The dream stayed alive with the Chicago Federation of Labor, who believed having an owned and operated radio station would be an effective way to spread its message.

[13] Initially the Illinois Manufacturers' Association attempted to keep WCFL off the air by protesting the use of public property for the station's transmitter and broadcasting site.

[14] In November 1926, with an eye toward being self-sustaining, the Federation added a shortwave station to the Navy Pier transmitter site, planning to use WCFL Radio Telegraph to help offset broadcasting costs.

The donations continued to spiral downward as time passed, especially after 1928, when WCFL's operating power was cut and it was limited to "dawn to dusk" broadcasting—from sunrise to sunset.

[19][20] 1929 found the station notifying the Federation that unless members made their dollar donations, WCFL would need to implement some type of commercial broadcasting to stay afloat.

[21] WCFL was also to become an affiliate of the Amalgamated Broadcasting System in 1933, but that network collapsed after only a month of operations, prior to its planned westward expansion from New York.

[13] The usual broadcast day included dance and classical music, comedy, as well as radio programs in 11 different languages designed to reach out to Chicago's immigrant population.

New Federal Communications Commission rules insisted that shortwave stations have a minimum of 5,000 watts of power; the cost to WCFL to upgrade to this level would have been around $10,000.

In June 1968, plans were made for building a transmitter and antenna atop Chicago's John Hancock Center, as well as other construction needs to get WCFL-TV on the air.

[31] The pre-Top 40 talent lineup included Dan Sorkin[32][33] in the morning, Mike Rapchak following him and Sid McCoy's all-night jazz program.

[34] Bob Elson did both White Sox games and interviewed celebrities at The Pump Room; his sports cohort, Milo Hamilton, also wore two hats, talking football and playing music.

[49] WCFL gained fame in 1966 when Kamen followed Chicago Civil Rights leader and comedy star Dick Gregory to Mississippi and was beaten by KKK members while reporting on a voter registration protest.

[36] In their Top 40 years, some famous disc jockeys on WCFL included Jim Runyon, Joel Sebastian,[51] Dick Williamson, (who was already with WCFL at the time of the format change),[36] Jim Stagg,[36][52] Ron Britain,[53][54] ("America's First Psychedelic Disk Johnny"), who did a second stint at the station in 1978,[55] the legendary Dick Biondi,[56][57][58] whose Mutual Radio syndicated Dick Biondi's Young America show was heard here 3 years before his actual arrival,[59][60] Barney Pip,[61] Ron Riley,[62] and Sid McCoy and Yvonne Daniels with late night jazz[63] during the earliest days of the change to Top 40.

[69] The DJ secretary during this era was Connie Szerszen, who went on to forge her own career on the air in Chicago radio, appearing on WIND and other stations.

Also on staff at that time was continuity director Barbara Sternig, who left for Los Angeles once the Beatles broke up, became Rona Barrett's writer, and later Senior Reporter in Hollywood for the National Enquirer.

[86] During the late 1960s and early 1970s, WCFL also featured a popular Sunday night program of "underground" album-oriented music called Ron Britain's Subterranean Circus.

[21][55] Due to madcap DJ Britain's sure ear for the innovative and his highly inventive sketches,[87] plus WCFL's powerful AM nighttime signal, these programs gained huge listenership not just in the Chicago area, but in other parts of the country as well.

[89] The comedy feature Chickenman, a satire based on the Batman TV series, originated on Jim Runyon's morning drive-time show in the fall of 1966.

Gary Deeb, media critic for the Chicago Tribune, blasted Witz in print, saying it was this decision and many others like it that turned WCFL from, "a bright, civic-minded 50,000 watt rock powerhouse into a sonic slum".

Witz also insisted his on-air personalities broadcast false time checks, in the event listeners might be part of Arbitron ratings households.

[104][105] 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".

[13] Larry Lujack, still under contract with the station, stayed on at WCFL playing easy listening music until moving back to WLS in September 1976.

[13][108] After deciding its profit margin was too small for the Chicago Federation of Labor to maintain, on April 10, 1978, it was announced that WCFL would be sold to the Mutual Broadcasting System, at the time a subsidiary of the Amway Corporation, for $12 million.

A magazine-type news/talk format was adopted, with sports talk in the evening hours and the syndicated Larry King Show overnight, but ratings remained low.

In January 1981, WCFL flipped to a middle of the road format playing adult standards and pop hits of the 1950s and '60s mixed in with some softer oldies and AC cuts, and even a few currents.

[113][114][115] Although no longer in use, the former call letters WCFL, rendered massively in stainless steel, remain on the exterior wall of the transmitter building off 39th Street in Downers Grove.

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 mostly simulcasting WLUP-FM.

[127] WMVP did carry its own night-time sports talk program, and play-by-play broadcasts of the White Sox, Blackhawks and Bulls, and would later air some shows from hosts who were moved over from the FM beginning that September.

[135] In late June 2021, GKB entered into an agreement with Hubbard Broadcasting to simulcast WMVP in HD Radio, over WSHE-FM (100.3)'s HD2 subchannel to allow FM access to the station in some manner.

[138] On November 1, 2022, the NFL's Chicago Bears announced that they would move their radio flagship to WMVP starting in the 2023 season, replacing a 22-season long stint with WBBM.