Chicago Radio Nostalgia thread

Factual Questions
1

Cliff dies and Steve Dahl leaves the airwaves all in the same week!

Chicago has always had a reputation for having some of the best radio personalities in the country. I lived in one other major radio market–Los Angeles, and I can attest to the fact that it isn’t as vibrant as what you’d hear here. Of course, due to corporate consolidation, etc, things are getting a bit more staid, but we still have something special here. After all, the home & birthplace of This American Life, can’t be that bad! Looking back in my lifetime, I have quite a few good memories of time spent listening to our local airwaves…here’s a couple:

Johnny B: I don’t listen to him now, but I will never forget how big he got here in the late 80’s. All my friends listened to him, he had big celebrities on with him, he spawned catch phrases (“YEAH BABY”, anyone?), cultural icons (Piranahman, Joey Bag-o-donuts - the fat dancing guy from the LOOP commercials) and he even guest hosted a late-night network show for a week (The Late Show–right after Joan Rivers got fired). He co-starred in a TV movie with Mary Tyler Moore and Tony Curtis. I remember him setting an attendance record at Poplar Creek at one of his many sold out live performances. Heck, his “Almost Live” album outsold Springsteen’s live album in Chicago for a while. Then it died. First his TV show “Johnny B on the Loose” crashed and burned. Then he moved to LA. I lived in Los Angeles when he was simulcast, and believe me–driving down Sunset Blvd with Johnny & Buzz on the radio felt wrong. He’s back on the LOOP these days, but the Johnny B phenom is long gone…

The LOOP AM 1000: Something else that didn’t live for long, but when it was at it’s peak–there was nothing like it. The classic lineup was:
Johnny in the Mornings
Kevin Mathews
Steve & Garry
Coppick on Sports
Ed Tyll
I could listen to AM1000 all the way through the broadcast day. It was the first of it’s kind in the country, and spawned many imitators. (KLSX in LA was definitely influenced by the LOOP. Jack Silver is the PD there–he used to run AM1000). The station burned red-hot for a while, and then died. Howard Stern came to the LOOP (and left pretty fast too!). When Steve & Garry broke up, it was the final nail in the coffin. In fact, I think when Steve started hosting morning solo, it was on the revamped, sports oriented AM1000. Now with the demise of WCKG, there is nothing like it on the air. I Would love to see this format make a comeback…

Chet Chitchat: Loved fridays, when Bruce Wolf would deliver the “lobotomy lot on sports”. I’m not a sports fan, but Bruce Wolf would slip in so many obscure references to his reports, that I’d would be in stitches. Now, he’s a distinguished local sports anchor, but he really loosened the sports reporting boundries when he was on the radio & was a joy to listen to.

It’s funny watching Channel 5’s new report now. Bob Sirott, Brandt Miller & Bruce Wolf. How many other cities have popular DJs evolve into local news personalities?

2

The only one from your list that I’ve ever got into was Kevin Matthews. And today, we heard some bad news about him: Kev has MS.

I got my (then) dream job working in a small bikeshop during high school in the early 90s. We would put B96 on during those hours Kev wasn’t on. I think Z95 was still around at that time, too. I can recall side-splitting, tear-jerking, floor-rolling laughter during Kev’s show. On reflection, Kev influenced my humor and maybe my personality in some unique, hysterical ways during some formative years. I hope everything works out for him.

3

I love talk radio and all the radio personalities mentioned. The Steve Dahl firing is a loss to the airwaves, but I don’t believe his talk was best suited for mornings and it was an odd pairing with the music station. There is such a dearth of good talk in Chicago now. I thought one enjoyable line-up of the recent past was WCKG’s Garry/Stan&Terry/Dahl/Dahl’s son. Since that mass firing, I’ve been bouncing around the radio dial seeking anything marginally entertaining. No luck, so I’ve decided to raise my blood pressure instead and tune into WIND.

4

Anybody remember WVON in its heyday? E. Rodney Jones, Pervis Spann, Manuel Arrington?

Anybody remember WNIB’s Atomic Mama’s Wang Dang Doodle Blues Show from the 70’s? That was ME :eek: :cool:

5

And how could I have failed to list WVON’s Herb Kent, “The Cool Gent” !!! :smack:

6

I also thought Steve was better suited to afternoons than A.M. The Stan/Terry (rip), Matt Dahl & Brendon, Steve Dahl lineup was great.

I never cared much for Matthews, also it sucks that he has MS. I just didn’t get into his, or Johnny B’s shows.

Since Steve went off the air my radio has been on WBEZ pretty much nonstop. I’ll occasionally go to XRT, but they play too much blues for my taste.

7

I loved Steve and Garry in high school (and used to occasionally sell Garry a pizza in my after-school job). But what I really miss is WCBR, before they were bought up. Best and most eclectic station I’ve come across. I heard a lot of great new music there, weeks or months before XRT got it, if they ever did.

8

Can anybody give me the call letters of the FM station that used to broacdast “TRIAD” - Chicago’s “psychedelic” radio show?

Many thanks!

9

Through the miracle of Google, we learn it was WXFM:

http://pages.ripco.net/~saxmania/triad.html

10

:eek: My memory is still working! Thanks for the confirmation :smiley: