WLS MUSICRADIO 89
| Here
are your memories of WLS . . .
"I REMEMBER GROWING UP IN THE 70'S AND THEY HAD LARRY LUJACK AND WLS I LISTENED TO THEM WHEN I GOT A CHANCE. I REMEMBER ANIMAL STORYS WITH O'L UNCLE LAR AND LITTLE TOMMY. THEY MENTION STORYS IN I'M GUESSING 30 MIN. AND I HAD THE MOST FONDEST MEMORIES OF ANIMAL STORIES AND THE MUSIC. THE NEAT THING ABOUT IT EVEN IN THE 80 REGARDLESS THEY STILL PLAYED THAT GREAT 70'S MUSIC AND EARLY 80S. I USED TO LIVE IN SOUTHERN WISCONSIN AND WHEN WE VACATIONED UP NORTH IN "NORTHEN WISCONSIN" WE STILL RECEIVED IT AT NIGHT. ONE TIME WE WERE AT MISS. AND WE RECIVED YOU DOWN THERE!"... MICHAEL J PESCHE 10/09/98 "Could someone please help me find playlists from WLS between the years of 1975-79. it would mean a lot. i am also looking for airchecks of larry lujack. any info please email me thanks ... tim collins 10/08/98 rocktron1001@hotmail.com> "Who needs Viagra? Just found your site, and it's made me 30 years younger! I grew up 85 miles south of Chicago in the small town of Watseka, and listened to both WLS and WCFL as much as I could. Took tours at both stations, and knew the entire personalty line-up up to the early 70s. I remember Ron Riley and Clark Weber trading insults over the dayparts, and when CFL went to its beautiful music format with Lujack under contract (still can't believe he stayed and read the station liners straight until his contract was up!). These days I produce radio and TV spots, and recently had the chance to use Ron Riley for a video voice-over. What a genuinely nice guy, taking direction like the pro he was and still is (his fulltime job now is as a weathercaster on NewsChannel 8 in DC). We had a ball during breaks reminscing about the innocense of rock 'n roll radio in the 60s, and how that'll never be reclaimed. Too bad today's kids don't have it. But I'm glad we did... Brent 10/08/98 "In my opinion (somewhat educated), John Landecker was one of the very great rock & roll dj's of all time. I say was because I am referring to his seventies days on WLS. He may well be great now, too, on WJMK, I don't know. I live in Colorado, where my brother and I listened to staticy signals of WLS at night. John was able to create a mystique for himself, a distancing of himself from his listeners. This distancing had to do with the fact tha John didn't reveal too much about himself. He WAS he King of the night airwaves. He had that unbelievable voice that was deep and resonating, yet edgy enough to cut through the blunt AM airwaves with great presence. and that legendary WLS reverb sometimes made his voice sound like it was bouncing and finally crashing off the studio walls! He was so cool. He would rap and jive his way over song intros, sometimes mumbling and jiving at the same time. At the end of the intro we'd invariably hear the oh so dynamic rendering of "at WLS!" John was somewhat rude to radio callers, though a nice guy when you talked to him outside of his radio persona. Boogie Checks proved that he was a great ad-lib man, able to come up With witty responses almost instantaneously. He was not a warm-fuzzy , nice guy like so many jocks today. He WAS nighttime rock and roll. His persona blended in with the top notch top 40 music he played, and the awesome PAMS jingles that seamed the show together. John did special things on his show- not just music. The call in boogie checks were great fun, as were "Cannot Get a Witness" News segments. "Page Three! RRRIIIPPP!" Special taped productions like the Great WhiteShark incident were funny and well done.Even the commercial breaks had John making snide comments and sounds in the background. He would occasionally read a commercial live and half mock it. Imagine jocks today getting away with making their advertisers sound foolish or a little ridiculous? John did, and it was a hoot! Above all, John was great because he was never banal with anything. He always made the most of each stop set, or boogie check, or jingle. He milked it all for all the coolness, humor, and excitement he could get. How many other jocks TRY ALL the time to be funny or dynamic? John pretty much did. If you turned 'LS on between 6 and 10 pm week nights you could be sure you were going to get something different. Something consistently special." . . . Ron Huff (9/18/98) "What ever happened to the "toothfairy" episodes? I don't see any reference to the toothfairy at all on your site. Was it on the Larry Lujack show? It would be great listening to that again. Is there a CD available with "Uncle Lar and L'il Tommy " and their animal stories? Snot-nosed Tommy was always great" . . . Laurie Dossett (9/18/98) "There was an album sold in the Chicagoland area in the early 80's. Check with any used records stores in the Chicagoland area." ... Mike Felmeten Originally from Woodstock Illinois (9/27/98) As
has been mentioned before, there seems to be a problem with ownership of
Animal Stories. Disney, the current owner of ABC Radio, appearantly
does not want these made available. ... JEFF
"Jeff, great job on WLS. I could spend hours on my pc on this subject. WLS was the BIG 89 for all of southern Minnesota." ... Michael or Marilyn Sandersfeld (9/16/98) Thank
you. It is a great pleasure to bring the memories back to so many
WLS fans
"Those Magical Musicradio touchtones!!!! Try these numbers on your tones of touch....... 9-6-3-0-9. I got them off a reelradio posting.... Them are it!!!!!!!" ... Rob Calhoun (9/16/98) "Rob: I think it was probably my ReelRadio posting, and I think the numbers are: 9 - 6 - 3 - 0 - 6. (the last number is 6, not 9) I found those numbers after much trial and error, after visiting the WLS studios in early 1975, and getting a chance to spend some time with the WLS production director who was very kind to a group of college students. I can't remember his name. He had been Cousin Brucie's board op at WABC before comingto the Big 89. If anyone knows his name please let me know." ...Bob Sharp (9/16/98) "HELP! As a great WLS fan, I am searching for the tapes or albums of "Animal Stories". I had one of the albums, but over the years it was lost. My son made a tape of the album. I was listening to the tape this morning. Each time I listen the laughs pour forth. I would like to share this humor with friends and need copies of the Animal Stories albums. Can you help. I may even try to find Larry Lujack in Santa Fe NM as It seems he moved there. Any help would be greatly appreciated! THANKS ... Diana (9/15/98) SEE
ABOVE POSTING ... Jeff
I noticed Charlie Van Dike on your list of DJ's. Is he originally from Dallas? If so, my father delivered him, lo some 50+yrs ago.Just thought I'd ask...Thanx, Debbie Vassallo (9/13/98) One and the same ... Jeff I graduated from high school in 1979 and listened to WLS frequently . We are in the middle of planning our 20 year reunion and are trying to get a hold of the Top Ten List of WLS songs from 1979. ...Mary Ellen (912/98)
"Next to Fred Winston, my favorite morning man at WLS was Bill Bailey. He was only on the air for about 6 months in the early 1970s, and came from WAKY in Louisville. does anyone else remember the 'Duke of Chicago'? ... Kevin Orpurt (8/23/98) "Hello Jeff! I'm a 48 year old am radio lover of years gone by. I'm from central Ohio and currently live in Columbus. I've enjoyed many nights from my younger days listening to WLS and WCFL from around around the mid '60's. WLS' sister station in New York, WABC has a current website that includes jingles, airchecks and even the published weekly music surveys going all the back to 1960 when the "Music radio" format began. The city where I was raised, Lancaster, Ohio, didn't have any local or regional radio signals strong enough to reach us after dusk. That's when the fun began spinning the dial to New York for 77 WABC or down the dial to 89 WLS or 1000 WCFL. Keep in touch with any new features your page will provide. I loved those days of Dick Biondi, Ron Brittain, Jerry G. Bishop, Art Roberts, Barney Pip of the 60's and Larry Lujack, John Landecker of the '70's and the many others who crossed over to work both sides of the street at Chicago's 2 biggest top 40 stations of the 60's and 70's. . . . (anonymous 8/08/98) "Hello, Jeff... great website! Especially for those of us who idolized WCFL and WLS in mid-60s (i'm now 47). I worked w/ John Records Landecker at WILS Lansing before he went to WLS Chicago. Know how I can reach him to say Hi? "I happened to find you after a reference to Larry Lujack popped up on another website. This was a name I had not thought about in many years. Thanks is hardly adequate enough for reminding me about the radio station that showed me the world outside of Davenport, Iowa. As a teenager, I only knew of the local rock station KSTT 1170. Then a friend revealed the existence of the BIG THREE - KAAY, WCFL and WLS. Local radio never seemed the same after that. Thank you for remembering and reminding me how much WLS meant to me." ... Steve Shendelman (8/05/98) "I remember when Landecker was coming to LS. For several weeks they promo'd his impending arrival by playing an air check of his introducing "Up Around The Bend" by CCR. It was electrifying at the time because of an energy and intensity not previously heard on the radio (by me anyway). I think of that promo any time I hear that song." ... Steve Shendelman (8/10/98) "Thank you so much for this fun site. It brought back some great memories. I promise to visit again and again...Listening to the BIG 89 was our connection to a world we all wanted to see and be part of in Champaign, Illiois in the 60's and 70's. Our old Uncle Lar and John RECORDS Landecker played the music, made us laugh (sometimes too loud under the covers at night inviting a harsh visit form the old man) and tittlated young teens. Our class at St. Matthews School went on our annual field trip to the Stone Container Building in Chicago just to see the studios of WLS. What fabulous memories. It was more fun to listen to the radio back then it seemed. The world was coming apart at the seams but the fun kept coming from the 'jocks'. Having been in Marina Del Rey and California for 17 years now makes that past all the sweeter. Thanks for the treat of the year. So far of course ... Stephen Due(8/04/98) (I was at a radio seminar recently and had the opportunity to meet JohnLandecker ! It was great to meet the legend that we all remember so fondly ! . . . Jeff (8/10/98) "What a wonderful web site. For anyone growing up in Chicagoland in the 70's, this is the place to be. The audio clips..the jingles .. outstanding! I just want to hear one more thing..., a spot for US30 Dragstrip.."where the great one's run..." I'll be visting here often!" ... Patrick McGovern (7/31/98) "Jeff... Hi, I'm from the central part of Kansas and used to listen to WLS and a station out of Little Rock Arkansas on Friday and Saturday nights. Next month is my 20th class reunion party and I've been collecting some old tunes from the early to late 70's. Yesterday I came across your web site on WLS. It raised a question and I thought you may know the answer. Is there a way to get past recordings of WLS during that period with the songs complete? Thanks for your help. Terry Webb (7/30/98) (I directed Terry to a couple of aircheck collectors. If you can help him email Terry at this address. tjwroper@juno.com Jeff) |
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