WLS MUSICRADIO 89

Here are your memories of WLS . . . "My name is Greg Martin, guitarist for The Kentucky HeadHunters. I was surfing the net, came across this site. Talk about wonderful memories! Growing up in south central Kentucky in the 60's, I spent many nights listening to WLS, WCFL, WOWO, & WLAC. During the day we had WAKY & WKLO out of Louisville, but at night, the real adventure started! As a young musician, AM radio was a major influence. At 45, I still tour and record with The HeadHunters, plus host my own blues radio show. I owe a great deal to these great stations & air personalities. I'd be interested in obtaining airchecks of WLS & WCFL ... especially 'The Subterranean Circus'. I used to catch Ron every Sunday night with my 1956 Les Paul Special in hand! I gleaned a lot of cool guitar licks listening to his show, and WLS! Thanks!" Greg Martin (7/29/98) "I just wonder if the dj's and staff at WLS knew what audio icons they had created. I grew up in the sticks of Arkansas and as a teen couldn't wait to get out and into a city. WLS was my link to the "real world". At night the am radio would pick up WWL New Orleans, KAAY Little Rock and the best: 89...WLS, Chicago! I realized I was hooked on WLS. From sunset to sunrise. All the on air personalities, Sunday night Public Affair programs and even that goofey "Farm Report" jingle and Earl Butts jokes! I remember one night they actually "signed off" to make transmitter adjustments and I freaked. Ha! Instant withdrawl! The website is great. I'm 45 and even to this day, whenever I hear a top 40 'oldie', I expect to hear a WLS jingle right after it. I found an old cassette with a WLS "Christmas" jingle on it! Talk about memories! As a kid it opened my interest in broadcasting, technical and entertainment aspects. Nowadays, when out on the interstates late at night, at the top of the hour I'll tune in just to hear the jingle. Newsradio 890. Naaaaaaaa. Bring back MusicRadio WLS!!! Scott Baker, Houston TX (7/17/98) "Thanks Jeff, for the chance to give you a few memories of WLS Radio. 1973, South Central Missouri, the middle of the Ozark mountains. I was 13, and beginning to wonder about life beyond the trees & creeks. Somehow, I was tuning my little transistor radio and found a station that would change my life. The jingle singers sang..."Musicradio WLS Chicago"....and my world got a little bigger. Cool music and terrific jocks. Big time radio. "John Records Landecker, records truly is my middle name", the dj said. Wow, he's different, I thought. This guy can communicate to you, just like an old friend and do it on the airwaves. I listened and took notes on how he did his show. My small Panasonic mono cassette player recorded his comments and the zany way he presented his show. (I still have some of those old tapes....somewhere..) For years I listened to John, Steve King, Yvonne Daniels, Fred Winston, and Bob Sirott. I studied radio, took my test for my 3rd class endorsement in Dallas, passed and looked for a beginning in radio. (KEGG 1560 Daingerfield, Texas). The years have passed. I have spoke to John Landecker a couple of times and told him I'm his "Biggest Fan". He truly is my mentor. I miss the music, the jocks. But I have great memories of growing up and listening to probably the best radio station ever. This is my 20th year in Broadcasting. 20 years....wow-it passed so fast. I hope that in the past 20 years I maybe helped a kid find his interest in radio. I owe mine to WLS & John Landecker. Thanks!" ... Pat O'Briant KSYZ 107.7  Grand Island, Nebraska (07/03/98) "Found your WLS web site while surfing. It is great. I have Vol I, II,and III of Animal Stories in MINT condition. Anyone needing a copy - let me know. I found a book that Lujack wrote at the website Amazon.com. The site said that the book was out of print. If anyone knows where I can get a copy please let me know."... Tim Hutchison (6/29/98) "I want to add some kind words for one of my mentors, Gene Taylor. When Gene was VP/GM and I was a teenager interested in radio, he took me under his wing and offered lots of good advice. Each month I would come to WLS and spend some time with Gene and the rest of the staff ... a privilege not afforded most listeners. Gene then took an interest in my career." ... Dick (Scott) Ginkows (6/25/98) "He used to do the B.S. love counselor in the early to mid 70's. I was 9-10 years old and thought it was really wild at the time. I cannot find anything on the net concerning Bob Sirott."... Dave & Mindy Clay (6/15/98) . . . Bob is now at WLFD-TV in Chicago and is host of FOX Thing In The Morning ! Jeff >"They now have the aircheck of John Landecker's farewell show from his first tour at WLS at reelradio.com. The thing I miss most in life is not being able to listen to WLS and John Landecker at night on my car radio here in Texas." . . . Gary T. O'Sullivan (6/14/98) . . . There is a link to John's show as well as other reel radio WLS airchecks on the Sites and Sounds Page ... Jeff "Amazing the memories the WLS Site brought back to me. I listened continuously 1965-1971. I still have copies of the "SILVER DOLLAR SURVEYS"  and letters from Ron Riley, Larry Lujack and Joel Sebastian pasted in my old scrapbooks. Anyone remember the "Weber Pumpkin"? Listening to the sounds made me feel 15 years old again. Thanks !" ... Deb Passwater (6/7/98) "I live in Lebanon Missouri, and when I was a teenager growing up in the early sixties, we all enjoyed the sounds of WLS each nite. In this town of about 15000, we all cruised the downtown area in our cars with our girls and everybody had WLS tuned in on the car radio, and especially to Dick Biondi. Great memories and thanks for the great website." ...Quentin Mizer(5/19/98) "I received this recently, maybe someone can help with this request." ... Jeff "I know this is really a shot in the dark but you may have a clue as to what I'm talking about. About 10 years ago, as a student at the University of Kansas and full time DJ, I picked up a book written in much the same style as Robert Fulghum -- each chapter dealing with a total unrelated subject from the next. One of the chapters focused on Larry Lujack and WLS. The author had apparently "shadowed" Larry for a day or two and written about his experiences. Are you familiar with the author or the book I'm talking about? That is all I can remember of it. I don't have a title or the name of the author. Since you seem to know quite a bit about WLS and its staff, I figured you may know something about the book. I'd appreciate anything you could share with me. I do appreciate your web pages and visit quite often when time allows." Michael Haden (5/13/98) . . . Anybody who can help with Michael's question can email him directly or write to us and we'll post it for everyone... Jeff "God I miss the old 89 WLS. As a small child growing up in Peoria, Illinois, I used to tune my little blue transistor radio to WLS and listen for hours. I remember Larry Lujack, John Landecker, and Fred Winston and all of those great jocks. It was listening to WLS as a little kid that inspired me to get into radio myself. I've been collecting airchecks, jingles and memorablilia from the "Big 89" for the last few years now. It's a crying shame that radio isn't that good anymore. Today's "new breed" are forced to read liner cards and play more music. They need to appreciate the people who created the medium we work in. Talents like Lujack, Don Steele, Don Imus, Charlie Tuna, and John Landecker need to be looked up to, not the Howard Stern's and Bubba the Love Sponge's, and Mancow Muller's. Radio announcers used to have something to say and make you feel good about listening to their station. It was exciting, and they were your friends. I recently had the opportunity to listen to some old "Animal Stories" records a co-worker of mine has had for years. That was some great radio! Ol' Uncle Lar! I believe that knowing about the past helps you understand the future, and that all things in life are cyclical. Someday, someone will have enough balls to put a real CHR station back on the air like the old WLS, KHJ, WABC, WNBC, etc. When they do, I will be the first to have my tape on the Program Director's desk, unless that P.D. happens to be me. Until that day, I can only dream and read my liner cards and backsell 6 songs twice an hour. It's still a fun business, but not the same as it was then." ... Jack Shell (4/20/98) "In the early days of the Top 40 era at WLS (Lujack did not hit Chicago until '67) Dick Biondi was the wild and crazy guy. He was on in the evenings, appealed to younger teenagers, told some jokes considered off-color in '62 (which would not even be noticed today) and got suspended for it. He released a record (a mail-in 45) with "The Pizza Song" on one side (sung? to the tune of "On Top of Old Smokey") and "Knock-Knock" on the flip side (an instrumental interspersed with knock-knock jokes." . . . BJ the DJ (4/17/97) "Your site really brings back a lot of memories. I listened to 'LS from the time I was 4 years old ('73) until they changed their format to talk. I'm not much of a talk radio fan. It's just awesome how many jingles you have on this site. I haven't surfed the rest of the site yet. I wish I had some airchecks to contribute but I don't. I do have some of their musicradio surveys from about '81 on. I don't know if you were in Chicagoland during the early eighties when they partially simulcasted with their FM station on 94.7. That FM station then went on their own identity as WYTZ/Z-95. I thought they were also an excellent CHR station and I do have some airchecks from them. Keep up the good work on your website" ... Joel Hacker (4/13/98) "That would be Mr. Lujack.  The funniest would have to be the one I read on Uncle Ricky's Reelradio page. Under the comments of a Larry Lujack aircheck somebody remembered the Animal Stories which had the tale of an anteater who had like a twelve inch long tongue and could move it in and out of its mouth like fourty times a minute. His response was, "I'd bet mom would love that for Mother's day"! That's our Uncle Lar' ". . . Rob Calhoun (4/8/98) *** note... this is from the WLS message board and is a response to the message posted below . . . Jeff *** "I grew up listening to WLS and I also want to complimentyou on wonderful web page. I was wondering if anyone knows the answer to a question I have - who did the "Star Beat Dictaphone" spots - you know "Star Beat presents what's happening..." I have a contest going with a friend to see who can remember or find out first. If anyone knows can you e-mail me, please: hope222@earthling.net" ... Hope (3/22/98) "This is a very enjoyable site! I am a native New Yorker who grew up listening to another great station WABC and the web page regarding it is inundated with messages. I really didnt know much about WLS until this site, and have really enjoyed hearing the airchecks for the very famous DJ's, many of whom I had heard of, but never actually heard. Great fun! In New York the king of the talkups was Dan Ingram who could come up with some of the funniest lines I have ever heard in the talk up (and the outtros) of the songs. Did the same with commercials (in fact if you want some yuks, go to www.Musicradio77.com and laugh at the remembrances of Ingrams funnies. Who did the funniest on WLS? Anybody remember some?" . . . Bob Valvano (3/21/98) "Hey ! Seen your WLS pages from time to time, and it is great! I am a big fan of the old WLS/WCFL, as I was growing up listening to these stations as a youngster. Recently, I have been talking to Tommy Edwards from his email address, and I was wondering if the 3 volumes of Animal Stories will ever appear on CD. As it turns out,Walt Disney owns the Animal Stories name, and looks like negotiations are no where close to getting this done. It would be nice if us Chicagoans could get the ball rolling in order to enjoy these classic stories on clear sounding CD." ... Eric (3/20/98) "Hello Jeff, I stopped by your WLS page since I'm an ex-employee. When I was in college, I had a summer job there as a board operator. That was back in 1973, the summer that WLS became "MusicRadio." I remember coming in to work one day and some worker was putting up new graphics on the glass doors to the studios that said, "MusicRadio." My reaction was, "huh?" Anyway, it was a fun job. Now I design broadcast transmitters." ... Dave Hershberger(3/2/98) "Hi, Jeff...great to find your WLS site and read all of the memories. Like many of those folks, I grew up in central Illinois and was plugged into WLS and WCFL religiously from 1968 until 1974, when my family relocated to the Phoenix area (hotbed at that time of some of the most amazingly lame radio in the nation--which hasn't really changed). I spent those first few years in AZ desperately floating the dial around 890 after dark, hoping to pull in just a faint glimmer of life---every so often I could pull it in on the car radio, and I remember many nights out in the garage, running down the battery, sifting through the static, but one in awhile catching a jingle and a fragment of one of the DJ's. Late one winter afternoon in 1974, due to some kind of weather disturbance, it came through as clear as a bell for about five minutes (a zit cream commercial and then "Beach Baby"), and then totally disappeared--pretty heartbreaking. I recently discovered the world of aircheck collecting, and last week got a copy of the last ninety minutes of Larry Lujack's 1987 farewell program from Ed Brouder's Man from Mars. ... terrific stuff. On it, Lujack begins to mention an episode a year earlier when he had left the air for awhile, and came back to mailbags full of supportive letters. He didn't say specifically what happened; what was the story? Lujack was the funniest guy and best DJ I've ever heard on the radio, and in listening to some of his old stuff, you realize just how ahead of his time he really was. I still have my old copy of "SuperJock", plus about four years worth of WLS and WCFL top forty surveys. Thanks for your tribute page; WLS was the pulse of the midwest back then, and that kind of regional top 40 radio is something we'll sadly never see again. ... Rob Price (2/22/98) "Hi ! Gosh...Now I know why I've been saving all these airchecks of all the WLS jocks that I pushed buttons for....LOL Have the whole collection of jingles from '70 and '72....when I worked as a "summer relief" engineer. All airchecks from the studio feed...on fulltrack 1/4" mono RCA machines!!!!! Who would have thought the internet would become a link to the past.... Haven't listened to those tapes for over 25 years.....but they should still work. ... Greg Daniels (2/18/98) "Wow! I have WLS blood running in my veins! My name is Jerry Page. My grandfather was Arthur C. Page. My grandfather was a broadcaster on WLS from the 1020's to the early 1950's. His untimely death in 1954 was a real loss to me. He broadcasted a show for nearly 25 years on WLS called the DINNER BELL HOUR. I used to listen to it as a kid from East Peoria, Illinois. My grandfather was well know in the midwest because of WLS. He would Host various Corn Husking Events through the midwest on the radio. I have several magazines or Family Albums of WLS dating back to the 20's. My grandfathers funeral was broadcasted over WLS. I have the origional recording of the funeral. I was 8 years old when he died. I remember so well listening to grandfather on the radio. Naturally, I listened to WLS when it went to rock'roll from east Peoria. Anyway, I am proud to be his grandson. My Dad, his son, is 82 and living in Florida. Irony is all about me and radio. I am also a ham radio operator and have been since 1960. My Dad is a ham too. So you see radio is in my bloos. In fact my first words as documented in my baby bood was "radio." I'm now 52 years old and plan to retire in 2000. I hope to begin my second career in broadcast radio here in the Phoenix, Arizona area. I would love to carry on my Grandfathers legacy! Oh... Grandfather also had the moniker of Dean of the Agricultural Broadcasters. I could go on. Thanks for the site and reading this. Go. ...Dick Biondi Thanks" ... Jerry Page (2/15/98) "Loved your website... I am not sure where you are but... the person who wrote looking for Animal Stories should be told that there are three volumes of Animal Stories on record... I don't know if they went past the Midwest or even the Chicago area... but they are fairly easy to find... Also...Roz Veron (that's how its spelled) never worked at Channel 9. I do remember her with Larry Lujack on LS and now she works on Ch.7. Traffic on TV is a weird concept... Brant Miller is on WMAQ-TV doing weather (though he's not a meterologist). Bob Sirott is on WFLD doing a program called Fox Thing In The Morning... which is news (he's not a newsman) and features... Although his name isn't in the writing credits, I guarantee you a lot of the ideas are his... " Stu Berger (2/10/98) "Hi Jeff-- I am currently News Director and an Anchor/Reporter for WLS Newstalk 890. If it's news, we talk about it (thanks Monica Lewinsky!!!). As you know, in addition to its varied formats throught the years, WLS has always had a fine news department. I'm very pleased to be a part of that tradition, and to work with such talented gentlemen as Jeff Hendrix and Jim Johnson (each of whom are now in their 30th year at WLS). I very much enjoyed your page. I'm a fan of radio history, having grown up in central California listening to KFRC. They, too, had a great news department...with the likes of Vicki Liviakas, Robert McCormick, and others. Keep up the good work!! . . . Steve Scott (1/27/98) "I like your page. My name is Rich. I work in Phoenix at KMLE 108. I started in 1966 at WKNR KEENER 13 in Detroit. I am looking for an original weather jingle, something like this: Whats the weather for the weekend  gonna be, will it be hot, cold, rain, snow ......... (music bed) If ya come accross it will ya let me know. ... Rich Wilens (01/10/98)  ...It's now on line on the Sounds Of Music Radio Page (Jeff) "First I was blasted back across my office and then I got a good look at the rest of the WLS page! I plan to check it all out after work when it's quiet and I don't disturb anyone. The first jingle up brought back a lot of memories. I wasn't originally from Chicago, either, but from downstate IL. As a kid, I'd visit my grandmother, aunt and uncle who lived within reception distance of WLS in Ottawa,IL. What a treat to hear "big city rock and roll" in the 1960s! I remember the classic cha-cha-cha tempo jingle and it brings back a LOT of memories. I also was crushed when the station went to talk radio. That's what WGN and WMAQ were for! WLS will always mean rock radio to me! thanks!" ... Michele Horaney (01/09/98) "Great web page!!!! This brings back a lot of memories. I have been trying to locate copies of the Animal Stories LP's. If you could guide me in the right direction it would be greatly appreciated. Keep up the good work. If I run across anything you might be interested in I'll send it to you. I'm also looking for airchecks of Larry Lujack and Bob Sirott's last shows on WLS. Thanks again." ... Jeff Wilhelm (01/06/98) "Hi Jeff. Your page is getting the big boys looking. Former news man 1969 Chuck Scott Of WLS is a good friend of mine. He is at www.broadcast.net Chuck for excited to find and old aircheck from a link on your page on the big 89. Chuck and I worked at KNUZ in Houston for many years. and Steve Lundy has been doing some work at KLDE in Houston part time. See Ya," ... Dade Moore (12/30/97) "Jeff: It's Christmas Eve and I'm scanning the dial with my GE SuperadioII when I come across 890 KHz. WLS is running a Disney Christmas special (That wouldn't have anything to do with Disney owning 'LS would it?) Anyway when I tuned them in, they were playing Bruce Springsteen's version of "Santa Clause Is Coming To Town". Wow! Springsteen back of WLS. It was fun hearing Rock and Roll bouncing in on skywave once again. Sure it was short lived, but what can I say...it was a cheap thrill. Much like the event I experienced four years ago. Coming back from Super Wal-Mart late on night, I dialed up WLS only to hear a station from south of the border overide WLS. I couldn't believe it, they were playing Boston's "More Than A Feeling". In my heart, I wished it was 'LS, but I knew better. Besides, the processing wasn't the same and after the song was over...lots of foreign tounge. Anyway, Merry Christmas!" ... Rob Calhoun ... Owensboro, KY (12/24/97)

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