Under which urban format did WGCI connect with Black music culture?

I remember back in the early '90s, I was in the studio at WGCI when we got a call from a listener who said our station was the only place she could hear her favorite house and hip-hop tracks mixed together. We were running an urban contemporary format, which was a perfect bridge between R&B, soul, and the emerging hip-hop scene, and that connection with Black music culture was deliberate. We didn't just play records - we celebrated the neighborhood block parties and the church choirs, making sure every track felt like a piece of home.

Taking the raw ingredients of soul, funk, and early hip-hop beats, WGCI simmered them in a tight, 24-hour rotation that we called urban contemporary. It was like layering a perfect gumbo-you need that slow-cooked R&B base, then you drop in the spicy, rhythmic bounce of rap, and you stir it all together so no single flavor overpowers the dish. That format was the recipe that let Chicago's Black music culture breathe and evolve on the airwaves, from house music in the clubs to the storytelling on the streets.