I don’t usually listen to radio, but lately I have been turning it on on my way to work. I turned on Q101 this morning and they were playing OLDIES? What the fuck happened to Q101? It’s some easy-listening bullshit now! I’m angry and confused! Q101 has been a hard rock station my entire goddamn life.
Where’d it go? 
My local rock station (96.1) abruptly fired its morning DJs recently…I can’t say I was ever a huge fan of their show, but it was decent enough that I would listen until I got on the road. The station replaced them with a past-his-prime DJ known for his work way back in the day on the area’s former classic rock station. He’s an annoying, sexist pig now; I’ve pretty much stopped listening to that station in the morning.
Do you have access to an MP3 player? Would you consider a satellite radio subscription? (That might not work so well if you’re in Chicago though; the satellite signal often bounces around in large cities.)
It was sold a while ago.
Why they waited to change the format I’m not sure but it’s been comming for a while.
I think it’s supposed to be talk/news radio as well, or a sister station turned into that. Not fun.
Sometimes radio stations give lots of advance warning that they’re going to change formats, but it seems that most of the time they switch formats without letting the listeners know beforehand.
I feel your pain. I am still mourning the loss of KMET back in 1987.
“Little bit of heaven
94.7
KMET
Tweedle dee.”
Looks like this one had been announceda month ago or so.
Wow, 97.9 is the only other remotely-listenable station out here. Guess it’s time to burn some cds
I stream Napster or Pandora in the car, with my iPhone. Both services work with Droids, too, if that might be an option. At least an Mp3 player of some sort?
I heard the announcement about Q101 a little while ago. The format changed last Thursday. A little part of my old teenage self died a little. Though I understand it. I haven’t listened to the radio regularly in about 8 years. I hadn’t been listening, but I always knew it was still there, you know?
Just give up and listen to NPR - that’s what I did 
but check out WLUW, 88.7 FM or wluw.org
Amazing mix of alternative, Americana, Democracy Now, and interesting specialty shows.
I host 2 specialty shows, myself
David
Me too. Except instead of NPR, I went with B96.
Aaaah! I couldn’t possibly do that!
Q101 was my favorite station when I lived in Chicago. I had heard some rumblings through the grapevine that there was going to be a format switch, so I sent an email a couple weeks ago inquiring about a Q101 t-shirt. Never heard back. I guess they were more concerned with losing their jobs than giving me free schwag.
What!
Nooooo! :mad:
Q101 was one of the few stations I listened to!
Granted lately I have been commuting by train instead of car so a lot less radio time but WTF?
I thought Q101 had a good niche in Chicago.
Now I am left with WXRT for music which is a fine station but I like options.
Other than that WBEZ is the only other station I’ll tune in now (for news).
Probably one of the biggest radio markets in the US and there are only two stations I care to listen to? That is fucked up.
93.1 isn’t bad, either. Sometimes they throw on some meh 80s stuff, but they also do some decent alt. Not as hard as Q101, but acceptable. They’ve been around for ages, too.
WXRT is a Chicago icon. I’ve heard more truely alternative stuff on XRT than Q101.
XRT will play stuff like Rorrigo Y Gabriela that Q101 would never touch because they’re afraid it’s not “hard” enough.
Here in Portland a few years back we had an am station switch formats from talk radio to golden oldies right in the middle of an interview. The host said something to the effect of “We’ll be right back with Councilperson Smith right after these messages!”, and that was the end of that. It later came out that while the show was on the air, all the desks were cleared out by security, personal items were boxed up and taken to the main lobby, then all the hosts that were in the building were escorted out.
Oh, I agree. I’ve been listening to it from the cradle; my mom’s listened to them as long as they’ve been on the air. They’re hands-down my favorite music station in Chicago. I do recognize, though, that they are a bit different than Q101.
Of course, they also make it so that, upon telling my mom about any new, awesome band I’ve found, I have about even odds that she’s already heard of them.
My problem is, either my tastes have changed, or WXRT has becoming boring-ass middle-of-the-road rock music. I mean, shit, I find myself listening to NPR 95% of the time in the car because every radio station bores me to tears, unless I happen to find a good college or even high school frequency. I remember XRT being much more varied and interesting through the mid-90s until, perhaps not coincidentally, with their sale to Westinghouse (which became part of CBS later). That said, it still has its good points, and I enjoy my Breakfast with the Beatles.
Now get off my lawn!