WAIT (AM)

WAIT

City of license	Crystal Lake, Illinois
Branding	"The Promise"
Frequency	850 kHz
Format	Christian
Power	2,500 watts (day only)
Class	D
Facility ID	53504
Transmitter coordinates	42°15′30.00″N 88°21′48.00″W
Former callsigns	WCPT, WAIT, WIVS
Affiliations	CNN Headline News
Owner	Newsweb Corporation
Website	www.thepromise850.com

WAIT (850 AM) is a radio station located near Crystal Lake, Illinois. It was purchased by Newsweb Corporation in 2004. Original call letters were WIVS.

The station is licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as a Class D station and only broadcasts during daytime hours. The station signs off from sunset to sunrise to protect 850 KOA in Denver.

Because of its far north suburban location, WAIT covers Rockford and Madison with a city grade signal and in some areas, better than it serves Chicago itself.

History

The 850 KHZ frequency came on the air in the 1960s using the call letters WCLR, which stood for Crystal Lake, its assigned city. Various formats, including classical music, were used in its early years. In the early 1970s, the station was purchased by Mal Bellairs, a WBBM-AM personality, who changed the daytime only station's call letters to WIVS, standing for wives. The station's talk shows and music were targeted to the women Bellairs targeted when he worked for WBBM. In the mid 1980s, the original WAIT at 820 KHZ, which was best known for its beautiful music format in the 60s and 70s, changed its call letters to WCZE, or cozy radio, now airing an adult pop music format. Owners of the 850 frequency quickly grabbed up the WAIT call letters, which originally stood for the stations dial position (Eight). The new WAIT played a satellite-fed Adult Standards format called "AM Only" (now Dial Global's America's Best Music).

WAIT switched from Adult Standards to a suburban-based Talk format in January 2002 under new ownership (NextMedia). On May 5, 2005, AM 850, now owned by Newsweb Corporation, launched progressive talk with the new call letters WCPT. The WAIT call letters were moved to 820 AM, leased by Newsweb to Starboard Broadcasting and until November 25, 2007, WAIT was part of the Relevant Radio Catholic network. On November 26, the WAIT call sign returned to 850 AM and WCPT moved to 820 AM. Starboard, also known as Sovereign City Broadcasting, at the time purchased WNTD 950 KHZ and moved its Catholic talk format there.

WAIT, still owned by Newsweb Corporation, now broadcasts a Spanish language religious format.

External links

• Query the FCC's AM station database for WAIT
• Radio-Locator Information on WAIT
• Query Arbitron's AM station database for WAIT