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100 Years of WGN Radio to air on WGN-TV May 19 and 22

I am happy to see a station proudly celebrating their centennial, the way it should be. iHeart, for whatever reason, will not allow any celebration of 100 years, latest being KJR Seattle and KFI Los Angeles. Not even a mention of it!
Agreed. Even as iconic as KDKA is, I thought they could've done more/better. They posted a few short videos about their station, its history, acknowledging the anniversary, the addition of their FM translator, etc. but IMO it'd have been great if they'd post a few full-length shows from some of the hosts who were with them for years and were somewhat iconic in that city. Also, that station had so many jingles, news sounders and positioning liners over the years, it'd be cool to go back and give them a listen. Especially since that station is still popular and so many residents in that city have deep roots and appreciate the city's history. To be frank, it took me longer to read @fybush's description of their facilities, his visit to all the locations where KDKA's facilities used to be located and details about their old transmission equipment on his website than it did for me to review all the "historical" stuff KDKA posted for the centennial.
 
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Agreed. Even as iconic as KDKA is, I thought they could've done more/better. They posted a few short videos about their station, its history, acknowledging the anniversary, the addition of their FM translator, etc. but IMO it'd have been great if they'd post a few full-length shows from some of the hosts who were with them for years and were somewhat iconic in that city. Also, that station had so many jingles, news sounders and positioning liners over the years, it'd be cool to go back and give them a listen. Especially since that station is still popular and so many residents in that city have deep roots and appreciate the city's history. To be frank, it took me longer to read @fybush's description of their facilities, his visit to all the locations where KDKA's facilities used to be located and details about their old transmission equipment on his website than it did for me to review all the "historical" stuff KDKA posted for the centennial.
The history of Radio probably won't get the acknowledgement it deserves, unless Ken Burns decides to do a PBS series on it! 😊
 
I am happy to see a station proudly celebrating their centennial, the way it should be. iHeart, for whatever reason, will not allow any celebration of 100 years, latest being KJR Seattle and KFI Los Angeles. Not even a mention of it!
Are you certain it's a corporate directive? I read somewhere else that KFI's PD didn't want to celebrate because AM news/talk already suffers from a 'too old" image, so why amplify that? I agree. A while back, I was programming a big 50kw AM that was about to celebrate it's 90th birthday. I asked who really cares and will it increase ratings? The only ones who might enjoy it are radio geeks and seniors who listened 'back in the day.' I didn't want to do anything that accentuated our older demographics. Although my brand did well P2554, we didn't need any help 65+ demo. Pretty sure that's the case with every one of those 100 year old stations now doing news/talk.
 
I am happy to see a station proudly celebrating their centennial, the way it should be. iHeart, for whatever reason, will not allow any celebration of 100 years, latest being KJR Seattle and KFI Los Angeles. Not even a mention of it!
They won't? 🤨


 
They won't? 🤨


Last week, I called during the Tim Conway Jr. show, and spoke to the producer. When I asked about why KFI didn't observe their centennial, was told that mgmt requested that the subject not be discussed. That was all he was able to tell me, and then gave me the email address for the PD to contact. However, I noticed WBZ did honor theirs.
 
We watched the program on WGN-TV and I thought it was well done. Lots of interviews and interesting clips. They were limited to an hour program, though, so much of that was about Wally Phillips and Bob Collins, two of the best-known announcers. They also covered some of the early station history, and talked to the chief engineer and even made a visit to the transmitter site

There were many long-running programs and famous people that were not mentioned, as well as WGN's long sports history. On the radio today they said that this program will be on the WGN site after the broadcast.

On WGN radio, the 100th anniversary was mentioned often, but the programming didn't seem to be planned or organized. There were a few brief interviews and people calling in with their own WGN memories.
 
There are around 92 stations which turn 100 between January 1, 2022 and July 22, 2022. One is WAAF/WNTD 950, the 49th Oldest station in the US, which was granted a commercial license on April 7, 1922.

It's ridiculous to not count the WDAP years. It's not ridiculous to make the same rules apply to all, and none should count the years before the commercial license was issued, not the amateur radio years, unless all years are considered for all stations. Many stations started out as experimental amateur stations, with the callsign region number and two letter callsigns.
 
Are you certain it's a corporate directive? I read somewhere else that KFI's PD didn't want to celebrate because AM news/talk already suffers from a 'too old" image, so why amplify that? I agree. A while back, I was programming a big 50kw AM that was about to celebrate it's 90th birthday. I asked who really cares and will it increase ratings? The only ones who might enjoy it are radio geeks and seniors who listened 'back in the day.' I didn't want to do anything that accentuated our older demographics. Although my brand did well P2554, we didn't need any help 65+ demo. Pretty sure that's the case with every one of those 100 year old stations now doing news/talk.
It's too bad that the expression: "Money isn't everything---it's the ONLY thing!", is unfortunately true...
 
I am happy to see a station proudly celebrating their centennial, the way it should be. iHeart, for whatever reason, will not allow any celebration of 100 years, latest being KJR Seattle and KFI Los Angeles. Not even a mention of it!
iHeart has been letting WLW celebrate it's 100th on-air and elsewhere. With its heritage, of course it is.
 
"100 Years of WGN Radio: A Retrospective" will be broadcast on WGN-TV on May 19 at 7 p.m. and on May 22 at 2 p.m.

On WGN they have been frequently mentioning "in our 100th year."

https://wgnradio.com/100-years-of-wgn-radio/100-years-of-wgn-radio-a-retrospective-to-air-on-wgn-TV/
Just watched this. Quite a good show, generally focusing on the talk years (Wally Phillips, etc.), but mentioning the very early days, including WDAP, and with a tour of the transmitter site, which I didn't expect.
 
iHeart has been letting WLW celebrate it's 100th on-air and elsewhere. With its heritage, of course it is.
Right. Like I said earlier, whether or not IHR stations celebrated 100th anniversaries is a decision for the local teams(s) to decide. Which is how it should be.
 
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