am in greensboro north carolina known as wbig from 1926 until 1986 see wwbg . wbig city aurora illinois broadcast area fox valley branding am 1280 wbig slogan the big one frequency 1280 khz first air date december 13 1938 format talk home shopping sports power 1 000 watts daytime 500 watts nighttime class b facility id 5217 transmitter coordinates 41 46 10.00 n 88 14 44.00 w 41.7694444 n 88.2455556 w 41.7694444 ; 88.2455556 wbig callsign meaning the big one former callsigns wmro 1938 1989 wysy 1989 1991 affiliations irn usa radio news fox sports radio owner big broadcasting company inc. sister stations wrmn website wbig1280.com wbig 1280 am ; the big one is a radio station broadcasting a mixed format of talk home shopping and sports . licensed to aurora illinois it serves the fox valley . the station is currently owned by big broadcasting company inc. contents 1 history 2 programming 3 references 4 external links history edit the station signed on december 13 1938 1 as wmro a 500 watt daytimer owned by martin o brien and operating at 1250 khz ; the north american regional broadcasting agreement moved the station to 1280 in 1941 . 2 the station s programming was predominantly local with a full service format being in place in the late 1940s . 2 among wmro s on air staff during this time was a young john drury . 2 vincent cofey and benjamin oswalt purchased the station in 1957 ; three years later the station was granted night authorization and implemented its current power levels . 2 a separately programmed fm sister station at 107.9 now wley fm was added on september 1 1964 . 2 3 cofey and oswalt sold wmro to dale stevens in june 1969 to fund television station wlxt channel 60 ; now occupied by wxft dt 2 which had signed on may 18 4 and to a lesser extent an upgrade to wmro fm renamed waur . 2 wlxt shut down july 17 1970 ; 4 two years later stevens purchased waur from cofey and oswalt . 2 beasley broadcast group bought wmro and waur in 1986 . 2 beasley placed its focus on waur which would eventually be relaunched as adult contemporary station wysy fm and showed little interest in wmro ; this culminated in 1989 with the dismissal of the station s entire on air staff and a callsign change to wysy reflecting its conversion to a simulcast of the fm station . 2 wysy fm subsequently moved its studios from aurora to chicago ; at that time beasley opted to completely shut down the aurora facility which also housed the am station s transmitter and with little fanfare signed the station off . 2 the callsign was changed to the current wbig in 1991 ; 5 two years later big broadcasting purchased the license from beasley and brought wbig back on the air in november 1993 . 2 programming edit much of wbig s current daytime schedule is devoted to the big radio shopping show a home shopping program that airs during much of the daytime hours . the station does air an interview program the big wake up call hosted by ryan gatenby . fox sports radio programming is aired during most of the nighttime hours ; weekend programming is also largely provided by fox sports radio except for at home with gary sullivan and the big radio shopping show on saturday mornings and religious programming on sunday mornings . wbig is the flagship station for kane county cougars baseball . it also carries chicago white sox baseball chicago bears football chicago bulls basketball and local sports . references edit broadcasting cable yearbook 1989 pdf . 1989 . p. b 88 . retrieved july 1 2010 . a b c d e f g h i j k l wmro aurora il . chicago radio timeline . zecom communications . archived from the original on may 25 2013 . retrieved july 4 2010 . broadcasting yearbook 1967 pdf . 1967 . p. b 48 . retrieved july 4 2010 . a b broadcasting yearbook 1971 pdf . 1971 . p. a 19 . retrieved july 4 2010 . call sign history . cdbs public access . federal communications commission . retrieved july 4 2010 . external links edit official website query the fcc s am station database for wbig radio locator information on wbig query nielsen audio s am station database for wbig v t e news talk radio stations in the state of illinois all news wbbm chicago wcfs elmwood park news and talk kftk east st. louis waik galesburg wbba fm pittsfield wbel south beloit wbig aurora wbgz alton wcil carbondale wcmy ottawa wcpt willow springs wcra effingham wcsj morris wdan danville wdws champaign wfiw fairfield wgem quincy wgfa watseka wgil galesburg wgn chicago wgnu granite city whow clinton wind chicago wjbc bloomington wjbm jerseyville wjol joliet wjpf herrin wkan kankakee wkei kewanee wkyx golconda wlbk dekalb wlmd bushnell wls chicago wmay springfield wmix mount vernon wrhl rochelle wrmn elgin wrok rockford wrpw colfax wsdr sterling wsdz belleville wsoy decatur wtad quincy wtax springfield wtim assumption wtrh ramsey wzoe princeton wzus macon see also adult contemporary classic hits college country news talk npr oldies religious rock sports top 40 urban other radio stations in illinois v t e fox sports radio stations in the united states by callsign kand kape kavl kbme kbxz kcbl kcub kdkt kfxn fm kgme kgmy kgmz khgg khgg fm khho khty klac klsd kmis kmns koan kopy kozn kpoj krld fm ktkr kwes waor warf wasr wbec wbig wbiw wcwa wdae wdfn weey wene weol wfnn wfrx wfxn whbc whtk wiro winz wjjb fm wjox am wlop wlro wmen wmml wnco wnde wnfl wnio wnml wofx wolf wpkx wpop wqxi wqxq wred wrnl wsai wsan wsar wtam wtkt wtrx wtso wwtx wxtg fm wyhl wyke wyts wzgv by city akron ohio anchorage alaska ashland ohio alice texas allentown pa . atlanta aurora illinois bakersfield baton rouge bedford ind. binghamton birmingham alabama bismarck n.d. canton oh cape girardeau missouri cincinnati cleveland columbus ohio corsicana texas cramerton north carolina dallas des moines detroit elyria lorain ohio erie pa . fall river masachusetts flint mi . flagstaff az . fresno calif. ft. smith arkansas am ft. smith arkansas fm glens falls n.y. gray portland me . green bay harrisburg pa . 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disney the fox the x religious brands afr air 1 k love retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title wbig am & oldid 740986137 categories radio stations in illinoistalk radio stations in the united statessports radio stations in the united statesradio stations established in 19381938 establishments in illinois navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 24 september 2016 at 16 46 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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