Chicago Radio: WGN Loses Power, Knocked Off-Air

Chicago Tribune photo

Burrst pipes at Tribune Tower knocked WGN 720 AM off the air for 20 minutes during the 6 a.m. hour of the Steve Cochran show Tuesday, according to The Chicago Tribune.

The water streamed down from the ninth floor, where the pipes burst, and reached the radio studios on the seventh floor, causing the interruption at the start of morning drive Tuesday, according to WGN President Jimmy de Castro.

"The actual signal was knocked off for 20 minutes, and we're lucky ... that the engineers were able to get us back on," de Castro said.

Tribune Tower, at 435 N. Michigan Ave., houses Tribune Media, parent company of WGN Radio, and Tribune Publishing, the spun off newspaper company that includes the Chicago Tribune. The burst pipes affected numerous floors in the building, pooling in the lobby and shutting down a bank of elevators, according to de Castro.

"There's apparently pretty significant damage," said de Castro, who was stuck in traffic driving to work during the incident. "The seventh floor where the station is, is basically intact, but the lobby is a wreck and smells horrible and has water all over."

The radio station remained online throughout, according to de Castro.