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WGRB-AM, owned by Clear Channel Broadcasting, airs a gospel music format targeted to Chicago's African-American religious community. On Sundays, the station airs the several hours of services of Chicago area African-American churches. The radio station, now on 1390 khz and formally on 1360 khz and sharing its frequency with WJKS(AM), Gary, indiana until 1933, began in Oak Park, Illinois in 1924 as WTAY, owned by the Oak Leaves Newspaper in Oak Park. When purchased by Coyne Electrical School in 1925, the radio station moved to Chicago's north side to Coyne's campus and became known as WGES(AM). The call letters stood for the "World's Greatest ElectricalSchool." In the late 1920s, WGES(AM)was purchased by Dr. Gene Dyer who moved it to the Guyon Hotel on the west side of Chicago. The station aired big band music from Guyon's Paradise Ballroom, near the hotel. It also broadcast several hours of programming in French, Italian, Polish and Spanish. It added African-American programming to its multi-ethnic in the mid-1940s when it hired Al Benson, a former minister, whose church had been broadcast on WGES(AM). While the station's black programming increased in the 1950s, with black disc jockeys Benson, Sam Evans, Richard Stanz, Sid McCoy and Ric Recardo in in its lineup, its foreign language programming decreased. When Dr.Dyer sold the station to Texas Broadcaster Gordon McLendon in 1962, it only aired four and one half hours of daily foreign language programming. Dr. Dyer said he eventually planned to make WGES(AM), Chicago's first all black radio station. McLendon changed the station's call letters to WYNR(AM) standing for "Winner." He fired the foreign lanugage announccers and most of the black disc jockies from the old WGES(AM) and hired black disc jockeys from other parts of the country. WYNR featured black disc jockeys playing top 40 music. With competition from WVON in 1963, the station switched to mainly black rhythm and blues music. In 1964, McLendon adruptly changed the station format to all news under new call letters WNUS(AM). McLendon also purchased WFMQ(FM) 107.5 and simulcast the all news format on FM as WNUS-FM. The all news format, on McLendon's AM and FM stations, changed to beautiful music in 1969, when more powerful WBBM(AM)launched an all news format. In 1975, WVON owners purchased the 1390 AM and 107.5 FM frequencies from McLendon and moved WVON from 1450--1,000 watts to 1390--5,000 watts. WNUS-FM became WGCI(FM) and changed from beautiful music to an album rhythm and blues format. WVON(AM) changed to a mostly talk format in the early 1980s and then to an oldies Soul music format in the mid-1980s. Now owned by Gannett Broadcasting, its call letters becamet WGCI(AM) in the late 1980s as it simulcast its more popular sister FM station's urban contemporary music format. In the early 1990s WGCI(AM) briefly switched to an all urban talk format and then returned to urban oldies music. In early 2000, WCGI(AM) adopted an all gospel music format. A few years later, now a Clear Channel station, WGCI(AM) changed its call letters to WGRB (Gospel Radio Blessings for Chicago) to differentiate it from its FM sister station. Submitted by Kenneth R. Masson, Chicago Radio historian kennethrmasson@SBCGlobal.net 708-636-2909
