CBS-owned WXRT-FM is leaving its longtime home in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood on Chicago’s North Side and is moving to new digs at the NBC Tower, where sister station WSCR-AM is located.
The legendary station has been located in a building at 4949 West Belmont since 1972, and the station’s Adult Album Alternative format is the longest-tenured in the market (excluding news,talk, and classical music).
The move come as WXRT GM Michael Damsky was let go after 24 years at the station, sacked in a wave of cutbacks at corporate cutbacks at CBS Radio.
WXRT and WSCR were owned by Daniel Lee until 1995, when he sold the combo to Westinghouse Broadcasting, which was acquired a year later by CBS.
Thought: There is no doubt in my mind that this will generate a lot of discussion on the message boards today and over the weekend (okay, maybe not… see above.) Sadly, the realities of the radio business has caught up with WXRT, and it just goes to show you how the radio business has changed drastically (and not for the better) since WXRT signed on with its current format in 1972.