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Private company

Chicago Public Media

Logo: wbez.org4

US not-profit media company

Chicago Public Media (CPM) is a not-for-profit radio and print media company. CPM operates as the primary National Public Radio member organization for Chicago. It owns three non-commercial educational FM broadcast stations and one FM translator.2 Its revenue was $33.8 million in 2024.1 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1989Founded1
  • HeadquartersChicago1
  • Websitewww.wbez.org
  • Legal form501(c)(3) organization1
  • LEI549300ZL0UNB72NXJV373
  • StatusActive3
  • LEI statusLapsed (not renewed)3
  • Registered address848 EAST GRAND AVE, 60611 Chicago, United States3
  • Registered withBusiness Services (Office of the Secretary of State), 556671523

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Chicago Public Media (CPM) is a not-for-profit radio and print media company. CPM operates as the primary National Public Radio member organization for Chicago. It owns three non-commercial educational FM broadcast stations and one FM translator. In addition to local news and information productions, it produces the programs Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! for NPR stations, and This American Life which is distributed by PRX to other radio stations. On January 30, 2022, Chicago Public Media acquired the Chicago Sun-Times daily newspaper.2

Corporate structure

Chicago Public Media sits at the top of its group. 1 entity, 1 country on record. Switch between the flow chart and the network, and select any entity to see its details.

  • Chicago Public Media Chicago, Illinois, United States
    • WBEK Owned · Kankakee, United States
    • WBEW Owned · Indiana, United States
    • WBEZ Owned · Chicago, United States
    • WRTE Owned · Illinois, United States

Built from parent and subsidiary links from GLEIF, the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (CC0); subsidiaries, stakes and holdings from Wikidata (CC0). Each entity in the chart links to its source.

What it owns

What Chicago Public Media reports owning in its annual reports to the SEC: buildings, land and equipment, real estate and locations, investments, intangible assets and inventory, at the end of its latest fiscal year and a year before.

Stakes and holdings (Wikidata)

  • WBEK
  • WBEW
  • WBEZ
  • WRTE

Things Wikidata records the company as owning, with the share when stated.1

Products and brands

Chicago Amplified — a web-based audio archive of educational events in Chicago.

Off-Air Series — non-broadcast events held around the Chicago area.

Odyssey — a daily talk show from 2001 to 2005.

Sound Opinions — a rock music talk show with news, interviews, commentary, and performances; in 2020 production transferred from Chicago Public Media to Columbia College Chicago; distributed by Public Radio Exchange; previously on 93.1 WXRT.

Read the full text

Third Coast International Audio Festival — formerly part of Chicago Public Media; its program Re:sound aired on WBEZ until circa 2019.

This American Life — a radio magazine based around a theme in each episode. As of 2017 through 2022, the show is self-distributed, using Public Radio Exchange to send episodes to radio stations; the related TV show with the same name ran for 2 seasons from 2007 to 2009.

Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! — a comedy quiz show co-produced with National Public Radio and distributed through NPR.

Worldview — a daily international-affairs program that ran from 1994 to 2019.

From Wikipedia’s article on Chicago Public Media, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5

Subsidiaries and ownership

Also owns

  • WBEK
  • WBEW
  • WBEZ
  • WRTE

From Wikidata.1

Revenue over time

As stated on Wikidata, in the currency reported.

Revenue

Chicago Public Media revenue by year1$33.8M in 2024+22% since 2015
0$10.0M$20.0M$30.0M$40.0M2015: $27.6M$27.6M20152016: $25.3M$25.3M2016−8%2017: $25.8M$25.8M2017+2%2018: $34.7M$34.7M2018+35%2019: $33.7M$33.7M2019−3%2020: $28.8M$28.8M2020−15%2021: $37.2M$37.2M2021+29%2022: $32.3M$32.3M2022−13%2023: $38.7M$38.7M2023+20%2024: $33.8M$33.8M2024−13%
  • 2024$33.8M1
  • 2023$38.7M1
  • 2022$32.3M1
  • 2021$37.2M1
  • 2020$28.8M1
  • 2019$33.7M1

Timeline

  1. 1989Founded Founded1

Funding

Where the company's money came from, by calendar year: private offerings filed with the SEC, federal grants, loans, contracts and other assistance from USAspending.gov, and PPP loans from the SBA. Each bar links to the records below.

Money received by year$2.8M 2020–2020
Money received by yearMoney received by year, 2020–2020: $2.8M in all. PPP loans $2.8M.$0$1M$2M$3M2020 · PPP loans: $2.8M2020
Figures by year
YearPPP loansTotal
2020$2.8M$2.8M

PPP loans

Paycheck Protection Program loans of $150,000 and up, approved April 2020 to July 2021, from the SBA6. Matched to this company by name and state.

  1. Apr 9, 2020$2.8M PPP loan (first draw) from BMO Bank National Association6To CHICAGO PUBLIC MEDIA, INC., Chicago IL; $2.9M forgiven Jun 9, 2021

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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