WGN Radio - Chicago's Very Own Reviews

by RacMar4

Every other audio ap I have stops when the phone rings, but not this one. And you can't turn it off or lower the volume before taking the call, so for the first seconds of the call, you and your caller can't speak over the broadcast, until you go through minimizing the call, pulling up the ap, and stopping. The volume control on the side of my phone only affected the call, not the radio, so no quick lowering of the volume.

Worse still, if you have an alarm set on ap that came with the iPhone, it doesn't ring through, defeating the purpose of the alarm. Idk if it does this with other ap alarms. Unfortunately, with 4 kids' schedules to keep track of, it's a deal breaker. I can't use the ap.

by Mwr2

WGNRadio constantly errors out and loses signal regularly. Your lucky to get 20 minutes out of an hour. Also very hard on the battery. Better luck using Alexa.

by Adamrl07

Yes, it streams the radio station in the background but that’s about where the good stops. The interface is bad: buttons can’t be reached easily. Ads are in intrusive positions. The casting feature casts to the AppleTV as a video feed, so it cannot run in the background not very pleasant.
I wish they would just run the radio feed through the iTunes Store, and use the WGN news app for news. That would be a better setup than trying to cram everything into this poorly coded app.

by A Hawks Fan

The sole reason I downloaded WGNRadio was to listen to the hawks games when I wasn't able to watch the games. The one time I (try to) listen to the game, it would play until there was a break, then it wouldn't return to the game after the break was over. Same thing goes for intermissions. If you don't restart the feed, you will just get silence until you restart the feed. However, the quality of the sound was very good and clear.

There was also not a easy access point to the stream of the game. It took me a while to find it. Overall, I'm very disappointed in WGNRadio.

by Rosiview

When I'm listening to the live stream on my iPhone and the lock screen comes on, the WGN app stops working till I unlock the screen!? Frustrating! The WBEZ app keeps playing why can't you fix this, I have seen people comment on this same thing months ago, I know it's never worked right for me! I want to listen to the regular personalities, I'm not a baseball fan, sooo you made that possible...but it does not work!!!

by Cjcongo

The worst radio app I’ve ever used. Interrupts itself every 5-10 mins with a commercial ….or worse, it won’t stop buffering so I’ll have to restart it, then sit thru more canned commercials. Sometimes it interrupts its own commercials with different commercials!

All a very crummy way to listen to ‘talk-radio’, esp when there are already more commercials than content.

by Taatkinson

I usually listen to the Blackhawks broadcast but for the past two months when I click to stream on WGNRadio or website it doesn’t play the broadcast - just an endless loop of ads. Super disappointing. I don’t live in Illinois anymore and I used to enjoy listening to the games via WGNRadio .

by PHHP1973

Every time my phone changes access points (all same SSID) as I move between upstairs and downstairs, I hear the connection commercial for Chevy again. This interrupts the program and is very irritating. I used to use radio garden to avoid this problem, but it seems that WGN cut off that access. Other station's apps don't have this issue. Don't I listen to enough commercials in the program stream? Please fix.

by EarInTheCrowd

As lacking in features and functionality as the latest 'Windows 8 wanna-be' design for the main website. (The previous design was much better.)

Where are the show notes and links? Where are the Cochran and Kaplan show podcasts? Why are Carol Roth and Turi Ryder still showing up and current podcasts are slow to display? Why are the sound levels of some of the podcasts weak or inconsistent?

The live broadcast should be the only thing that streams. Podcasts should be downloadable and organizable In a playlist. Show segment title topics should be easily recognizable on a phone screen (within about the first 23 characters). A different image for each show personality in the podcast file would help to quickly identify and sort the list. Maintain a list for the current and previous week. Provide emailing capability for podcasts files. Users should not be forced to struggle with selecting podcasts one-at-a-time (or worse, restart a crashed app due to a weak signal), while their device is hooked up to a car stereo.

Now that the new talent lineup is taking shape, its time to refocus on the digital side. Please rewrite and stabilize WGNRadio .

This is not up to the standard of the WGN that I know!

by Pellama

Very annoying App that spools constantly, lags like all get out and drops out about every hour. Seriously, can’t you improve this thing?

by DJ Stinky

I used to use WGNRadio exclusively. It was great and I loved it. In the last year or so, WGNRadio is buggy. I will be listening and go to pause, by tapping on my headphones pause button. Sometimes pause works, sometimes I go to iOS control panel and pressing play does not work. I have to go into WGNRadio and select play. Sometimes I will pause and later I will notice WGNRadio has started playing again. I have stopped using WGNRadio all together. Just go to the Apple Music app and search for WGN radio or tell Siri to play WGN radio. You don’t need WGNRadio .

by DEPoNVILLE

The WGN App has a lot of potential & has a lot of content to offer, but it also has a couple of MAJOR flaws;

1. Any audio I open (podcast or livestream) stops when my phone locks & its screen goes black. This is NOT how TuneIn & ApplePodcasts behave!

2. WGNRadio uses a LOT of cellular data. I often don’t have WIFI access, & usually just open WGNRadio at most for 5 min/daily, but it’s one of my highest-cellular-usage apps!

by Metvtoday

Keeps buffering! Then it restarts and you have to listen to the annoying Chevy commercials over and over! Enjoy listening to this program while working outside but WGNRadio is weak.

by SaboteurSurfer

Start app on your device - Chevy commercial
Connect to bluetooth - Chevy commercial
Leave your WiFi range to use 5g - Chevy commercial
Answer a call on your smartphone - Chevy commercial
Connect smartphone to Apple CarPlay - Chevy commercial
Respond to a text message - Chevy commercial

"Take it from #99 - Chicago winters are tough, but Chevy..."

"Hey Blackhawks fans, Chicagoland Chevy dealers..."

"Ready for a summer roadtrip? Your Chicago Chevy dealers..."

"Hit the road in a new Chevy Trax from your Chicagoland Chevy dealers..."

by Ozarkbbq

I love to listen, but have noticed the livestream “watch live” link is not working the last few weeks on Saturday mornings for Lou’s show. Please check livestream, love to watch the shows too!

by Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahv

The audio runs smoothly for awhile, then goes silent while it buffers. After a few minutes of buffering it starts playing again. Why does it randomly buffer when my location hasn't changed? It gets frustrating and annoying.

Also, a sleep function in WGNRadio would be nice.

by Joe DA BEARS Hallman

The clarity is great and the delay is almost non-existent, but it will drop from time-to-time even if there is no change in reception or network strength (1st big thing) and the other big thing is that it drops when your phone goes to sleep. That needs to be fixed because if your driving you can't always be looking down to check if your phone is about to go to sleep. And then it takes a good 30-40 seconds to come back up after it drops. It's very frustrating, especially when you're trying to listen to a hockey game. Everything else about it is great, but those two things need to be addressed.

by Davehawks

Good app overall, just need availability of apple CarPlay uploading.

by Leafygreentree

First of all, they don't broadcast Cubs games on here because of contract agreements with major league baseball. It's major-league baseball's "fault", not WGN. Second, all I want to do is listen to the shows on my phone. If you're going to be an idiot and give it a bad rating because you don't like the host, that's your problem. If you don't like hosts, then don't download WGNRadio . Better yet, don't listen to the station anymore. It does what it's supposed to do, and that's it. Nothing special. It's free. Quit your complaining.

by Mbrichan

LOVE THIS ON SUNDAY MORNING! Thank you! It’s a wonderful way to start my day

by Pnut Buddha

I would love to listen to the entire podcast of the morning show but if there is the slightest drop in the wireless signal it shuts down. That, however, is not the most frustrating part. There is no way (that I have found) to fast forward or rewind the podcast so if you lose the signal with only 5 minutes left in the podcast, you have to start all over again from the beginning. This has happened to me and now I don't even want to waste my time. I hope this can be fixed,

by Toodles0287

Always listen to WGN to fall asleep and WGNRadio is great. I haven't had any issues with buffering or not being able to listen, but I'm always on wifi. Only reason I didn't give 5 stars is because I wish there was a sleep timer on WGNRadio to stop streaming after a certain amount of time. Maybe there is a way to do this but I have no clue how.

by Brianc400

This is a very solid app compared to the old one. It's snappy and features quick access to the latest news. The traffic feature is fast and effective.

Streaming starts much faster and seems more reliable than WGNRadio this replaces.

Suggestions:
• The white text is a bit tough to read on the colorful blue background. Improve the contrast.
• Headlines disappear too fast. Perhaps double the number per category. The Blackhawks game recap should not have dropped off just a few hours after the game ended.
• Provide traffic times in the traffic feature. Traffic speed at each ramp doesn't help me figure out how long my trip will be.

All said, nicely done!