WLS-AM 890 Reviews

by Nichols979

If you just want to stream the station, get TuneIn radio- more reliable and it works in the background. I got WLSAM890 for the podcasts. It would be nice if they loaded entire shows instead of the 7 minute clips they pick, but that's probably the station's fault. You used to be able to listen to podcasts in the background, but that doesn't work anymore. You now have to listen to them with the program consuming all of the phones function, which I can deal with. The problem is that you constantly lose the feed, even with wifi, and since WLSAM890 doesn't have a fast forward feature, you need to start the podcast all over.
There's a lot of potential here and if WLS was serious about WLSAM890, they could make it much better. If they did that, I'd bet people would pay for it.

by Skipoleski

What a piece of crap. Takes over the entire iPhone. You can not even check what time it is. Once you hit the home button on the iPhone, WLSAM890 stops. With WLSAM890 you have to stare it the wls screen and listen. Anything else is off limits. Extremely lazy programmer, or else they are trying to control every aspect of your life if you want to listen to wls. Time to change stations. Use Tune In radio instead.

by P.s.Makyo

WLSAM890 has tended to work pretty well but a few weeks ago it started popping up full screen covering ads. Some of these had no ‘x’ or other obvious means of closing them so I had to shut down WLSAM890 to regain access to the controls. And now I’m reading about mandatory registration to continue using it (I haven’t updated to that version... perhaps the ads are to force people to update to see if that gets rid of them?).

Another decent app being ruined by bad behavior and customer hostile decisions.

The next day WLSAM890 refused to run unless I updated. The new version almost instantly pops up a full screen ad with NO EXIT option from lending tree and I have to close WLSAM890 , sure as hell not going to click a malicious ad. This has repeated many times making WLSAM890 unusable. ZERO stars if that were possible.

I just tried to send Airkast a note via their website about these problems and the contact form apparently does not work. I guess they don’t want to hear about it.

by Run The Trap

WLSAM890 is super buggy! I thought the old version was bad but this one takes it to new levels. Phone runs hot, advertising plays out of nowhere right over the radio host, AND WLSAM890 itself starts playing when it's not even open!!! With WLSAM890 completely closed, I can hang up from a phone call and wls starts playing! Since WLSAM890 is already closed, I can't stop it without opening another audio source to interrupt it; which has me majorly concerned about my data usage. So I have to constantly switch cellular permission on and off.

The only reason I even use it is because my local radio uses Iheart and I REFUSE to deal with their junk.

The second I find an alternate way to listen to Rush, I will uninstall this for good

by Cump64

DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME!!!! the worst app ever. if ur not listening to commercials AD NAUSEUM, they’ll preempt shows for their stupid college basketball games, YAWN. AND god forbid u leave WLSAM890 and come back, it won’t start where u left off, u AGAIN have to listen to these redundant commercials, even tho i MUTE all these ads. WLSAM890 should be put out of its misery

UPDATE: WORSE than ever!!! how they’re allowed to stay on the air is a MYSTERY. PLEASE don’t support them, don’t listen to them—-let’s get RID of trash, too much of it. thank GOD for podcasts.

by Jsavvy

This radio app plays an ad before you can even get to the radio stream...which also plays ads. Then it usually crashes and I have to restart WLSAM890 and listen to more ads before I can return to the radio program. Not using again until they fix the crashing and limit the ads.

by Mikahm

Update - after upgrading to iOS 6 WLSAM890 continues to crash. Thanks to the reviewer who mentioned i heart radio! Won't need to bother with this worthless app anymore!

There are much better radio apps out there that WLS could learn from. Why can't you just launch WLSAM890 and it play in the background? I hate that if you play in background it locks down Safari. However now it won't play in background at all. I like to listen while at work but often end up just switching to iPod.

by Chicago_John

I must say at the outset that I have been a huge fan of WLS since I returned to the Chicago are in the mid-90's. That said, WLSAM890 is terrible! First, it doesn't multitask. Second, it often fails to start properly (I have deleted and re-downloaded WLSAM890 8 times). Third, the streaming audio stops at least once every time I use it (even while I have a strong 3g signal). I wish WLS would get a better app.

by Proceeding Hairline

I don't care much about the fluff. All a streaming station needs is (a) streaming broadcast, and (b) an ability to control the volume. This blares using the iTouch with speakers, and there's no ability to control that volume like with other streaming radio stations. Seems like that would be one of the first things delivered.

by Dopgolf

I’ve had the same experience if you pause WLSAM890 and come back you must listen to endless commercials before getting to what you want to hear. Constantly pre-emps the host with repeating ads then starts the show in the middle of conversations. When I pause and then play to skip over the ads the same ad keeps starting forcing you to have to listen to it before you can hear the host. Absolutely awful. Whoever set up WLSAM890 did it for advertisers not the listening public.

by Bikegeek23

It's been a month since ios4 and still no background function! You quit WLSAM890 to check email, etc and you lose your stream. You can choose to stream through safari so it will work in the background but then you can't use safari for anything else. I hope they don't think their background safari streaming is an acceptable alternative to true muti-tasking.

by Bubezleeb

no way to email support within WLSAM890 ...

after last few updates the experience has become worse and worse.

now, I can barely ever get it working. last few times i just goto to wls website to listen. i wish i could use the real radio on my phone, because these apps just introduce data waste and other problems. WLSAM890 in particular has been an issue since airkast started being used imo.

by John.catalano

Long time Roe and Garry/Roe Conn fan. First, its about time, WLS! Second, WLSAM890 is over-engineered and should not force landscape views. Otherwise, it streams auido just fine.

Oh, and would someone please explain to these guys the difference between a "podcast" and downloadable audio? If I can't subscribe to a feed, it is NOT a podcast. I've mailed them several times over the past years about this and nobody seems to care.

by Smokychic

Never been a fan of Cumulus apps, but this one had promise. WLS is my favorite station and I WOULD be listening all the time.... BUT I cannot because WLSAM890 decided some days it just isn't going to keep me connected. Maybe it's the station, but I never ever can just fire it up and start working. There's always something. Today I can't even get it to play. I'd sure be happy if someone made this a reliable app.

by Chadvvick

Love WLS and the content provided, however, it's rare that I can stay connected to WLSAM890 for more than a half an hour without it opening WLSAM890 Store, which stops the audio from playing. I have to reload it only to sit through video ads for a few minutes, in hopes that it will load through and play the content without opening WLSAM890 Store on me again. Usually I fight this loop long enough that I'm already at work by the time it starts streaming the actual content I'm trying to listen to.

Other issues with with WLSAM890 are it shuts itself down periodically for no reason and every time I start WLSAM890 , it starts with the volume turned down turn about 25%, regardless of what I had it set at prior or what the volume is set at on my phone itself.

It never used to be this bad, so a big shout out to the genius that broke it. I hope the payoff from the ads is worth the drop in ratings on WLSAM890 and decrease in users of WLSAM890

by MJVILLAF

The main problem with WLSAM890 is the fact that connectivity is easily interrupted. It typically takes about five minutes, or closing and reopening WLSAM890 ,to reestablish a connection. This is really annoying. Other than the connectivity issues I can't complain.

by Gaffer_golfer

It is great for simply allowing you to listen to the live stream of WLS-AM. BUT, it needs a separate volume control as well as the ability to operate in portrait mode also, instead of landscape only! Also, it would be great to have the ability to pause the stream an pick it back up somehow.

by Midwestprep

This is great for me when I am not near a radio or I am the only one wanting to listen to the radio. The only problem is that it doesn't work all that well when you aren't using it over your home internet connection. Using it in the park, etc. is a no go. One major problem with WLSAM890 is that if you are listening to the radio you cannot use your iPhone for anything else.

by Darbar171

Love the station. I wish, however, I could multitask on the phone whilst listening to the station. It would also be nice to have WLSAM890 be more interactive, like being able to text shows and have a direct call option of some kind.

by CGWhiteSox2005

I have had no problems with this. It works great on my iPod touch 3G, and my cousins iPhone 3gs just with 3g connection. idk if maybe the people had bad connection, because me & my cuz almost always have full bars. this is a great app don't feel scared to get it. Its free so there's no lose trying it, just get it! :)

by Burdie2

This is the most frustrating and disappointing App I have ever tried to use. Having to register now may be one thing. Another is why it continues to be so difficult for WLSAM890 to get and keep a connection to a live WLS broadcast.

I love the “Po Po Report” but listening to their show on Saturday evening is impossible if I’m not near a radio. WLSAM890 was to be the answer but I found that the initial connection takes far too long and then it’s almost impossible to stay connected. This evening may have been my last attempt to use WLSAM890. The “Po Po Report” was on the radio and WLSAM890. Establishing a connection on WLSAM890 was difficult and once connected continuous advertisements, including numerous repeats of the same add, played while the actual show was barely on. To my amazement, the radio had been playing the “Po Po Report” for some time while WLSAM890 was playing more and more Adds. Was this a joke? (I’m thankful that this show is available as a Podcast.)

by 2287!

Asks to accept ‘cookies’ but area is grayed out, only choice is to ‘cancel’. Very frustrating, I have had WLSAM890 for years. I have eliminated the application and reinstalled it a number of times but the same issue arises. Please advise.