In the 1920s, Sears, Roebuck and Company was a major
retail and mail order company. To get farmers and people in rural communities
to buy radio sets from its catalogs, Sears bought time on radio stations, and
then decided to form its own station.
Sears broadcast test transmissions from its own studios
on April 9, 10 and 11, 1924, using the call sign WES (for "World's Economy
Store"). Sears originally operated its station at the company's corporate
headquarters on Chicago's West Side, which is also where the company's mail
order business was located. On April 12, 1924, the station commenced
officially, using the call letters WLS (for "World's Largest Store"),
and broadcasting from its new studios in the Sherman House Hotel in downtown
Chicago.
On May 2, 1960, at 6 a.m., WLS went full-time Rock and
Roll/Top 40. Mort Crowley was the first disc jockey under the new format, and
the first song played was "Alley-Oop" by the Hollywood Argyles, four full
weeks before it debuted on the Hot 100.
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