What's up, Chicago Land?

I'm Erin Allen, and this is Curious City.

When I first moved to Chicago back in 2010,

I learned a little term that encompasses a lot.

From TV show anchors plastered on billboards,

you have probably heard it before.

Uh-oh, it's the man from Nissan.

He's here in Chicago Land to make it.

Chicago Land.

Chicago Land. Chicago Land. The Chicago Land. 10- Nissan. He's here in Chicago Land. Chicago Land. Chicago Land.

109.9.9. Only in Chicago Land. When you first hear it, it sounds like some type of mystical place you would read about in a book. Or maybe Disneyland's lesser-known Midwest counterpart. Not a whole metropolitan area. It turns out this has been

a major curiosity for a lot of listeners over the years. How did Chicago land get to be a widely used

term? There's no Detroit land or Cincinnati land or Phoenix land. I think I heard something either on the radio or a commercial where they said the

Chicago land area.

And I realize I use that term all the time.

And I think, okay, well, you've got Chicago, the city.

You've got the Chicago area, which I think of as Chicago and the suburbs.

And Chicagoland, which I think is the same thing.

So to me, Chicago land area is just redundant.

The term Chicago land has become such a part of the DNA of the region

that I think most people haven't thought to question where it even came from.

So coming up, WBEZ's Marie Mendoza is going to look at the origins of this term, how its meaning has changed over time, and the media mogul, or colonel, behind it all.

...