{"id":2330,"date":"2014-02-14T11:30:15","date_gmt":"2014-02-14T17:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=2330"},"modified":"2014-02-14T11:40:28","modified_gmt":"2014-02-14T17:40:28","slug":"wgn-takes-over-87-7-fm-on-monday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2014\/02\/14\/wgn-takes-over-87-7-fm-on-monday\/","title":{"rendered":"WGN takes over 87.7 FM on Monday"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WGN<\/a><\/a>After 90 years as the radio flagship of the \u201cWorld\u2019s Greatest Newspaper,\u201d WGN AM 720<\/a> is about to raise its voice and expand its reach to the FM band.<\/p>\n

Although blocked by federal regulations from owning an FM signal in Chicago, bosses of the Tribune Broadcasting news\/talk station have made a deal to lease the frequency of 87.7 FM through September 2015. It's a potential game changer for the market.<\/p>\n

\"Jimmy<\/a>

Jimmy deCastro<\/p><\/div>\n

Under terms of a local marketing agreement with Venture Technologies Group,<\/a> which holds the license for the low-power station, Tribune Broadcasting will take over programming, sales and marketing for WKQX LP 87.7. It is expected to unveil a new identity for the station at 1:02 p.m. Monday \u2014 one minute after Cumulus Media drops its alternative rock simulcast with WKQX FM 101.1.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re outgrowing WGN with great talent,\u201d Jimmy deCastro, president and general manager of WGN, told me. \u201cEverything we have said we wanted to do is based on the strength of WGN and our personalities. It\u2019s all about getting the best spoken-word talent and getting more bandwidth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Overseeing programming for the new outlet will be Todd Manley, vice president of creative content at WGN. As of Friday, he and deCastro were still putting the final touches on a lineup that will lead off with morning personality Jonathon Brandmeier. Since September, the Chicago radio veteran has been heard on\u00a0WGN.fm,<\/a> a \u201cfree form\u201d virtual station, where he\u2019ll also continue to appear.<\/p>\n

Together with Larry Wert, president of Tribune Broadcast Media, deCastro first had to negotiate a side deal with Merlin Media, which has had a local marketing agreement for 87.7 FM since 2012. Next came the deal with Venture Technologies. Terms were not disclosed.<\/p>\n

\"Jonathon<\/a>

Jonathon Brandmeier<\/p><\/div>\n

Technically considered low-power television channel 6, the frequency has been functioning as a radio station since 2009 when Venture Technologies first signed on with a country format and soon after switched to smooth jazz. That ran until Merlin Media took over, eventually settling on an alternative rock format.<\/p>\n

The future of all low-power television stations on channel 6 to operate as FM radio stations is in serious doubt<\/a> after September 2015 when the FCC has ordered their conversion from analog to digital signals. By then, more options may open up for Tribune Co., which has been blocked as long as it also owns the Chicago Tribune. The newspaper unit is expected to be spun off later this year.<\/p>\n

While he\u2019s made no secret of his desire to acquire an FM outlet, deCastro has been keeping the market guessing for weeks about his plans. Shortly after Cumulus Media snatched up Merlin Media\u2019s two full-power FM stations \u2014 WLUP FM 97.9 and WIQI (now WKQX) FM 101.1 \u2014 Crain\u2019s Chicago Business<\/a> declared that WGN was \u201cfacing increasingly bleak prospects\u201d to fortify its arsenal. As he has throughout his charmed career,<\/a> deCastro shrugged off the naysayers.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been more than 60 years since WGN operated its own FM sister station. In 1953, the Chicago Tribune turned back the license of its underutilized WGNB FM 98.7 to the FCC. It was a colossally short-sighted decision that would haunt the company to this day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After 90 years as the radio flagship of the \u201cWorld\u2019s Greatest Newspaper,\u201d WGN AM 720 is about to raise its voice and expand its reach to the FM band. Although blocked by federal regulations from owning an FM signal in Chicago, bosses of the Tribune Broadcasting news\/talk station have made a deal to lease the... Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2330"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2330"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2348,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2330\/revisions\/2348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}