Cubs radio broadcasts moving from WGN 720 after 90 years to WBBM 780

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Wednesday, June 4, 2014
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CHICAGO (WLS) -- WBBM-AM Radio has announced the Chicago Cubs are moving to the CBS Radio station in 2015.

The Cubs have been broadcast on WGN Radio 720 AM for 90 years. WGN announced the split Wednesday on its morning broadcast.

"It's not that we don't love the Cubs," WGN Radio president Jimmy de Castro told MLB.com. "It's that it just doesn't make business sense on an AM radio station given today's new media opportunities and ways for advertisers to buy the Cubs."

WBBM-AM 780 also carries the Chicago Bears' NFL games. WGN Radio still carries the Chicago Blackhawks games through the 2018-'19 season.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but a Noon Business Hour interview Thursday on 780 AM indicated plans also involve promotion with other CBS Radio stations in Chicago. The Cubs have not officially announced the switch.

The current Cubs play-by-play team of Pat Hughes and Ron Coomer will move with the Cubs to WBBM to call the games next year, according to several published reports.

In November, the Chicago Tribune reported the Cubs exercised an option to get out of their broadcast contract with WGN-TV. That broadcast partnership dates back to 1948.

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