After having its contract dropped by Cumulus Media News/Talk 890 WLS Chicago during its bankruptcy proceeding, the Chicago White Sox have agreed to a multiyear deal with Tribune Media News/Talk 720 WGN.
WGN will air all regular season games, select spring training games, pre and postgame shows, and a weekly year-round show focusing on the team. Ed Farmer and Darrin Jackson will remain in place as the team’s play-by-play voice and analyst respectively.
The first game on WGN will be the team’s spring training opener on Friday, February 23 at 2:05 against the Los Angeles Dodgers. WGN previously carried White Sox games from 1927-1943. WGN’s 90 year association with the Chicago Cubs ended following the 2014 season.
WGN Radio and the Chicago White Sox jointly announced today a multiyear agreement naming WGN Radio AM 720 as the team’s flagship radio station. White Sox games will air on WGN Radio AM 720 beginning with the broadcast of the team’s first game of the 2018 Cactus League season on Friday, February 23 at 2:05 p.m. CT.
The agreement includes all 162 White Sox regular season and postseason games, as well as select spring training games.
In its 10th season in the radio booth, the on-air duo of former Sox pitcher Ed Farmer (play-by-play) and former outfielder Darrin Jackson (analyst) returns.
“What an honor it is to join the White Sox family,” said Todd Manley, WGN Radio station manager and vice president of content. “Summer starts TODAY on WGN Radio.”
“It’s a fantastic win for White Sox fans,” said Brooks Boyer, White Sox senior vice president of sales and marketing. “We are thrilled to team up with an iconic media organization in Chicago, delivering the hustle and passion of White Sox games to WGN Radio listeners throughout the city and Midwest.”
In addition to live game and spring training broadcasts, the agreement includes pre- and postgame programming, as well as a weekly year-round show that features team news, highlights and interviews with players and coaches.
The White Sox partnership with WGN Radio will complement the television partnership with WGN-TV.
White Sox games were broadcast on WGN Radio from 1927-1943 with legendary voices in the booth, including 1983 Ford C. Frick Award winner Jack Brickhouse, 1979 Ford C. Frick Award recipient Bob Elson and legendary Chicago radio broadcaster Quin Ryan calling the games.
This is the first exclusive broadcast rights agreement between the White Sox and WGN Radio.
Joseph_Gallant 
Charles Everett
No surprise, since WGN-720 lost the Cubs a couple of years back and probably wanted to get back to covering baseball.
Granted, the Whtie Sox are the “number two” team in Chicago baseball, in terms of popularity.
If WGN “wanted to get back to covering baseball” it would have picked up the White Sox when their contract with CBS Radio expired in 2015.
This is a case where a valuable asset was cast aside in a bankruptcy proceeding — on the eve of spring training, no less.