Its daytime signal provides at least grade B coverage to most of the northern two-thirds of Illinois (as far south as Springfield) as well as large portions of Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan and Indiana.

The scheduling of these segments is similar to that of several co-owned all-news stations including KNX in Los Angeles, KCBS in San Francisco and WWJ in Detroit.

WBBM also broadcasts 60-second light segments throughout the day, such as Real Estate Feature, Made in Chicago, Innovation Minute, Eating Right, among others.

Current on-air staff includes: Cisco Cotto, Keith Johnson, Nick Young, Lisa Fielding, Bernie Tafoya, Craig Dellimore, Mai Martinez, Andy Dahn, Rachel Pierson, Nancy Harty and Rob Hart.

[2] A few months later Atlass procured a proper broadcasting station license with the call sign WBBM, which made its debut on the evening of February 6, 1924,[2] transmitting on 1330 kHz.

The last reported broadcast in Lincoln occurred on April 14, after which the station was dismantled, and its equipment shipped to Les Atlass' newly purchased Chicago home.

[18] Shortly after moving to Chicago, Les Atlass returned to the airwaves, and received a new license for a broadcasting station operated from his home at 7421 Sheridan Road, again with the call letters WBBM and transmitting on 1330 kHz, now with himself as the licensee.

[22] On June 15, 1927, WBBM moved to 770 kHz with 1,000 watts, sharing time with Chicago stations WAAF (now WNTD) and WJBT.

WJBT's license was acquired by the Atlass Investment Company, and the two stations were consolidated as WBBM-WJBT, although the latter call sign was rarely, if ever, used.

[6] The station began a long association with the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) on September 27, 1928, when it joined as Chicago's second network affiliate.

WBBM and KFAB were far enough apart to allow concurrent operation during the daytime, but their longer range nighttime signals required coordination to avoid mutual interference.

[6] In March 1941, as part of the implementation of the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA), both WBBM and KFAB were shifted to 780 kHz.

[6][34] Les Atlass held various senior level management positions with WBBM and CBS until his retirement November 29, 1959, on his 65th birthday.

[35] Beginning in the 1950s, as network programming moved from radio to television, WBBM maintained a personality-based middle of the road (MOR) format until 1964.

WBBM adopted its current all-news format on May 6, 1968 (after co-owned WCBS in New York City switched to all news in 1967 and KNX in Los Angeles made the change in the spring of 1968).

Another challenge to WBBM's news radio domination came from Merlin Media, operated by former Tribune Company executive Randy Michaels.

[5] The FM station's call letters were retained and should not be confused with WBBM-FM; WCFS-FM's former adult contemporary format moved to the HD2 channel (until 2020), effectively switching signals with WBBM's audio.

On June 5, 2014, the Chicago Cubs announced that the flagship station for their radio broadcasts would be moved from WGN to WBBM for the 2015 season under a seven-year deal.

While CBS shareholders retained a 72% ownership stake in the combined company, Entercom was the surviving entity, separating the WBBM radio stations (both 780 and FM 96.3) plus WCFS-FM from WBBM-TV.

Traffic reports were temporarily reduced, the station's sportscasts were reduced, and some airshifts, mainly overnights, do not feature traffic reports, with some news hours pre-recorded with only reference to the minutes rather than anchors being live, though breaking news in overnight hours is still covered live.