Wikipedia

WUSN

For the radio station in Charleston, South Carolina, that held the WUSN call sign from 1948 to 1955, see WQNT. For the TV station in Charleston, South Carolina, see WCBD-TV.

WUSN (99.5 FM) is a country radio station in Chicago, Illinois. Owned by Audacy, Inc. and branded as "US✶99", it is based at Two Prudential Plaza in the Loop, and transmits from atop the John Hancock Center with an HD Radio signal.[7]

WUSN
Broadcast areaChicago market
Frequency99.5 MHz (HD Radio)
BrandingUS✶99
Programming
Language(s)English
FormatCountry
Ownership
Owner
WBBM, WBBM-FM, WBMX, WCFS-FM, WSCR, WXRT[1]
History
First air date
February 2, 1940; 84 years ago (1940-02-02)[2][3]
Former call signs
Call sign meaning
"US Ninety-nine" (frequency)
Technical information[6]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID28620
ClassB
ERP5,700 watts
HAAT425 meters (1,394 ft)
Transmitter coordinates
41°53′56″N 87°37′23″W / 41.899°N 87.623°W / 41.899; -87.623
Links
Public license information
WebcastListen live (via Audacy)
Websitewww.audacy.com/us99

History

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Founding and classical music era

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1942 General Electric advertisement featuring W51C.[8]

The station began broadcasting on February 2, 1940, as experimental station W9XEN, licensed to Chicago-based radio/television manufacturer Zenith Radio Corporation.[3][9] In May 1940, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced the establishment, effective January 1, 1941, of an FM radio band operating on 40 channels spanning 42–50 MHz.[10] On October 31, 1940, the first fifteen construction permits for commercial FM stations were issued, including one to Zenith for a station in Chicago at 45.1 MHz,[11] which was issued the call sign W51C.[12] It was one of the first FM stations in the United States, and is the country's oldest FM station still in operation.[13][14][15][16] Its transmitter was located atop the Field Building.[4]

Effective November 1, 1943, the FCC modified its policy for FM call letters,[17] and the station was assigned new call letters of WWZR.[18] In 1946, the station's call sign was changed to WEFM, which were the initials of Zenith president Eugene F. McDonald.[19][20] On June 27, 1945, the FCC announced the reassignment of the FM band to 80 channels from 88–106 MHz, which was soon expanded to 100 channels from 88–108 MHz,[21][22] and WEFM began broadcasting on 98.5 MHz, while temporarily continuing to also broadcast at 45.1 MHz.[4] In 1947, the station's frequency was changed to 99.5 MHz.[4]

From 1940, when the station began broadcasting, until February 1978 the station aired a classical music format.[23][24][25][26] On June 1, 1961, WEFM became the second station in the United States to broadcast in FM stereo.[27] Few advertisements were aired, and until 1966 the only advertisements were for Zenith products.[28][29][23] In 1966, the station began to sell advertising time, though commercials were limited to five minutes per hour and the ads had to be compatible with WEFM's classical music format.[29] In 1972, the transmitter was moved to the John Hancock Center.[4]

General Cinema Corporation ownership

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In the early 1970s Zenith agreed to sell WEFM to General Cinema Corporation, which intended to change the station's call letters to WICV (pseudo-Roman numerals for 99.5) and institute a rock format.[4][23][14] Litigation delayed the sale and format change until February 1978.[24][25] As part of the settlement to allow the station's sale, WEFM's classical music library was donated to WNIB and WBEZ.[24] General Cinema converted the station to a top 40 format with program director Brian White and afternoon drive personality Don Cox, but decided not to change the call sign.[25][30][31] The station was branded "We-FM" and initially broadcast from the studios used by the Zenith classical music format at 120 West Madison street in the Chicago loop.[32] General Cinema moved studios to the 13th floor of the Hancock Center at 875 N. Michigan Ave in 1980, where the transmitter resides on the 93rd floor.[4] The station leased a 67 kHz subcarrier to the Physicians Radio Network, a news service for medical doctors.[33][34] In early 1981, the station adopted a MOR format, with programming from the syndicated Schulke II package.[35][36]

The WEFM call sign is now used on 95.9 FM in nearby Michigan City, Indiana, which also is imaged as "We-FM."

US✶99

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In 1982, the station was purchased by First Media Corporation for $9.2 million.[37] On February 6, 1982, the station adopted a country music format, branded "US-99", and its call sign was changed to WUSN on February 25, 1982.[37][36][5] The station's initial promotion was that four songs would be played before any commercial break ensued, and that $25,000 would be given to the first person to call if the guarantee was not fulfilled.[38] Within the first week, two mistakes were noticed by listeners and $50,000 was given away.[38]

Lee Logan was hired as program director from KFMK in Houston, remaining with the station until 1987, when he departed for KLAC in Los Angeles.[38][39] From 1982 to 1985, Don Wade was the station's morning host.[40][41] Wade was briefly midday host on the station, before moving to WLS.[42][40] Shock-Jock Gary Dee replaced Wade as morning host in 1985, but was fired a year later.[41][43]

The station's initial country music competitors in Chicago were 670 WMAQ, 104.3 WJEZ, and 1160 WJJD, which switched to the adult standards Music of Your Life format within weeks of "US-99"'s debut.[38] In years when the station lacked major local competition, it has ranked as the nation's most-listened-to country station.[44][45]

In 1993, Infinity Broadcasting bought WUSN.[46] Infinity was acquired by the parent company of CBS in 1997.[47]

On August 8, 2016, WUSN rebranded slightly as "US✶99", dropping the .5 from their moniker and unveiling a new logo and slogan, "Chicago's Hottest Country".[48][49][50] The traditional five-pointed star, which is a common feature of the logos of American country music radio stations representing the Flag of the United States, was changed in the new version to the six-pointed variety represented in the acclaimed Flag of Chicago, with the logo coloring following suit using the flag's light blue and red.[50][48][49]

On February 2, 2017, CBS Radio announced it would merge with Entercom.[51] The merger was approved on November 9, 2017, and was consummated on the 17th.[52][53]

Awards

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WEFM's logo as a classical station

In 1967, WEFM won the National Federation of Music Clubs' "Special 4-Star Award" for "outstanding programming devoted to American composers".[54]

In 1993, 2006, and 2015, WUSN won the Country Music Association's Major Market Station of the Year award.[55][56][57]

In 2005, WUSN host Lisa Dent won the Country Music Association's Major Market Personality of the Year award.[58]

In 2010 and 2011, the station won Country Radio Broadcasters/Country Aircheck Awards for Station of the Year for a Major Market; the Lisa Dent and Ramblin' Ray Show for Major Market Morning Show and Marci Braun (weeknight host/MD) for Major Market MD.[59][60]

In 2010 and 2015, Lisa Dent and Ramblin' Ray Stevens won the Country Music Association Major Market Personality of the Year for the Lisa Dent and Ramblin' Ray Morning Show.[58][57]

Controversy

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On April 13, 2001, a memo from WUSN management asking on-air station employees to attend the George Strait Country Music Festival on May 26, 2001, at their own expense and "work the crowd" on behalf of the station was leaked to Robert Feder's media column for the Chicago Sun-Times.[61]

On July 7, 2003, country music radio personality Cliff Dumas sued Infinity Broadcasting Corporation and WUSN in United States District Court, seeking monetary damages. Dumas alleged that station management had induced him to resign gainful employment at a New Mexico radio station to take a job which was offered but then never materialized.[62]

References

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  1. ^ Janowski, Thaddeus P. (September 29, 2010). "FCC 316: Application for Consent to Assign Broadcast Station Construction Permit or License or to Transfer Control of Entity Holding Broadcast Station Construction Permit or License (BTCH-20100930AFL)". Federal Communications Commission. Archived from the original on October 26, 2012. Retrieved March 15, 2011.
  2. ^ "Illinois: Chicago", Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook (2010 edition), p. D-186. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
  3. ^ a b "Commercial FM Directory: Illinois" Broadcasting Yearbook (1947 edition), p. 226. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h History Cards for WUSN Archived September 6, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, fcc.gov. Retrieved September 6, 2018.|
    WWZR (1943–46)
  5. ^ a b Call Sign History (Facility ID: 28620)Archived September 7, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, fcc.gov. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
  6. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WUSN". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  7. ^ http://hdradio.com/station_guides/widget.php?id=4 Archived September 16, 2016, at the Wayback Machine HD Radio Guide for Chicago
  8. ^ 1942 General Electric advertisement for W51C, Broadcasting, January 19, 1942, page 21.
  9. ^ Sterling, Christopher H. (2013). Biographical Encyclopedia of American Radio Archived February 15, 2020, at the Wayback Machine. Routledge. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
  10. ^ "FCC Order No. 67" Archived January 15, 2022, at the Wayback Machine Federal Register, May 25, 1940, page 2011.
  11. ^ "New FM Call Letters Proposed", Broadcasting, November 15, 1940, page 77.
  12. ^ The initial policy for commercial FM station call signs included an initial "W" for stations located east of the Mississippi River, followed by the last two digits of a station's frequency assignment, "51" in this case, and closing with a one or two character regional identifier, which for Chicago was "C".
  13. ^ "FM Broadcasting Stations Authorized by the FCC", Broadcasting Yearbook, (1941 edition) p. 386. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
  14. ^ a b Duston, Anne. "Attorney Fights to Keep Classical Format on FM Archived 2020-02-26 at the Wayback Machine", Billboard. July 15, 1972. p. 23. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
  15. ^ The Zenith Story Archived September 7, 2018, at the Wayback Machine. Zenith Electronics Corporation. p. 16. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
  16. ^ "Zenith Pres. McDonald Dies In Chicago Archived 2020-02-20 at the Wayback Machine", Billboard. May 19, 1958. p. 6. Retrieved February 23, 2019.
  17. ^ "Standard Broadcast Station Call Letters for All Outlets Starting Nov. 1, FCC Rule", The Billboard, September 4, 1943, page 7.
  18. ^ "New FM Calls", Broadcasting, October 18, 1943, page 14.
  19. ^ Schneider, John. "Eugene F. McDonald Jr.: Broadcasting Pioneer Archived 2017-12-18 at the Wayback Machine", Radio World. July 13, 2017. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
  20. ^ "Chicago Radio: Some facts, figures, and things you might not know", Chicago Tribune Magazine, March 4, 1979. p. 16. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
  21. ^ "FCC Allocates 88-106 mc Band to FM" by Bill Bailey, Broadcasting, July 2, 1945, pages 13-14.
  22. ^ "FCC Allocations Order Text", Broadcasting, July 2, 1945, pages 64-68.
  23. ^ a b c Citizens Committee to Save WEFM and Citizens Committee To Save WEFM, Inc., Appellants, v. Federal Communications Commission and United States Of America, Appellees, GCC Communications of Chicago, Inc. Zenith Radio Corporation, Intervenors, 506 F.2d 246 (D.C. Cir. 1974) Archived September 7, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit - 506 F.2d 246 (D.C. Cir. 1974). Justia. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
  24. ^ a b c Brenner, Daniel L. "Government Regulation of Radio Program Format Changes Archived 2019-05-08 at the Wayback Machine", University of Pennsylvania Law Review. Volume 127. 1978. Retrieved February 18, 2019.
  25. ^ a b c "Chicago's WEFM-FM Doubles Teen Numbers Archived 2020-02-26 at the Wayback Machine", Billboard. September 23, 1978. p. 34. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
  26. ^ "FM Outlet Histories Archived 2023-04-22 at the Wayback Machine", Broadcasting — Telecasting. A Continuing Study of Major Radio Markets: Study No. 7: Chicago. October 25, 1948. p. 21. Retrieved February 14, 2019.
  27. ^ Fitch, Charles (January 27, 2016). "How FM Stereo Came to Life". RadioWorld. Archived from the original on January 23, 2018. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
  28. ^ "Zenith conversion", Broadcasting & Cable. November 4, 1963. p. 5. Retrieved February 23, 2019.
  29. ^ a b "Zenith's FM station goes commercial", Broadcasting & Cable, February 14, 1966. pp. 58, 60. Retrieved February 23, 2019.
  30. ^ "Illinois: Chicago", Broadcasting Yearbook (1979 edition), p. C-63. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
  31. ^ "We Fm 99 (September 7, 2018) Archived 2018-09-07 at the Wayback Machine", WEFM. August 12, 1978. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
  32. ^ "We Fm 99 (December 9, 1978) Archived 2019-04-25 at the Wayback Machine", WEFM. December 9, 1978. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
  33. ^ "FCC FM News Archived 2020-10-25 at the Wayback Machine", VHF-UHF Digest. September 1975. p. 3. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
  34. ^ "Physicians Radio Network Is Set Archived 2019-04-26 at the Wayback Machine", The New York Times. May 20, 1975. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
  35. ^ "Fragmentation Stalks Arbitrons In L.A., Chi.", Billboard. February 14, 1981. p. 23. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
  36. ^ a b "KSFX Gets 'Talkradio' Format Archived 2020-02-14 at the Wayback Machine", Billboard. May 1, 1982. p. 19. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
  37. ^ a b "WEFM: New Owners Archived 2020-02-15 at the Wayback Machine", Billboard. February 13, 1982. p. 74. Retrieved February 26, 2019.
  38. ^ a b c d Kirby, Kip. "Country Clicks for WUSN Archived 2020-02-16 at the Wayback Machine", Billboard. July 3, 1982. pp. 20, 49. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
  39. ^ Stark, Phyllis. "PD of the Week Archived 2020-01-15 at the Wayback Machine", Billboard. July 18, 1992. p. 67. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
  40. ^ a b Zorn, Eric. "Radio legend Don Wade dies at age 72 Archived 2018-09-08 at the Wayback Machine", Chicago Tribune. September 8, 2013. Retrieved September 8, 2018.
  41. ^ a b Bornstein, Rollye. "Vox Jox Archived 2020-02-17 at the Wayback Machine", Billboard. April 20, 1985. p. 20. Retrieved September 8, 2018.
  42. ^ Freeman, Kim. "Vox Jox Archived 2020-02-16 at the Wayback Machine", Billboard. January 11, 1986. p. 15. Retrieved September 8, 2018.
  43. ^ "Disc Jockey Was Fired, WUSN Says ", Chicago Tribune. July 31, 1986. Retrieved September 8, 2018.
  44. ^ "America Online Launches Leading Infinity Broadcasting Stations Online on Radio@AOL and Radio@AOL for Broadband Archived 2018-09-08 at the Wayback Machine", Business Wire. December 10, 2003. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
  45. ^ "The Best Program Directors in Country Radio Archived 2018-09-08 at the Wayback Machine", Radio Ink. February 16, 2015. p. CRS18. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
  46. ^ "Infinity nets stations Archived 2018-09-08 at the Wayback Machine", Variety. February 2, 1993. Retrieved September 8, 2018.
  47. ^ "Westinghouse to Change Name to CBS After Spinoff ", Bloomberg News. Los Angeles Times. February 6, 1997. Retrieved January 21, 2019.
  48. ^ a b "WUSN Is Now 'Chicago's Hottest Country' Archived 2018-09-08 at the Wayback Machine", All Access Music Group. August 8, 2016. Retrieved September 8, 2018.
  49. ^ a b Feder, Robert. "US 99.5 rebrands as 'Chicago's Hottest Country' Archived 2018-09-08 at the Wayback Machine", Robert Feder. August 8, 2016. Retrieved September 8, 2018.
  50. ^ a b "US 99.5". CBS Local Media. Archived from the original on February 6, 2016. Retrieved September 8, 2018.
  51. ^ "CBS Radio to Merge with Entercom". February 2, 2017. Archived from the original on August 26, 2017. Retrieved November 4, 2017.
  52. ^ "Entercom Receives FCC Approval for Merger with CBS Radio". Archived from the original on November 17, 2017. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
  53. ^ "Entercom Completes CBS Radio Merger". November 17, 2017. Archived from the original on November 18, 2017. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
  54. ^ "From the Music Capitals of the World", Billboard. August 8, 1967. p. 37. Retrieved February 24, 2019.
  55. ^ Revsine, Barbara. "In Tune With Country Music Archived 2019-02-24 at the Wayback Machine", Chicago Tribune. January 22, 1995. Retrieved February 24, 2019.
  56. ^ Feder, Robert. "US 99.5 counts on midday star to make a Dent in mornings Archived 2019-02-24 at the Wayback Machine", Chicago Sun-Times. October 26, 2006. Retrieved February 24, 2019.
  57. ^ a b Chicago's US99.5 Wins Big At The 50th Academy Of Country Music Awards Archived February 24, 2019, at the Wayback Machine", CBS 2 Chicago. February 25, 2015. Retrieved February 24, 2019.
  58. ^ a b Lazare, Lewis. "New WMVP director to battle his old mentor Archived 2019-02-24 at the Wayback Machine", Chicago Sun-Times. October 15, 2010. Retrieved February 24, 2019.
  59. ^ Winterroth, Scott (March 4, 2010). "Word on the Street - March 4". Country Music Chicago. Archived from the original on July 15, 2014. Retrieved February 24, 2019.
  60. ^ Winterroth, Scott (March 5, 2011). "It's a Two-Peat!". Country Music Chicago. Archived from the original on February 24, 2019. Retrieved February 24, 2019.
  61. ^ "Chicago Newspaper Gets Hold of Internal Infinity Memo. Cost-Cutting Measures Scrutinized". Radio Ink. April 13, 2001. Archived from the original on February 16, 2012. Retrieved September 8, 2018.
  62. ^ Cliff Dumas, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Infinity Broadcasting Corporation and WUSN-FM, Defendants-Appellees., 416 F.3d 671, Federal Circuits, 7th Cir. (August 1, 2005) Docket number: 04-1133
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