WSCR
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| City of license | Chicago, Illinois |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Chicago market |
| Branding | The Score |
| Slogan | Chicago Sports Radio |
| Frequency | 670 AM (kHz) (also on HD Radio) 104.3 FM-HD2 (WJMK) |
| First air date | 1992 |
| Format | Sports talk radio |
| Power | 50,000 watts |
| Class | A |
| Facility ID | 25445 |
| Transmitter coordinates | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. (main antenna) Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. (auxiliary antenna) |
| Callsign meaning | W-SCORE |
| Affiliations | CBS Sports Radio |
| Owner | CBS Radio (CBS Radio East Inc.) |
| Sister stations | WBBM, WBBM-FM, WCFS-FM, WJMK-FM, WUSN, WXRT part of CBS Corp. cluster with TV station WBBM-TV |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | 670thescore.com |
WSCR is a 50,000 watt clear-channel station sports radio station in the Chicago, Illinois radio market. The station is owned by CBS Radio and transmits on 670 kHz on the AM dial. Its transmitter is located just off Army Trail Road in Bloomingdale, which is a western suburb of Chicago, and its studios are located at Two Prudential Plaza in the Loop. It is known as "The Score," and has been on the air since 1992. WSCR is currently the Chicago radio home for Chicago Cubs baseball and is the flagship station for the Chicago Cubs Radio Network, as well as Illinois Fighting Illini football and men's basketball. WSCR also carries other live sports programming from CBS Sports Radio and Westwood One, including Monday Night Football.
From 2001 to 2008, the station was the flagship for Chicago Blackhawks hockey, until their move to WGN 720 AM. WSCR was also the radio home for the Chicago White Sox baseball club from 2006 to 2015, until their departure to WLS 890 AM at the conclusion of the 2015 season. [1]
The Cubs joined 670 The Score following the White Sox' departure to WLS 890 AM. When the Cubs left WGN for CBS Radio following the 2014 season, the Cubs were heard on WBBM 780 AM. A clause in the Cubs' deal with CBS allowed a one time move to WSCR in the event that the White Sox left the station. [2] The move was officially announced on November 11, 2015. [3]
Contents
HD programming
WSCR is licensed for a hybrid (analog plus digital) signal; HD1 duplicates traditional (analog) broadcasting.[4] WSCR can also be heard on WJMK HD2.
History
The station initially signed on at 820 AM in 1992 as a 5000 watt regional "daytime" station. This meant that after sundown the station had to sign off to avoid interfering with the nighttime signal of WBAP in Fort Worth, Texas, the clear-channel station on 820. WSCR moved to 1160 AM in 1997, and to its current frequency of 670 AM — a 50,000-watt clear-channel signal acquired when Viacom ceased broadcasting WMAQ's all-news format in August 2000, and subsequently divested the 1160 frequency due to FCC limits on ownership (see WMAQ (AM) and WYLL). WSCR's studios are located at 4949 W. Belmont Ave. on the northwest side of Chicago in the building where sister station 93.1 WXRT had long been located. WSCR ceased broadcasting from that location in 2001.
Before 1992, the WSCR call letters were used for a station on 1220 in Hamden, Connecticut. Prior to that they were the longtime radio call letters for a station in Scranton, Pennsylvania at 1320 AM.
670 AM in Chicago was previously known as WMAQ; see Broadcast Facilities below.
Programming
The Score is known for various concepts, such as:
- The station's relationship with long-time listeners, callers, and contributors. Many supply regular contributions in the form of faxes and e-mails. Some callers and e-mailers, known as "Score Heads," use colorful monikers, such as "Formula One Boy", "Schmutzie," "9-Iron", "Stan from Bellwood," "Whitley from Ravenswood," The Gridiron Assassin," "Rusty from Stickney," "Bichiro," "LeBron James's Hummer," "Canuck Boy", "Alex from Rogers Park," "GatorBill from Champaign," "Denver Dave," "Stonecutter from the Northwest Side," "Wild Bill" RIP (known for his hoarse, out of breath voice), "Rex Kwon Do," "Mr. Mouth", "Quad Cities Pat", "Quit Playin'", "Dusty's Toothpick", "Bittersweet Jeff" from the South Side, "Dark Twain," "Agent Orange", "Mike in Milwaukee,""Tom from 'Hangover Park,'" "Northside Fro Dog" "Bob in Niles" (The Movie Man) and an impersonator of The Simpsons villain "Mr. Burns."
- The station's relationship with Chicago celebrities, sports or otherwise. They include former pitcher and current Chicago White Sox announcer Steve Stone, and former Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillén. Former Pro Football Weekly and current Chicago Football publisher Hub Arkush is a paid analysts.
- The station's various "radio remotes." Shows are done from various locations ranging from restaurants and bars to sports teams' training camps, mainly the Chicago Bears. At one point, former morning radio personality Mike North even did a series of remote shows from the backyards of various SCORE listeners. On every Friday, the Boers and Bernstein show hosts the Bud Light "Who Needs Two" tavern tour.
- Various "signature segments." These range from "Who Ya' Crappin'," based on Mike Ditka's response to a question posed by Terry Boers in a recorded interview, to Mully and Hanley's "Reporters' Notebook," "Bum Of The Week" and "And For That You Suck!" with Les Grobstein. Another segment is Laurence Holmes' "Hater Wednesday." The signature and other segments are now available via the "Pod Spot" menu of The Score's website.
Starting in 2005, WSCR started airing Sporting News Radio overnights (now limited to Saturday and Sunday a.m. and other fill-in time slots). It also began airing the Dan Patrick show on a delayed basis in 2007. Now overnights are primarily covered by Les Grobstein. WSCR also airs CBS Sports Radio on its website whenever it airs the NFL on Dial Global or the White Sox, which do not allow live streaming.
The station is the exclusive Chicago radio outlet for Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball and football along with Chicago Cubs (starting 2016) baseball, Westwood One's coverage of NFL football, and pre/postgame shows.
Twice an hour, there are minute-long "Score Board Updates" by reporters with game results and highlighted stories of the day. Many producers are on-air contributors and fill in when other hosts have days off. Other reporters include Julie Dicaro, Zach Zaidman, David Schuster, Nick Shepkowski, and Jay Zawaski.
Weekends constitute of local shows by Mike Esposito, Steve Rosenbloom and Mark Grote (Rosenbloom and Grote host a show known as the Wake & Bake show), Matt Rodewald, and "White Sox Weekly" with Chris Rongey, as well as syndicated shows from CBS Sports Radio. Also on the weekends, The Score broadcasts NCAA games, White Sox baseball and NFL playoffs through Westwood One.
Broadcast facilities
The Score has had three primary broadcast facilities in its years on the air. The first was at 4949 West Belmont Avenue on the Northwest Side of Chicago. The second, with them moving to the 670 frequency after the merger of Westinghouse and CBS Radio, was at the NBC Tower. Currently the station is located in Two Prudential Plaza, along with several other CBS-owned stations.
| Preceded by | Occupant of the AM 670 kHz frequency in Chicago, Illinois (Facility ID 25445) 2000–present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
References
- ↑ http://www.robertfeder.com/2015/06/23/wls-wins-white-sox-radio-rights/
- ↑ http://chicagocubsonline.com/archives/2015/11/cubs-officially-move-radio-broadcasts-to-670-the-score.php
- ↑ http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/7/71/1091613/cubs-make-radio-move-wscr-official
- ↑ http://hdradio.com/station_guides/widget.php?id=25
