed as $558,565.19, with revenues of $295,704.36.

1931

February 16 - The FRC authorizes WGN to increase its signal strength to 50,000 Watts.

April - Millions of listeners tune to WGN for coverage of the funeral of Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne, who had been killed in an plane crash.

1932

December - WGN sets a record for long distance remote broadcasts as it sends a crew 2,300 miles to Los Angeles for the Notre Dame - USC football game.

1933

Fall - After brief, but limited, associations with the National Broadcasting Company (1926-1930) and the Columbia Broadcasting System (1930-1933), WGN returns to full independent status.

1934

May - Quin Ryan and sports announcer John Harrington provide updates on the stockyards fire. Although many people hearing the reports fear a repeat of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the reports accurately describe the extent of the blaze and the progress being made to control it.

July - To celebrate the station's 10th anniversary, Pierre Andre hosts one of radio's first programs before a live audience. The entertainers included Clara, Lu 'n' Em, Ireene Wicker, the Singing Lady, and the Jack Chapman Orchestra.

September - WGN joins with WOR-Newark and two other stations to form the Mutual Broadcasting System, a cooperative network that would last until 1956.

1935

October - WGN dedicates its new home, a four-story building built as an addition to Tribune Tower. (This is the current Hammacher Schlemmer store at the corner of Michigan and Illinois.) The $600,000 structure (built in the midst of the Great Depression) features six studios, four client's rooms, one master and seven studio control rooms, workshops, dressing rooms, offices, and a 450 seat studio theater, described as Chicago's largest and most lavish. Although it is just across the street, the new facility represents a quantum leap when compared to the original 1922 home of WDAP in the Wrigley Building.

On to the 1940s...