Studios are located at Two Prudential Plaza in the Chicago Loop, while the station transmitter site is in suburban Bloomingdale, diplexed with co-owned WBBM.

Besides its main analog transmission, WSCR transmits continuously[note 1] over a single HD Radio channel using the in-band on-channel standard,[4] simulcasts over the second digital subchannel of WBMX, and streams online via Audacy.

Purchased by the National Broadcasting Company in 1931, WMAQ was a key station in the NBC Radio Network for nearly six decades, and later started affiliates WMAQ-TV (channel 5) and WMAQ-FM (101.1 FM).

[2][12] There are questions whether anyone heard this initial half-hour broadcast, as technical problems forced WGU to shut down beginning the next day, while waiting for a replacement transmitter.

[15][16][17] WGU was briefly deleted on September 29, 1922,[18] then relicensed three days later as WMAQ, jointly to The Fair Corporation and the Chicago Daily News, still on 360 meters.

In September 1922 the Department of Commerce set aside a second entertainment wavelength, 400 meters (750 kHz) for "Class B" stations that had quality equipment and programming.

[12][39][40] Within four weeks after its move, WMAQ obtained the exclusive Chicago rights from American Telephone & Telegraph to broadcast President Warren Harding's address from San Francisco.

[49][50][51] In April 1930, WMAQ was organized as a subsidiary corporation with Walter Strong as its chairman of the board, and Judith Waller as vice president and station manager.

General manager Judith Waller saw the potential of the radio show and granted these rights to the duo as part of their WMAQ contract.

[63][64][65] Those at the dealerships saw and heard Bill Hay, the announcer for Amos 'n' Andy, present a variety show, broadcast from the Daily News Building.

[71] In May of the next year, NBC moved the station from the Daily News Building to the Merchandise Mart, where it had newly built a broadcasting center in 1930.

WMAQ was a key station in the NBC Radio Network for nearly six decades, and later started affiliates WMAQ-TV (channel 5) and WMAQ-FM (101.1 FM).

Herb Kent, a Chicago radio pioneer, first came to work in the mailroom at WMAQ as a young high school graduate in the late 1940s.

[121][122][123] After the Chez Paree closed in the spring of 1960, the program became The Jack Eigen Show and the interviews continued from WMAQ's Studio G, where there was room enough for a small audience, and from Chicago's Sherman House Hotel.

[113][124][125][126][127][128] Beginning in 1956, the overnight hours were the domain of Holmes "Daddy-O" Daylie (1920–2003), who brought his sense of humor, way with words and musical knowledge to WMAQ as he played cool jazz until dawn.

[127] A 1964 campaign asking listeners to vote for Elvis Presley or Chubby Checker was just a publicity stunt, but it was enough to start rumors in the broadcasting and record industries that the station was moving to a Top 40 format.

[127][136] On August 31, 1964, Channel 5 changed its call letters to WMAQ-TV to match WMAQ radio, as the stations emphasized their common NBC ownership.

[137][138] When Floyd Brown joined the staff in 1965, his photo wound up on the cover of the RCA Employee magazine next to one of Bill Cosby, who was starring in I Spy on NBC-TV.

A radio veteran, having been involved at the start of Gordon McLendon's WYNR, his smooth voice, his upbeat personality, and his ability to discuss everything from Big Bands to Beatles to Chicago Bears, informed and entertained WMAQ listeners when he became a regular program host.

Although the station never shifted completely to Top 40, by the early 1970s, WMAQ's playlist had become comparable to today's hot adult contemporary format.

Clark Weber, Jim Stagg (1935–2007), Joel Sebastian, Tom Murphy, and Howard Miller all spent some time working at WMAQ and previously at WCFL.

This was the era of the "Good Morning Guys", including Pat Cassidy, Lee Sherwood, Bob Tracy, Jerry Taft, and Tim Weigel.

By early 1986, WMAQ had begun phasing out country music in favor of talk programming, with the station completing its transition on November 17, 1986.

[162][163][164] After 57 years, NBC disposed of all of the company's radio stations following RCA's merger with General Electric, with WMAQ being sold to Group W in 1988.

The news staff included two veteran WMAQ reporters, Bill Cameron and Bob Roberts, holdover anchor Nancy Benson, Jay Congdon, Christopher Michael, Lisa Meyer, Larry Langford (son of the late Chicago Ald.

[176] While some WMAQ staffers were retained by Infinity and transferred to WBBM, up to 44 reporters, anchors, editors and writers were dismissed; this included Chet Coppock, who frequently sparred on-air with WSCR staff and incumbent morning host Mike North.

[175] On August 1, 2000, after 78 years, WMAQ broadcast for the last time with a live sign-off message from nighttime police beat reporter Larry Langford.

[177][178] Following the sign-off, WMAQ ran a loop of "Score" promos for six hours before starting a full simulcast of WSCR for a two-week transitional period.

[183] All three iterations of WSCR used the same studios at 4949 West Belmont Avenue in Chicago's Cragin neighborhood—shared with WXRT—from 1992 until moving to the NBC Tower in 2001,[184][185] using the facilities that WMAQ had vacated a year earlier.

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.