Editing WLS (AM) (section)

===Establishment by Sears===
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 initially bought time on radio stations. It later decided to establish its own station.<ref name="wls20" /> Just before the permanent station was ready, Sears began broadcasts on March 21, 1924, as WBBX with noon programs using the [[WSCR|WMAQ]] studios.<ref name="wls20">{{cite web | url = http://www.wlshistory.com/WLS20/ | title = The Beginning | work = The History of WLS Radio | publisher = Scott Childers | date = March 2, 2010 | access-date = July 30, 2010 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100119005933/http://www.wlshistory.com/WLS20/ | archive-date = January 19, 2010 | df = mdy-all }}</ref>

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").<ref name="wls20" /> Sears originally operated its station at the [[Sears, Roebuck and Company Complex|company's corporate headquarters]] on Chicago's West Side, which is also where the company's mail order business was located.<ref name="wls20" /> 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.<ref name="wls20" /><ref>"[http://www.talkers.com/tag/co-host/ WLS, Chicago Celebrates 89th Anniversary with Special Event]", ''[[Talkers Magazine]]''. April 12, 2013. Retrieved August 24, 2018.</ref> The station's transmitter was originally located outside [[Crete, Illinois]].<ref name="wls20" /><ref name="HistoryCards" /> On April 19, the station aired its first ''[[National Barn Dance]]''.<ref name="wls20" /> [[Harriet Lee (singer)|Harriet Lee]] was a WLS staff singer as part of the ''Harmony Team'' in the late 1920s.<ref>{{cite news|title=Gifted Blonde Belle Real Air Veteran|newspaper=[[Pottsville Republican]]|date=May 29, 1930|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/62933675/pottsville-republican-52930/|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}{{open access}}</ref> The popular [[contralto]] singer also played "Aunt May" on the ''Children's Hour'' show.

The station shared time on the frequency with [[WCPT (AM)|WCBD]] until the November 11, 1928, implementation of the [[Federal Radio Commission]]'s [[General Order 40]], at which point WLS began sharing time as a "clear channel" station with [[WENR (Chicago)|WENR]].<ref name="CoC">Hearings Before the [[United States Senate Committee on Interstate Commerce]]. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=dIHNAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA127 Commission on Communications]''. [[United States Government Publishing Office|United States Government Print Office]]. May 8, 1929. p. 126-129. Retrieved August 24, 2018.</ref>