The transmitter is off South Kedzie Avenue near West 87th Street in the city's southwest side.

It was a shared time station, running 15 watts and operating on 1330 kHz on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday evenings.

"[1] Ray Kroc played piano live on the air at WGES's studios in the Oak Park Arms.

[1] The station aired big band music from the nearby Guyon's Paradise Ballroom.

[12] Gene T. Dyer purchased interest in the station in 1930, and in 1937 its studios were moved to 2400 W. Madison Street, where co-owned WSBC was located.

[7][12] In March 1941, WGES moved to 1390 kHz as a result of the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA) and the following year its power was increased from 500 watts to 5,000 watts, moving its transmitter location from the roof of the Guyon Hotel to 86th and Kedzie in Chicago.

[12] In 1945, Al Benson began hosting a Sunday evening program on WGES, using his real name Arthur Leaner.

[15] After the station told Leaner he could not sell advertising on his religious program, he began hosting a secular show as "Al Benson", playing blues, jazz, and R&B.

[15][16][17] Over the years, more hours of African-American programming were added, with the addition of disk jockeys Richard Stamz,[18] Ric Riccardo,[19] Sam Evans,[18] Herb Kent,[20][21] Franklyn McCarthy,[19] and Sid McCoy.

[24] There were complaints to the United States Federal Communications Commission that the station had eliminated foreign-language programming.

[47][48] On January 16, 1989, the AM station debuted an African-American-oriented talk format, while WGCI-FM continued to play urban contemporary music.