Officially dubbed ‘B96’ toward the end of 1982, WBBM-FM (owned and operated by CBS Radio) is currently one of the longest running Top 40/CHR stations in the United States. Originally beginning as nothing more than the FM simulcast of WBBM-AM, the station played a very conservative mix of music appealing to a semi broad demographic. As time went on, WBBM (both AM and FM) began playing towards a younger audience until 1969 when WBBM-FM broke away from the WBBM-AM simulcast and adopted a progressive rock format, which later transitioned to more of Adult Top 40. When Dick Bartley became WBBM-FM’s program director in the late 70’s, the station transitioned from Adult Top 40 to Rhythmic Top 40. When radio consultant Mike Joseph (recognized as the creator of the ‘Hot Hitz’ format) began to oversee WBBM-FM’s operation, the station was renamed and ‘96 Now’ became Chicago’s first ‘Hot Hitz’ station playing nothing but top of the chart pop hits. After Josephs departure …show more content…
The signal is sent from this location to the main transmitter location in Elk Grove Village where it is then broadcast to the surrounding areas on a larger scale (4,200 Watts). With most of it’s promotions being related to concert tickets and giveaways within the Top 40 demographic, B96 also produces two collaboration concerts a year (The B96 SumerBash and The B96 JingleBash) both of which feature between 7 and 10 musical acts of national notoriety. The website (www.b96.com) which is used to deliver much of the stations entertainment news and promotions, is a cookie cutter CBS Radio webpage clearly geared for the tech-savvy generation (ages 12+) by incorporating many social networking aspects to the site. The station’s current slogan is “Chicago’s Number One Hit Music Station”. B96’s main office line is 312.861.9600 and the request line