WVON

WVON and WCEV (1450 AM) are radio stations licensed to Cicero, Illinois, serving the greater Chicago area. The two stations operate under a time-share agreement, consisting of WVON's African-American-oriented talk format and WCEV's brokered ethnic programming. Both stations have seperate owners and studios. Midway Broadcasting owns WVON and Migala Communications owns WCEV. WCEV's programming is on the air from 1PM to 10PM daily, with WVON's programming airing the rest of the day.

On September 18, 2006, WVON's call letters and programming will move to 1690 AM, leaving WCEV at 1450. This move will allow both stations to broadcast a full 24-hour schedule on their own frequencies.

The station began as WHFC. WHFC began in 1926, broadcasting from the Hotel Flanders in Chicago. They would soon be squeezed into a share-time situation, with as many as five stations on 1310 at one time. In 1930, they were given permission to move to 1420 with two other stations. WHFC bought out the other two in 1936 and moved to Cicero, Illinois. They were shifted to 1450 in 1941.

In 1963, WHFC became WVON when it was purchased by Leonard and Phil Chess, the owners of Chess Records, a successful record label specializing in blues music. WVON debuted on April 1, 1963 and quickly became a success playing [[R and B music, ranking consistently in the top five most listened to stations in the market.

WVON became well-known outside the Chicago area as well. Berry Gordy, the founder of Motown Records, sent every song he produced immediately to WVON before any other station. Other similar stations across the country took inspiration from WVON's format. The station also had an active role during the Civil Rights Movement, covering it extensively.

Leonard Chess passed away in 1969, and the Chess family decided to sell WVON to Globetrotter Communications, owned by George Gillette and Potter Palmer. They decided to move WVON from 1450 frequency to the stronger 1390 signal in 1976, which would improve their coverage of Chicago with 5,000 watts. The 1450 frequency was left dormant.

In 1977, Globetrotter sold WVON to Gannett, pairing it with their other acquisition, the station now known as WGCI.

During Globetrotter's ownership, many of WVON's on-air personalities were let go as competition increased in the market. Two former personalities, Pervis Spann and Wesley South, formed Midway Broadcasting Corporation and purchased part of the dormant 1450 frequency. Their station. WXOL debuted in August 1979. The station began sharing time with WCEV in 1980.

Gannett dropped the WVON call letters from 1390 in 1984, switching it to WGCI-AM. WXOL's owners immediately filed with the FCC to obtain the WVON call letters, returning the station to 1450.

In 1986, the station adopted its current Black-oriented talk radio format.

• http://www.wvon.com
• "It's a whole new day for WVON at 1690 AM " (Chicago Sun-Times, August 16, 2006)
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