WBEZ

Chicago Public Media Inc.

About this app

The WBEZ app lets you listen to the news and voices of Chicago on your schedule, wherever you are. Listen to live radio broadcasts, on-demand audio features and podcasts with the best storytelling locally and around the nation. You’ll enjoy original WBEZ Chicago programming and shows from our partners, including NPR, BBC and more.

Take your trusted news on the go. Listen to the news live wherever your day takes you. The WBEZ app delivers Chicago news, national news and international news right to your hand.

You never have to miss a minute again. You can rewind at any moment and replay any live show from the last week to catch up on anything you missed. With the WBEZ app, continue to get investigative journalism, cultural reporting, news headlines and more on your timeline.

Discover something new. Browse through the best audio stories and shows WBEZ Chicago has to offer. Each day, featured stories are curated just for you from our newsroom. Plus, you can find popular podcasts from WBEZ, NPR and other featured partners; including titles such as Curious City, Nerdette, Motive and Wait Wait...Don’t Tell Me! There’s something for everyone with the WBEZ app.

WBEZ Chicago is listener-supported and Chicago’s NPR news station, one of the largest and most respected public media stations in the country.

Ratings and reviews

Pause control is very sluggish. Movement controls on recorded content are only 10 sec in either direction and are very sluggish and erratic, so almost useless. Movement by finger press on progress bar is very sluggish and erratic as well and hardly useful. I have been a Wbez subscriber for years. I am using a LG Stylo 5 phone with Android 10. Progress bar behavior on my wife's Apple iPhone 10 is much better--compared to my Android 10 LG Stylo 5 phone. Maybe I need to switch to iPhone usage??

Oh, I'm so happy! This app was working great for a very long time, and then all of a sudden, it would refuse to open. I tried everything that you're supposed to try to get an app to work, but it was fruitless. I gave up, then today - 2 weeks from when the app started not responding - I tried it again, expecting nothing - - and it's WORKING BEAUTIFULLY!! Hooray! WBEZ is just the best for balanced reporting and podcasts. I felt lost without it, but now it's back. Hope it stays that way!

Update: Unusable! Knocking off another star because it crashes on EVERY launch! App hasn't been updated since 2022. • Great content when it works. • Biggest issue: Cannot exit the app. Continues to run in the background and drain battery even after a force-stop. • It often stops playing when using other apps. • Phone log shows multiple crashes each day that I use it. This should not be happening with a professional app running on a Galaxy S21 Ultra with all the latest software

What's new

Multiple featured stories are now available through our new discovery carousel over the Browse Screen. Find a full history of our radio highlights through the new Top Stories screen. 24 hour replay has also been introduced for select programs on our Radio Schedule.