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COMING OCTOBER 2008!
THE HISTORY OF WLS RADIO - THE BOOK!
Authored by the creator of the
WLSHistory.com website Scott Childers,
this illustrated history of the Big 89 will take you from it's inception by
Sears
Roebuck in the 1920's all the way to last year's Big 89 Rewind! With over
200 pictures, CHICAGO'S WLS RADIO will be a must have for any
radio fan! Part of the Images Of America series by Arcadia Press.
Here is just a sampling of the wonderful
images...
Pre-order
savings now from Amazon.com
Click below to order!
June 16, 2008
Welcome back WLS-FM!
Robert Feder's Chicago Sun-Times column announced the return of WLS-FM.
In a
real blast from the past, the fabled call letters of WLS-FM are about to ride
the Chicago airwaves again.
Citadel Broadcasting plans to ask the Federal Communications Commission next
week to turn WZZN-FM (94.7), the "True Oldies" station, into WLS-FM.
If approved, the change is expected to take effect June 26.
The application is considered a formality since Citadel also owns news/talk WLS-AM
(890). Mike Fowler, president and general manager of both stations, said the
call letter change would be accompanied by a new set of on-air jingles recalling
the rock 'n' roll heyday of WLS, along with a new logo. He also hinted at a few
other surprises, perhaps involving some stars from the old days. "We're
going to develop this into the Top 40 WLS of old," Fowler said. "We
want to make it a cohesive package that presents the music in the framework of
when it was all new."
The station's local talent lineup already includes two hosts with strong
associations to WLS' past. Evening star and Radio Hall of Famer Dick Biondi was
part of the station's legendary starting roster in 1960, while morning
personality Brant Miller was on from 1977 to 1991. Fowler said WLS-FM would
continue to be targeting listeners between the ages of 25 and 54 with Top 40
hits mainly from the years 1964 to 1982. "The goal is to put the excitement
back in the music," he added.
The switch coincides with the start of Portable People Meters, Arbitron's
electronic audience measurement system. Since the new devices do not require
listeners to write down a station's call letters, there'll be no chance of
confusion between WLS-AM and WLS-FM.
Under ABC ownership, the 94.7 FM frequency last went by the call letters WLS-FM
in 1995. Since then, it's been called WKXK, WXCD and WZZN.
CONGRATULATIONS LARRY LUJACK!
On your induction into the 2008 NAB Hall of Fame
See
his acceptance speech
Courtesy of JohnRook.com
JOHNNY FRIGO
1916-2007
Cick the picture above
to read more about this remarkable musician
who, among other achievements, played violin
on the National Barn Dance.
The Big 89 Rewind - Memorial Day 2007
For one day WLS - returned to The Rock Of Chicago!
(Well, 2 days - as we rewound again on July 4th!)
All day Memorial Day, The Big 89 turned back to the days of rock with some very special voices!
The Big 89 Rewind Special
with Jeff Davis
5am-6am
Larry Lujack &
Tommy Edwards
6am - 9am
Fred Winston
9am - Noon
Chris Shebel
Noon - 3pm
Jeff Davis
3pm - 6pm
John Records
Landecker
6pm - 10pm
"TK" Tom
Kent
10pm - Midnight
Also Lyle Dean, Catherine Johns, Linda Marshall, Gil Gross and sports with Les Grobstein!
PICTURES, AUDIO AND VIDEO IS A CLICK AWAY - HERE!
The WLSHistory.com Store is open with some
fun goodies! We've just re-opened and
more merchandise is coming in all the time. Check it out by clicking above!
Remember: Proceeds go to fund this not-for-profit website. See below...
As you
may have noticed, there are NO advertisements, NO pop-up ads and
NO unrelated commercial referral links on any of these pages. I completely pay for this
website and hosting out of my own pocket to keep this site free and enjoyable to
all.
The upgrade to new servers costs considerably more than before - but had to be
done
or I would have been faced with shutdown by my webspace host provider.
If you
would like to help support this website, you can donate here
All funds will be used ONLY to keep wlshistory.com up and running.
Thank You!
~Scott Childers
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December 9, 2006
First and foremost, thanks
to all who wrote, emailed, called and posted about
the untimely demise of this website a few weeks ago. Many loyal viewers found
a jazz musician site in this space. For some odd reason, not only this
site, but the
entire web server this site uses, was webjacked.
After a few short days, we
have been returned to our rightful spot.
Special thanks to WLS Program Director Kipper McGee, All Access editor
Joel Denver and the operators of Chicagoland Radio & Media and Crow ON for
help, suggestions,
and getting the word out. It's good to be back!
~Scott Childers
Also a hearty congrats to a
true living legend and one of the kindest hearts
we'll ever know - Dick Biondi. Now with his new station True Oldies 94.7
FM
(WLS' sister station), Dick once again has made less fortunate children happy
this Christmas
by hosting his annual marathon Toy Drive at Yorktown Mall. I caught up with him
on
Saturday morning (already 25 hours into the on-air drive) and he had more
energy
than I have when I wake up! What an absolute treasure you are Mr. B!
Dick Biondi funning around with Ronnie Rice -
12/09/06
October 5, 2006
If you have found the
website down over the last few days, it was because of a
switch to a new and faster host server. Thanks to all of you from all
around
the world who come to stop by and learn about the rich history of WLS, we have
seen nearly
138 thousand visitors since the site went live in 1999! As a result, disk
space
and traffic hits are way up. Thanks to a switch, the site is now faster than
ever!
You may find some broken
links here and there as I continue to troubleshoot some areas
that may not have migrated properly.
I am in the process of upgrading the audio delivery, away from Real Audio, to
an
easy-to-use system that requires no special player. As a result, some audio has
already been upgraded,
while others may be down or missing. It will be replaced systematically.
Just like road construction in Chicago, upgrades and freshening of
certain
pages is an ongoing process! Please be patient.
BOB LASSITER
1945-2006
Bob Lassiter, talk show host during
the late 80's and early 90's at WLS, died October 13th according to his website. He was 61.
Lassiter, who entertained listeners during "Talkradio 890's"
infancy, also hosted programs on WFLA in Tampa, as well as WPLP, and WSUN, had been suffering from complications related to diabetes. He spent his final year blogging about his experience.
"I always thought that I would live until I died – I did not realize that it could take so long, be so hard," he wrote in his blog. "In some respects, it’s amazing how a body that clearly is failing clings on to life – fighting a losing battle, refusing to give in to the inevitable."
"He was my mentor," says WFLA's Sharon Taylor, co-host of AM Tampa Bay.
"I just learned by listening to him tell stories and how he would reveal so much of himself to his audience when he would tell these stories. He would have people not wanting to get out of their cars. It was so ironic because he was such a private man."
No public memorial or visitation is scheduled.
Those wishing to make contribution his memory are asked to donate to:
Robert Lassiter Fund
C/O Collingswood Recreation Dept.
Attn: Holly Mannel
678 Haddon Ave.
Collingswood NJ 08108
Thanks to 970WFLA.com for the story.
09/2006
Best of luck to both Steve Scott and Cisco Cotto, who have moved on to other opportunities.
Steve to WCBS Newsradio 880 in New York City and Cisco to WIND Chicago.
JERRY KAY
1938-2005
Jerry Kay, part of the WLS lineup in the 1960s, died Sunday
September 25 at his home in Seaside, Oregon.
In addition to WLS, Jerry was also on the air at WCFL and KJR Seattle. "He was hip, he was funny, he was
consistent, he was simply wonderful," Pat O'Day one of Jerry's program
directors in Seattle says. "He could
employ a very syrupy sound, with his cutting sarcasm." Kay would bill himself "the nice man on the radio."
8/2004:
Congrats to "Uncle Lar," Larry Lujack on his induction into the Radio Hall of Fame!
TOM FOUTS
"CAPTAIN STUBBY"
1918-2004
Tom Fouts, broadcaster and humorist who was widely known by his nickname Captain Stubby, died May 25th, at St. Joseph Hospital in Kokomo, Indiana. He was 85.
Fouts performed on WLS from 1949 to 1960 and taped hundreds of episodes of a 5-minute radio show "Is Anybody Home?" with longtime sidekick, Charles "Homer" Bill.
Fouts was known for clean humor, a straight face and a stout stature that fit his nickname. He also had a band known as Captain Stubby and the Buccaneers that performed on The National Barn Dance and toured across the country.
He spent the last decades of his life at his home near the town of Young America about 30 miles east of Lafayette. But he maintained an active career as an after-dinner speaker and commercial spokesman. He helped write the jingle for Roto Rooter, which is still used.
courtesy of The Associated Press
BOB FERGUSON
1941-2004
Longtime
WLS Engineer Bob Ferguson passed away on May 29, 2004 at
his home in Bicknell,
Indiana
after
fighting cancer for quite a while. Bob was with WLS from 1968-1988 and
often joined Larry Lujack on the golf course as well as being a regular
"Animal Stories" contributor. Before retiring, he was most
recently Communications Supervisor for the Knox County Central Dispatch.
4/2004:
Happy 80th Birthday WLS Radio! April 8, 1924!
Thanks to Rich Samuels for the great
feature on
The National Barn Dance, which recently aired
on Chicago Tonight on WTTW-TV Channel 11.
JERRY GOLDEN
1925-2003
Some sad news from the glory days of WLS Radio. One of the original WLS newsmen, Jerry Golden, has died.
In his 35-year career in broadcasting, Jerome Edward Golden was perhaps most proud of the afternoon in 1963 when, as a radio news announcer for WLS in Chicago, he was one of the first radio announcers in the country to report shots fired at President John Kennedy`s motorcade in Dallas. "We broke it before anybody else had it," said friend and former colleague Bernie Allen, who hosted the midday show. It was Mr. Golden`s "single greatest moment" in radio, Allen said.
Click here to hear Jerry and Bernie tell the story.
Mr. Golden, 79, died of cancer Wednesday, January 8th in his Leisure Village home in Fox Lake.
Mr. Golden was a program director and news announcer for WLIP in Kenosha when he got his first break in the Chicago radio market in 1957 as an announcer for WBBM.
Click here for Jerry's story of his arrival at WLS.
Within two years he was at WLS, where he worked for nearly a decade. He began each news broadcast there with the words, "This is Jerry Golden, and I have news for you."
Click here to hear Jerry talk about WLS' switch to rock and roll in 1960.
"He was always very jocular and upbeat about everything," Allen said. "He always seemed to be in motion."
A Chicago native, Mr. Golden grew up on the West Side. He graduated from Austin High School and spent three years in the Marine Corps in World War II, fighting in the 1943 battle for the Tarawa atoll in the Pacific. He began his broadcasting career in 1946 as a disc jockey for WHBY in Appleton, Wis. in Appleton where he met his future wife, Dorothy. They were married for 45 years until her death.
In 1970 Mr. Golden moved to WGN, where primarily as a radio staff announcer he lent his deep, commanding voice to commercials and station breaks. He worked there until his retirement in 1981. "He delivered a convincing commercial," said Ward Quaal, former general manager and president of WGN Continental Broadcasting Co., now Tribune Broadcasting Co. A "hard-working, dedicated performer," Mr. Golden "had the ability to make friends both on and off the air," Quaal said.
Off the air Mr. Golden served 10 years as a board member of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and later was chaplain of the local Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion posts.
Survivors include three daughters, Jackie Scully, Cindy Meyers and Sandy Dahm; a son, Jerome, Jr.; two brothers, John and Fred; 10 grandchildren, and a great grandson.
Chicago Tribune
January 10, 2003
11/2002
Animal Stories CD Volume III is
available now!
Stop by and see Uncle Lar & Little Tommy here.
Les Grobstein has a new website online.
Visit the Grobber here.
A tribute to Art Roberts CD is now
available.
Find out more here.
10/2002
A beta version of "Where Are They
Now" is being put together.
Click here for the sneak preview.
THE WLS HISTORY BOOKSHELF
Chicago radio veteran Ron Smith
has put together a set of wonderful reference books
based on the WLS Silver Dollar Surveys from 1960-1969
and the WLS Musicradio Surveys from 1970-1979 & 1980-1990.
Click below for more information on it.
Letters, we get letters! This from the email bag (or bin, if you prefer):
Hey Scott,
Thanks for an excellent WLS web site. I grew up in Arkansas in the 1960s and WLS
was like a local station at night. It was fun to hear the inside stories of one
of my all-time favorite stations. Sometime in the mid-70s, the WLS nighttime
signal pretty much disappeared. Although I don't know the details, I was told
that they changed transmitter sites again and the ABC engineering department
blew it. I don't know any details but was wondering about the explanation. I do
know that WLS was still a shadow of its former self, signal-wise, the last time
I checked. Thanks again for a great site!
-H.W. Duncan
We put former WLS Engineer and technical wizard Marty Soehrman on the case, and here's his reply:
I was working for WLS during the time
period to which you refer. WLS has maintained the same transmitter site for more
than 50 years. That doesn't mean that they didn't TRY to move it. The WLS
transmitter site is a pretty "fer piece" from the studio [located
at US Route 45-LaGrange Road and I-80 in Tinley Park]. Off-air reception of
WLS at the down-town studio site has always been difficult and more importantly,
reception in the offices of down-town advertising agencies (where the money came
from) has always been difficult and not as good as the other 50KW AM's. So, they
found a couple of sites in the Addison, IL area. They were not as good as the
rural (at the time) Tinley Park site and national coverage could have suffered
as a result. But, they didn't care about 38 states because the sales department
didn't consider it "saleable". (There were a few exceptions to this
over the years who bought massive overnight coverage for their commercials dirt
cheap) They DID blow the move, however (which was as far as I was concerned, a
good thing) because of zoning problems and ABC's unwillingness to play the
political games required to "earn" favorable considerations from the
city fathers. ABC engineering types never proposed moving the site, but it was
the sales department that wanted it. In fact, the current site was not chosen
for engineering reasons, but because the station owner at the time [1938]
and Prairie Farmer publisher, Burridge Butler, was bickering with Cook County
officials. The site was chosen to be as close as they could get to Chicago, but
be OUT of Cook county. It just happened that this was favorable to coverage of
downstate Illinois which, I suppose, further lent itself to being a "farm
station." None of this is to say that you are imagining things with regard
to your WLS reception, but I am not sure that anybody really can fully explain
this. It probably has something to do with ground conductivity at the
transmitter site and surrounding area. The ground system at he transmitter site
has been upgraded over the years and I suspect it is in pretty good shape today.
I do know that I have observed lower signal areas in the immediate Chicago area
too (although I do not live there now and haven't made my own observation for a
long time). Also, keep in mind that the status of the class 1-A clear channel
has been downgraded considerably, although that didn't start in the 70's, I
don't think. There are now several stations in the US and Canada on 890 (and
other frequencies) at night where WLS used to be by itself. A little
interference can degrade reception in a major way.
- Martin Soehrman, Portland, Oregon
3/09/02: Tributes to Art Roberts can be found here.
2/19/02: ART ROBERTS SUFFERS ANOTHER STROKE.
To all the listeners of Art Roberts:
A painter takes a blank piece of canvas, a pallet of colors and a lot of imagination and creates a masterpiece. My dad Art did the same thing. I remember him sitting hour after hour looking at a blank piece of paper, taking his colorful imagination and he would create a masterpiece of a radio show.... His Work of Art. He did this night after night, year after year. It wasn't just a job to him, it was a pleasure. For it was you, the listeners that inspired his every word. His love for music and to please.
This past weekend, my dad had another stroke. For those of you who do not know, my dad had a stroke in October 1999. One of the things that kept him going was you. Yes, you the fans. I spent hours at my dad's bedside as he would whisper to me what he wanted to tell you in his web page. He never forgot you. You, never forgot him. The hundreds of well wishes that he received only made him want to get up and going. I read every one of them to him. Through this love to you, he worked day after day, month after month, and year into year keeping his web page up for you. He was paralyzed on his right side while doing this. This means he had to not only teach himself to use his left hand to write, but he typed to you using one hand. He wanted to be sure you knew how much you mean to him.
I have set up an email address if you wish to write him a letter of cheer. I can't promise I will be able to answer all of them, but I do promise to read all of them to him. I ask that you keep him in your prayers.
You may write to him at:
Roberts_Work_Of_Art@msn.com
Thank you for your love and loyalty.
His 4th little smash,
Dahleen
1/29/02:
This note from WLS Technical Producer Michael Garay:
Regarding the Silver Dollar Survey. I do know this was a hot topic a
while back. So the answer is... The survey got it's "Silver Dollar"
name from the fact that George Washington threw a silver dollar across the
Patomac River, and that it landed on the other side. This comes from the 16th
anniversary issue of the survey, published on October 9, 1976.
1/13/02: Congratulations to Roe Conn & Garry Meier who begin their seventh year together in afternoon drive this month. Bob Sirott held down afternoons for six years from 1973-1979.
9/1/01 Read Larry Shannon's wonderful essay, "A Tribute to WLS."
8/19/01 Introducing... The
WLS Picture of the Week. A new picture every week!
See it here.
If you have WLS surveys that you would like to sell or trade, please stop by Scott's survey page at www.scottchilders.com/survey.
4/25/01 The WLS
Prairie Farmer page has been updated.
and
A comprehensive look at the performers on the WLS National Barn Dance.
1/29/01 By request!
Fred Winston's Chili Recipe.
The WLS
Schedule from 1960-1990.
1/5/01 A new site map added to aid navigation.
12/20/00 New comments added to "your thoughts" page.
11/30/00 An update on the Quick History of Chicago's 94.7 FM.
10/16/00 See a survey done by The Prairie Farmer in 1928.
9/22/00 The Big 89 Countdown lists added (1967-1986).
8/29/00 The sad news of the passing of Ed Grennan.
8/1/00 Musicpeople page added. Accessible on WLS 1970's page.
7/27/00 Link added to Art Roberts' "Hip Fables" page at artroberts.com
Your comments are always welcome at
1999-2007, Scott Childers and
Munchkin Studios.
