HD Radio stations in Chicago

I saw elsewhere here that someone started a handy list of what's on HD Radio in Boston, so I thought I'd post my list for Chicago.

I put this together a couple of days ago, so it's accurate as of December 6, 2008:

90.1.1 WMBI-HD Chicago College/Religious
90.1.2 WMBI-HD2 Chicago College/Religious
90.1.3 WMBI-HD3 Chicago College/Religious
90.9.1 WDCB-HD1 Glen Ellyn Jazz
92.3.1 WPWX-HD Hammond, IN Urban
93.1.1 WXRT-FM-HD Chicago Rock
93.1.2 WXRT-FM-HD2 Chicago Rock
93.9.1 WLIT-FM-HD Chicago Adult Contemporary
93.9.2 WLIT-FM-HD2 Chicago 70's/80's
94.7.1 WLS-FM-HD Chicago Oldies
94.7.2 WLS-FM-HD2 Chicago Talk (WLS relay)
95.5.1 WNUA-HD Chicago Smooth Jazz
95.5.2 WNUA-HD2 Chicago Jazz
96.3.1 WBBM-FM-HD1 Chicago Top 40
96.3.2 WBBM-FM-HD2 Chicago Dance
97.1.1 WDRV-HD Chicago Rock
97.1.2 WDRV-HD2 Chicago Rock
97.9.1 WLUP-FM-HD Chicago Hard Rock
97.9.2 WLUP-FM-HD2 Chicago Heavy Metal
97.9.3 WLUP-FM-HD3 Chicago Silent - soon to be Indian
99.5.1 WUSN-HD Chicago Country
99.5.2 WUSN-HD2 Chicago Country
99.5.3 WUSN-HD3 Chicago Silence
100.3.1 WILV-HD Chicago Adult Contemporary
100.3.2 WILV-HD2 Chicago Love Songs
101.1.1 WKQX-HD Chicago Alternative
101.1.2 WKQX-HD2 Chicago Punk
101.9.1 WTMX-HD Skokie Adult Contemporary
101.9.2 WTMX-HD2 Skokie 80's
102.7.1 WVAZ-HD Oak Park Urban
102.7.2 WVAZ-HD2 Oak Park Gospel
103.5.1 WKSC-FM-HD Chicago Rhythmic CHR
103.5.2 WKSC-FM-HD2 Chicago Dance
104.3.1 WJMK-HD1 Chicago Rock
104.3.2 WJMK-HD2 Chicago Oldies
105.1.1 WOJO-HD Evanston Spanish
105.1.2 WOJO-HD2 Evanston Spanish
105.1.3 WOJO-HD3 Evanston Spanish
105.9.1 WCFS-FM-HD Elmwood Park Adult Contemporary
105.9.2 WCFS-FM-HD2 Elmwood Park News (WBBM relay)
106.7.1 WPPN-HD Des Plaines Spanish
106.7.2 WPPN-HD2 Des Plaines Spanish
107.5.1 WGCI-FM-HD Chicago Urban
107.5.2 WGCI-FM-HD2 Chicago Hip Hop

670 WSCR-HD Chicago Sports
700 WLW-HD Cincinnati, OH Talk
760 WJR-HD Detroit, MI Talk
780 WBBM-HD Chicago News
1030 WBZ-HD Boston, MA Talk
1040 WHO-HD Des Moines, IA Talk
1180 WRTO-HD Chicago Spanish
1390 WGRB-HD Chicago Gospel


Overall, I'm very happy with HD Radio. It's great that WBBM is available on WCFS-HF2, and WLS is also on WLS-FM-HD2. There are a few disappointments, though. Specifically that WGN and WFMT aren't in HD. And it would be nice if one of the stations (like WDCB) would put a blues subchannel on, but WNUA-HD2 will do for now.

Also, note that I don't have WLS-HD listed. My radio doesn't pick up an HD indictor at all on 890. Does anyone know if WLS is in HD or not, or if my radio is just missing it?

The stations won't boost power because that would knock other stations off the air out in the country where you are.

Yesterday I looked into it a little deeper, and it turns out the broadcasters CAN boost their HD power a little bit to improve fringe reception. But if they do that the analog signal suffers.

So, for example, if a broadcaster wanted to improve its HD signal in Downer's Grove, it would end up losing both analog and HD service to Aurora and points beyond.

Even though from a legal standpoint the broadcasters aren't supposed to care about cities other than the ones they're licensed to, I think they'd rather have the extra 10 miles of analog. For now anyway.

Sweet! I'll check it out in the morning.

For the last week or so, WNUA-HD2 has been intermittently "Not available" for hours at a time.

Anyone know what causes that sort of thing? If it was an HD3, I might suspect bandwidth problems, but there's only one subchannel on 95.5.

I listened to WFMT-HD briefly this morning. The signal was rock solid. They still have some work to do, though --

-Announcers aren't giving the full legal IDs.
-Song data isn't being transmitted, which is a shame since I use the iTunes Tag feature of my radio a lot.

Now if only WGN would remember that it's licensed to the City of Chicago, and not some downstate soybean field, and turn its HD transmission back on, I'd be a happy camper. Or at least borrow an FM subchannel somewhere.