WVAZ

WVAZ (102.7 mHz, "V103") is an urban adult contemporary radio station serving the Chicago region. Licensed to Oak Park, WVAZ is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications until September 2014), alongside sister stations WGCI-FM and WGRB-AM.

In 2005, WVAZ began broadcasting in IBOC digital radio, using the HD Radio system from iBiquity.

WVAZ has studios located at the Illinois Center complex on Michigan Avenue in Downtown Chicago, and it broadcasts from a 6kw transmitter based atop John Hancock Center.

History

The station signed on in 1950. They were originally a black owned radio station and by the mid 1970s they were known as WBMX and an urban contemporary featuring soul hits, dance music and contemporary jazz. The station would become the launching pad for the radio career of syndicated personality Doug Banks (who would also hone his skills at the stations eventual replacement WVAZ) and was owned by Sonderling Broadcasting.

In between, 102.7 in Chicago managed to etch its frequency and various call letters into radio history. In the early 70s Sonderling Broadcasting bought the station along with its sister station WOPA-AM. The call letters WOPA stood for The Oak Park Arms, a hotel on Oak Park Avenue where the station occupied the penthouse. Despite having a signal limited to the West Side of Chicago WOPA was a goldmine for Sonderling who brokered time to a plethora of colorful African-American entrepreneurs and entertainers. The FM had one of the better signals in the market operating off the John Hancock Tower on the near north side.