WLS MUSICRADIO 89
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are your memories of WLS . . .
"I am trying to locate copies (cassette tapes) of some of the old Uncle Lar and Lil Tommy Animal Stories to give as a Christmas gift to someone. Do you know where I may be able to get them? I grew up on Animal Stories. About a year ago I heard some of the old stories and laughed until I cried. When Lil Tommy started laughing so hard you could hear him kicking the waste can. The laugh was contagious. Someone ought to bring those two guys back together or re-run Animal Stories. My Daddy had an auto body repair shop and when it was time for Animal Stories the grinding and hammering stopped so everyone could listen." ... Susan Owens (12/18/97) Unfortunately, Uncle Lar & Lil Tommy haven't made them available... Jeff "Jeff: Thanks for keeping the flame lit for the great top 40 stations. No one remembers any more.....Sigh I used to listen late at night on my old zenith in the early 70s and that is what inspired me to go into the broadcasting field. I stayed for 9 years and had a lot of fun never any fame but that was never the issue. Unfortunately things change and we had to get into a jobline that features regular pay and hours . Thanks for the memories and good luck I will visit again." ... Chris Cozort, Cortland NY (12/12/97) "Jeff, This WLS verification of reception letter sent to me in Vancouver in 1958 may be of interest to you. Cheers"... Gord Lansdell, North Vancouver, BC (12/07/97) Thanks Gord, It's cool to see some of the great history of the station... Jeff 
"Thanks for the site Jeff. How did I love WLS...let me count the ways. It was a big reason why I'm in radio. I started listening to the Enourmous 89 consistently in the early 80's when WLS was a rock leaning top 40. I remember growing up in Lexington, Kentucky and getting my morning started with Mr Lujack. I liked looking forward to my dose of "The Cheap Trashy Showbiz Report" and Uncle Lar's pause of disbelief after reading a story about some vain actor and his pitiful ways. And of course...The highly acclaimed, award winning Animal Stories. I'd find myself listening to the repeat in the afternoons with Lil Tommy just to laugh again. Do you remember the time when the Animal Stories news achor team featured a cattle dewormer commercial? Uncle Lar suggested you call and make this one of the songs on the top three of the night. Sure enough, it was the number two song of the night. I could go on forever when talking about WLS. It all comes to mind...The music, personalities, promotions, the warmth of the 50kw signal coming out of the three inch speaker of my radio or big speakers with my Sony SRF-A100 AM stereo tuner. Most of all ... just being bigger than life. With all that in mind, you can understand my only two complaints about WLS. First, the last two year of the music format (87-89) was a letdown to me. It was a mishmash of radio that was not worthy of modulating 890 kilohertz. Sure, there were moments of life, but not many. Second, when the formal change to talk occured in 1989, there was no goodbye. I may be wrong, but as far as I know they went to Tom Snyder at 7p and that was it. No closing like WABC in '82--KHJ, CHUM, KFRC in '86. Even WCFL said goodbye in '76. By the way if you have never heard Lujack's speach on CFL before the format change. Find it. It is entitled "Why you should keep listening to CFL and give up rock and roll. It's Lujack at his sarcastic peak. It would have been cool and brought a tear in my eye if they aired their New Year's Eve montage for the last time before going talk. Oh well...thank God for airchecks and this site." ... . Rob Calhoun (11/20/97) "What a pleasant surprise your page was! I listened to WLS primarily in the early to mid eighties during my high school years. I grew up on a farm in Southeastern Ohio, and to hear that great music coming through the ether at night, along with the current happenings in Chicago was an incredible experience for a small town boy. It always amazed me that so much could go on in one city, particularly growing up in such a rural area. As I recall, on Sunday evenings there was a talk show called "Sex Talk" hosted by Dr. Phyllis Levy. Raised a Midwest Methodist, it was all quite titillating, I can assure you !" ... Regards, Mark Rice, San Antonio(11/08/97) "Great page! I listened to WLS AM89 from '74 to '87ish. Animal Stories was actually done for an LP in Nov of '82 -- "Best of A.S." in time for Christmas. Larry Lujack and little Tommy would do trivia -- Larry asking the question and rewarding Tommy with a "Shinny new dime." Also Ros Verin (not sure on spelling) did traffic in the morning. She currently does traffic on WGN channel 9 Chicago. I remember hearing that John Lennon was killed from WLS. Lots of great memories too. Steve & Gerry, scumbag, weenie, idiots!!! -- the intro for Steve Dahl and Gerry ??? So sad that it went talk. Hope you keep up the page. I also have in my possession, the coveted WLS Fantastic Plastic Card. A way to win neat prizes if you called in when your number was read on the air." ... Marcia Davage (11/24/97) "Great page ! I grew up as "your Art Roberts Son" and found your page a great reminder of some of the best years of my life with some of the coolest people who ever rocked for a living. (My dad still rocks and is still in Radio) Thanks for keeping the dreams alive." ... Bob Roberts (11/24/97) . . . Thanks to your Dad and all of the other WLS jocks for giving us so many Great Memories ... Jeff |
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