Monday, April 7, 2008

The Rock of Chicago....WLS

Spending the first 18 years of my life in Chicago, I grew up listening to "The Rock of Chicago", legendary 50,000 watt, The BIG 89 WLS, in the mid 60’s and 70’s. This was a special time in radio, a time when there was no internet, cable or satellite TV, video’s, CD’s or Ipods. All you had was a stereo, with a turntable and cassette in your bedroom. If you were lucky enough to have your own car, you had a Pioneer Super Tuner in it (the car stereo was usally worth more than the car). The music was great, but the DJ’s were better.

This past Memorial Day weekend (2007) WLS which is now a conservative talk station had their BIG 89 Rewind, an on-air reunion bringing back many of the old personalities including Larry Lujack, Tommy Edwards, Fred Winston, Chris Shebel, Lyle Dean, John Records Landecker and more. These are the personalities that made radio sound fun and inspired me and many of my peers to get into the biz!

Art Vuolo “Radio’s Best Friend” documented the event on video. This is ten minutes of great radio. These guys are as passionate today as they were back in the day and they're having as much fun too. If you are a fan of “Chicago” or old “Boss” Top 40 radio you have to watch this video.

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