branding espn chicago 1000 am slogan chicagoland s leader in sports frequency 1000 khz also on hd radio first air date june 19 1926 format sports talk power 50 000 watts class a clear channel facility id 73303 transmitter coordinates 41 49 5 n 87 59 18 w 41.81806 n 87.98833 w 41.81806 ; 87.98833 callsign meaning most valuable player former callsigns wcfl 1926 1987 wlup 1987 1993 affiliations espn radio chicago bulls nba iheartradio owner the walt disney company sports radio chicago llc sister stations wls tv webcast listen live website espn chicago wmvp 1000 am is the callsign of a commercial radio station in chicago illinois united states . it is owned by abc inc. and operated by espn radio . its transmitter is located in downers grove . 1 the station broadcasts live sports talk both locally and nationally . daily programming consists of talk shows that are both national and local . mike and mike is done by espn while waddle & silvy carmen and jurko and kap and company are more focused on chicago sports . it was the flagship station of the chicago bulls . wmvp also airs the northwestern wildcats football games whenever flagship am station wgn is unable to air the games due to other broadcast agreements . its former call sign was wcfl for the chicago federation of labor . the station billed itself as the voice of labor from its inception until its sale to mutual in 1978 . 2 during its years as a top 40 station like its rival wls wcfl s powerful nighttime signal enabled it to be heard by many listeners far outside of the metro chicago area . and while it was primarily a top 40 station wcfl featured a sunday evening program of progressive rock music called the ron britain subterranean circus . the word subterranean was in reference to wcfl featuring underground music which was the term used to refer to then emerging album oriented rock music format . this genre of music was almost exclusively carried by fm stations making wcfl being among the few am stations to carry album cuts as opposed to singles . contents 1 the wcfl era 1.1 the sale of wcfl to mutual 1.2 religious years 2 1000 wlup 3 becoming sports radio 4 hd programming 5 see also 6 references 7 external links the wcfl era edit main article wcfl am this section is empty . you can help by adding to it . january 2016 the sale of wcfl to mutual edit on march 15 1976 after two years of falling ratings wcfl abruptly dropped its top 40 format in favor of the world s most beautiful music leaving wls once again as chicago s only am top 40 station . 3 4 station management released all disc jockeys who did not have no cut clauses in their contracts with the official explanation of the format change as being more in keeping with the labor movement . 5 larry lujack still under contract with the station stayed on at wcfl playing easy listening music until moving back to wls in september 1976 . 6 this format won few listeners from fm beautiful music stations such as wloo and by 1978 had been replaced by a gold based adult contemporary format . 7 wcfl and the chicago federation of labor enjoyed the support of mayor richard j. daley throughout his 1955 1976 administration . he proclaimed january 11 1966 wcfl day in chicago to mark the 40th anniversary of the station . 2 in 1976 when it became evident it was time for the federation to sell the radio station federation president william a. lee turned to his long time friend mayor daley for advice . 5 after deciding its profit margin was too small for the chicago federation of labor to maintain wcfl was sold april 3 1978 to the mutual broadcasting system at the time a subsidiary of the amway corporation . 2 the history of the first and longest lived labor radio station was over ; after nearly 52 years the voice of labor had been stilled . 5 the station began to identify itself as mutual cfl . a magazine type news talk format was adopted with sports talk in the evening hours and larry king overnight but ratings remained low . in 1982 wcfl flipped to an mor format playing standards and non rock hits of the 50s and 60s mixed in with some softer rock and roll oldies and soft 70s and 80s ac cuts and even a few currents . ratings were still low so wcfl evolved by the end of 1983 to an adult contemporary format . 5 religious years edit in 1983 wcfl was sold by mutual to statewide broadcasting . 8 statewide switched wcfl to adult contemporary christian music about 10 hours a day and teaching programs the rest of the time . wcfl basically sold blocks of time to various christian organizations . the format was profitable but received very low ratings . at that time they advertised the call letters as standing for winning chicago for the lord . in early 1985 the station moved from marina city into a two story brick building built on its downers grove transmitter site . 1 statewide specialized in religious formats but opted to merge with a secular company called heftel broadcasting . 9 wcfl became wlup just after the stroke of midnight april 29 1987 . 5 1000 wlup edit initially they opted to remain religious while keeping their longtime rock station 97.9 fm wlup with an aor format . heftel opted to end the religious format in april 1987 . the call letters of the station were changed to wlup and its fm sister became wlup fm . wlup fm remained an aor station while 1000 wlup switched to a full service rock format focusing on personality comedy and talk programs with a few rock cuts an hour . after 7 p.m. wlup and wlup fm simulcast the aor format . heftel had bought a few spanish stations in the late 1980s and bought a spanish station in chicago in 1992 . they then sold their english stations including wlup and wlup fm . evergreen media would buy wlup am & fm in late 1992 . becoming sports radio edit espn 1000 logo used from 2008 to 2012 . initially the am and fm stations remained the same . on september 27 1993 though wlup fm switched to a full service talk comedy rock format while am 1000 became sports . 10 11 97.9 then became wlup and am 1000 changed its call sign to wmvp or most valuable player to reflect the station s new emphasis on sports programming . 12 wmvp s programming included nationally syndicated shows such as fabulous sports babe and ferrall on the bench as well as play by play of local sports games . despite their 24 hour signal the station trailed in the ratings to at the time daytime only wscr and to wmaq s sports huddle at night . wmvp dropped its all sports format at 6 a.m. on june 5 1996 the day before the chicago bulls opened the nba finals against the seattle supersonics and returned to simulcasting wlup fm though it would carry its own night time sports talk program and play by play broadcasts of the white sox and bulls and would later air some shows from hosts who were moved over from the fm . 13 14 evergreen later merged with chancellor and sold wlup fm to bonneville international in july 1997 with wmvp permanently splitting from the fm and began airing its own talk sports format . wmvp was sold from chancellor to abc in august 1998 and flipped back to sports on october 5 this time affiliated with espn radio . 15 16 17 wmvp s streetside studio on north state street with wls tv located in front of the entrance to the lake station for the cta red line . abc operates wmvp from 190 north state street in the chicago loop where sister station wls tv also has its studios maintaining both traditional in building studios and a streetside studio for local programming right next to wls s own streetside studios . hd programming edit wmvp broadcasts a hybrid 18 signal analog plus hd on 1000 am . 19 see also edit wcfl am references edit a b fybush 2008 . wcfl wmvp transmitter site . fybush . retrieved 19 april 2010 . a b c wcfl . radio timeline . retrieved 14 march 2010 . youtube audio of larry lujack and the end of rock on wcfl march 15 1976 demos 16 september 2005 . loaning larry lujack bus fare during wcfl s beautiful music summer of 1976 . mcmahon . retrieved 12 may 2010 . a b c d e godfried nathan ed . 1997 wcfl chicago s voice of labor 1926 78 university of illinois press pp. 281 290 isbn 0 252 06592 1 retrieved 2010 04 06 larry lujack interview . manteno . 1985 . archived from the original on 16 august 2003 . retrieved 1 april 2010 . wcfl returns to pop music page 9 pdf . mr. pop history . 23 january 1978 . retrieved 1 april 2010 . jordan ginsburg statewide broadcasting co owner obituary boca raton fl . 26 august 2009 . retrieved 22 march 2010 . more details about the statewide heftel merger univision radio wikipedia https www.highbeam.com doc 1p2 4193252.html http www.americanradiohistory.com archive randr 1990s 1993 rr 1993 10 01.pdf nidetz steve january 17 1994 . espn scoring here on radio . chicago tribune . p. 9 . https www.highbeam.com doc 1p2 4335610.html https www.highbeam.com doc 1p2 4350811.html https www.highbeam.com doc 1p2 4447853.html https www.highbeam.com doc 1p2 4458387.html https www.highbeam.com doc 1p2 4468594.html http www.fcc.gov encyclopedia iboc digital radio broadcasting am and fm radio broadcast stations http www.hdradio.com station guides widget.php id 25 external links edit espn chicago a look at the espn 1000 studios 2004 query the fcc s am station database for wmvp radio locator information on wmvp query nielsen audio s am station database for wmvp v t e radio stations in the chicago market by am frequency 560 6701 7201 750 7801 820 850 8901 930 950 10001 1030 1050 1080 1110 1160 1200 1220 1230 1240 1270 1300 1330 1340 1370 1390 1410 1420 1430 1450 1450 1490 1500 1500 1510 1530 1570 1590 1690 by fm frequency 87.72 88.1 88.1 88.1 88.1 88.1 88.1 88.1 88.1 88.3 88.3 88.3 88.3 88.5 88.5 88.7 88.7 88.7 88.7 88.9 88.9 89.1 89.1 89.3 89.3 89.5 89.7 90.1 90.5 90.7 90.7 90.9 91.5 91.7 91.9 92.3 92.5 92.7 93.1 93.5 93.9 94.3 94.7 95.1 95.5 95.9 95.9 96.3 96.7 96.7 96.9 97.1 97.5 97.9 98.3 98.3 98.7 99.5 99.9 99.9 100.3 100.7 100.7 101.1 101.9 102.3 102.3 102.7 103.1 103.1 103.5 103.9 103.9 103.9 104.3 104.7 105.1 105.5 105.5 105.9 106.3 106.7 107.1 107.1 107.5 107.9 noaa weather radio frequency 162.400 162.425 162.500 162.550 digital radio 780 1300 1390 1690 89.3 1 89.3 2 89.5 1 89.5 2 90.1 1 90.1 2 90.1 3 90.7 1 90.7 1 90.9 1 90.9 2 90.9 3 91.5 1 91.5 2 92.3 1 92.3 2 93.1 1 93.1 2 93.1 3 93.9 1 93.9 2 94.7 1 94.7 2 95.5 1 95.5 2 95.9 1 95.9 2 96.3 1 96.3 2 96.7 1 97.1 1 97.1 2 97.9 1 97.9 2 97.9 3 98.7 1 99.5 1 99.5 2 100.3 1 100.3 2 101.1 1 101.1 2 101.9 1 101.9 2 102.3 1 102.7 1 102.7 2 103.5 1 103.5 2 104.3 1 104.3 2 105.1 1 105.1 2 105.1 3 105.5 1 105.9 1 105.9 2 106.3 1 106.7 1 106.7 2 107.5 1 107.5 2 by callsign kwo39 kxi41 kxi58 kzz81 w219cd w244bq w248bb w264bf w280em