Having just celebrated my 40th anniversary in broadcasting, it is interesting to know that WLS AM usually shows up in OUR Arbitron book, 180 miles from Chicago in Terre Haute, Indiana, a city that has NINE of its own radio stations. As I’ve said for the last 30+ YEARS, it’s NOT the medium, it’s the MESSAGE

– Jerry Arnold
Terre Haute, Indiana

Scott,

Great job on the site and its great that two Chicago legends such as Eddie Schwartz and Snot Nose Tommy Edwards had great things to say too. I listened to WLS on my way to school from ’79 to ’87 so Uncle Lar was the one sending me off to school. Aah great times and sending me home was Brant Miller. I see him now on Ch. 5 and think something’s missing … ah yes a radio.

Excellent job on the site, Scott

-Kelly

Hi Scott,

Your space is funny, sad, and full of my youth with your station, WLS. A long time ago one of the djs came out to Marengo for a fund raiser of sorts and to host it at the Cloven Hoof Restaurant. Nobody from our group went to work the next day. I think it was Clark Weber, but whomever it was, we all had a great time.

There is nothing like WLS any more; it went the way of the cave men

-Karen Kaufman

Scott:

Such a great history WLS has. I live in Calgary, Canada so I didn’t know anything about the radio station when I joined the listener club. At first I subscribed so I could hear the Kim Komando Show on Saturdays, then I got the weekly newsletter which I found very interesting, then I surfed the history of WLS from the beginning to now.

You have put a lot of hard work into this I can see, and kudo’s to you. Great Job. Thanks For The Tour.

-Len Agnew

Hello Scott,

WLS was great as a Top 40 station. It shopuld have stayed that way and went the 70’s – 80’s Oldies route. After all, that IS WLS. Thanks to Dick Biondi, Art Roberts and I cannot forget Joel Sebastian for being my mentors and got me into radio. After 29 years in radio (technical and programming), the jobs for live and local have become a thing of the past. Stations need to get back to the WLS, WIFE, CKLW type stations. People do not need stations for the music, but for jocks like Dick, Art Joel, etc, to make us feel good when we listen. After all, it is a radio show!
– Cliff Edwards

I grew up listening to Art Roberts at night.  I listened to Peter Fugitive every chance I could.

When I went into the Air Force in 1971, I always kept one button on 890 so at night I could here my ‘local’ station when the time was right.  I heard it in Texas, in Southern California high in the mountains and while driving at night going from one assignment to another.

It was always a taste of home for me.  Then when I could pick it up during the daylight hours, I knew that I would be at my folks house soon and all would be well.

– Ward

Ward, you can now access a complete series of episodes of Peter Fugitive from 1967! Click here to be given “clearance!” ~Scott

Scott:

WOW! I’ve just spent the last four hours at your site, and memories of WLS came flooding back. Listening to WLS in the 60’s and 70’s is what got me into radio in 1972. I spent the next 25 years in radio in South Bend, Indiana both on the air and later in radio advertising sales. I was Music Director at WRBR-FM in South Bend and remember when we topped WLS and a local AM station in the ratings for the first time! I taught radio for a couple of years at a local high school (we had a 10,000 watt FM station!). John Gehron was kind enough to give my students tours of WLS when I would take them to Chicago to take their FCC 3rd Class License exams(remember those?). I sent him an air-check once, and he actually replied…said I needed a little more polish! He was a wonderful person and one of radio’s smartest Program Directors.

I especially loved the WLS jingles. I have a number of JAM Productions and TM Productions demos from the seventies, including the JAM demo featuring John Landecker. Also have a TM Productions tape they did just for laughs that I’ve never heard anywhere else. .

Spending time on your site has been a most enjoyable experience, and I can’t commend you enough for taking on such a labor of love.

Thanks for filling in all the blanks and for bringing back those wonderful memories of The Big 89!

– Joe Lightner

Hi Scott,

I worked at WLS AM & FM on the air for a brief time between 1981-82. I worked with Susan Platt, I knew Jeff Davis, Art Wallis very well. I was hired by Ric Lippincott from WISN in Milwaukee, WI. Slim Nelson replaced me on WLS-FM.

I was deemed the person to call Uncle ‘Lar to wake him up at 3:30am. Mind you, I’m all of 24, my 1st major market station…and I have to call and wake up a radio legend! Yikes! He was always so grumpy…He come shuffling in right before he went on the air…cowboy hat, windbreaker, ripped jeans…

One morning he said “are you the one that calls me? (I was in talking to the engineer – Elaine Hynson –  she was terrific!) “Grab cart #blah blah blah,” and I fired back, “I’m sorry, I’m off the clock…get it yourself” Lar: “So we’ve got a smartass in the studio, I like that in a girl!” After that he was much friendlier on the phone in the morning…a little, not much … 🙂

– Laurie Sanders

Scott:

FANTASTIC JOB on the website.

Also, engineering. WLS had a very unique “balls to the wall” sound, similar to WABC without that geeky reverb they had.

Thanks again for all the love of the craft you do on the website.

Damn, I miss the 80’s. Always wanted to work there, never quite good enough or focused enough to make it happen……..

– Bob Simonson
WLHT Radio
Grand Rapids, MI

Scott,

I hope that everyone who enjoys reliving these great memories can appreciate how much time and dedication goes into building and maintaining a site like this.

The first time I walked thru the doors of The Big 89 was in the early 80’s. I was hired as the production director for WLS/FM and did an occasional shift on the AM. After about 2 years I moved to Nashville to do mornings at the Top Dog Rock station. That lasted about a year and a half and then I moved back to Chicago and landed at WLS/AM again. This time I was working the coveted midnight till 5:30 shift. That’s the one that turns your whole body clock upside down but the rush that you felt just knowing that you can be heard all over the country was unbelievable.

I also hosted the “Oldies Show” live from Ed Debevic’s every Saturday night and that was just as much fun as it was a challenge. It was during that time that John Gehron (one of the last of the really down to earth Program Directors I’d worked for) called me at home and asked me to go down to Grant Park to help the rest of the jocks cover the Welcome Home Parade for the Viet Nam vets since I was the only vet on staff. I had my own personal reasons for not wanting to be there but I went and the blessing for me was meeting a great group of guys (and gals) from VVA Chapter 153. It was thru them that I became heavily involved in the POW/MIA issue in a time when there was still Hope and most civilians were still wearing POW/MIA bracelets. It was thru these vets and with their help that we did many shows on the subject with special guests including wives and family members of their missing loved ones. The volume of mail that I began to receive from all over the country was overwhelming.

A meeting was finally arranged with then mayor Harold Washington in City Hall where we presented him with a POW/MIA flag. We all left that night with raised spirits. The next day I was awakened by my producer telling me to turn on the TV. It was then that I learned that Mayor Washington had died of a heart attack. When I went on the air that night I couldn’t help but wonder (in all of the turmoil and confusion in City Hall) where that flag was. Two days later, after I’d gotten off the air at 5:30 I walked from the Stone Container Building to City Hall in a dark freezing rain and I was overwhelmed to see that the flag that we had presented him with was flying at half mast under the Stars and Stripes. I haven’t been home in years but I’m certain that it remains there today.

WLS was more than a radio station, it was a chapter in the lives of many generations and I remain proud to have been a part of broadcasting history.

– Chuck Britton
WLS AM & FM Air Personality