WMCW

WMCW (1600 AM) was a radio station licensed to Harvard, Illinois, United States. The station began broadcasting in 1955 and was originally owned by Esther Blodgett. The station was the first commercial radio station licensed in McHenry County, Illinois, and the first station in Illinois owned and operated by a woman. Esther Blodgett continued to own the station until 1979. During the 1990s it carried an Adult Contemporary format with Casey Kasem's American Top-20 on the weekends. The station also had a large amount of local news coverage. In 1999, the station was sold to WPW Broadcasting. The station aired a news talk format before switching to Adult Standards in early 2003, with the slogan "Your Music, Your Lifestyle, Your Station". In 2004 Kovas Communications bought the station. It continued to locally serve the Harvard area until it switched to Health Radio Network programming in 2005. In 2008 Kovas Communications surrendered WMCW's license, and later the licenses of 1580 WKKD and 1600 WCGO to allow sister station 1590 WONX (now WCGO) to increase power to 7 kW.