Just wondering if anyone has any memories of WSDM that they'd like to share. A few of mine are that the transition taking place from WSDM to The Loop meant that the small WSDM record library was now locked up, and the 16" transcription turntables were removed from the on-air studio. Some of the on-air talent even mentioned this on the air (the record library was now locked up). I was a bit shocked by this radical programming maneuver, and being the naive 19 year old that I was at the time, I walked into the John Hancock building where the WSDM studios were located, and talked my way into the WSDM office's. A few of the promotion staff welcomed me in on a Saturday afternoon, and discussed with me the recent changes (I think they were just as much as shocked as I was). Sure enough; there was the small record library with locks on the swinging doors, along with the 16" transcription turntables sitting there in another room (recently now removed from the on-air studio, to restrict the new on-air talent from playing any WSDM pieces of vinyl that were so recently part of the playlist).
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The Last Days of WSDM
- Thread starter Brian Bowers
- Start date
The 97.9 frequency has an interesting history. Originally, it was WEHS, until the legendary Leonard and Phil Chess, of Chess Records fame, bought WEHS 97.9 and WHFC 1450 Cicero, Illinois, in 1963, when they moved the WHFC 1450 call letters to 97.9, and 1450 became the legendary WVON. They acquired both stations for $1,000,000, an entry level purchase. Part of the reason was for breaking some of Chess Records Library. They had previously owned WTAC 600 in Flint, Michigan, which had a good signal in most of Southeastern Michigan, but because of their directional antenna, missed much of the Eastern part of Metro Detroit, which was supposed to have a greater impact for promoting their records, so they looked at an entry level property in Chicago. Using the proceeds of the sale of WTAC, they bought WHFC and WEHS. In 1965, they changed the WHFC call letters to WSDM, which meant "Smack Dab In The Middle", being right in the middle of the FM Dial. However, they also called it "Wisdom". In 1977, they changed the call letters to WLUP, which they called "The Loop", partly referring to the Chicago Central Business District and elevated Railroad Loop around it. However, the call letters also reflected the owners first names, Leonard and Phil Chess. There were already the long held call letters WLAP in Lexington, KY, so they settled for using the European word "und" for and, hence WLUP.
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I did not know the Chess half of the call letter story. Great stuff!
There was a time in the 1960s-70s when WSDM had an all-female DJ staff playing jazz, including Yvonne Daniels and Connie Szerszen. Briefly, after the all-female years, Cindy Morgan, later of Caddyshack and Tron fame, spun records, supposedly walking out while a record was playing when she was told she wouldn't get overtime.
There was a time in the 1960s-70s when WSDM had an all-female DJ staff playing jazz, including Yvonne Daniels and Connie Szerszen. Briefly, after the all-female years, Cindy Morgan, later of Caddyshack and Tron fame, spun records, supposedly walking out while a record was playing when she was told she wouldn't get overtime.
I remember listening to the "BCSF" promotion when McLendon changed 1390 in the early 60's. That meant, "Big Change September First" and it included Yvonne Daniels who I was able to hear from the northern Lower Peninsula, making her one of my all-time favorite personalities... Yvonne just swept out of the radio into your ears and it seemed that she was with you and playing songs for you!
It would have been WGES or WYNR 1390 when you heard Yvonne Daniels. I think she was at both. It used to boom in to Northern Michigan much of the Day in the Winter, especially CH. In the Keweenaw Peninsula in the Summer, it was as strong as WLS much of the time at Night. I used to listen to Dusty 1390 when I was up near the Straits. There is now an FM station WCHY 97.7 Cheboygan which is R & B leaning Oldies most of the Day. When WLCM 1390 Holt, MI went Class B with 5/4.5 U4 from two sites, it became difficult. Probably still easy with a Beverage if you have enough acres.
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It was the launch of "Winner". In McLendon style, they ran for about a week with those ads for surplus battleships and the like that he had used when he launched KABL in San Francisco. Great fun.
I know I'm getting into engineering territory here, but I believe those WSDM 16" turntables were Gates CB-500's. I do remember when listening to WSDM, that I thought there was a quality to their vinyl playback that I wasn't familiar with (granted, there were a lot of QRK's, and other idler wheel driven turntables on the air in those days). I'm not speaking of EQ or frequency response, but possibly to a flywheel effect of those big platters spinning around. Lots of momentum? I don't know what it was (and I wish I had a WSDM aircheck to refresh my memory - are there any out there?), but I remember their vinyl playback sounding so smooth, like almost 0% wow and flutter. For a period of time in my life I owned some Gates CB-77's (the 12" version), but I don't remember hearing the same playback quality from them, that I had heard from the CB-500's. I'm guessing the CB-500 motors also had a ton of torque to get those 16" platters quickly up to speed.
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The proper way to use a Gates turntable is with someone else's tonearm. We used lightweight rosewood tonearms by Gray Research. They were mounted on blocks that were isolated from the turntable to prevent (or minimize) rumble. Ultimately we replaced the Gates with Technics, and things improved.
What I remember was my high school freshman-self listening to "mopety Mope" by The Boss Tones being plaaaayed ocer and over along with ehs slogan "Soom to be a Real Winner in Chicago".
WYNR "played" WLS for a while, playing the same records at approximately the same time as WLS. I happened to be in the Northwest Chicago ORD area at Thanksgiving in 1962, shortly after WYNR changed formats. My relatives had a bunch of old tube table radios, and I remember switching back and forth between WLS and WYNR and hearing my favorite songs, sometimes twice an hour. WYNR lasted two years, before going all news as WNUS. After experimenting with what was then called "Chicken Rock", which would now would be called Hot AC or Adult CHR, for about a year, WCFL went to Top 40 circa December, 1965. WJJD, with its limited time schedule, which had been decreased from 4 AM to Chicago Sunrise, until Sunset at KSL, could no longer cope with two full time 50000 watt Top 40s, and went to C & W about that time. In 1974, the nation went to Daylight Savings Time in the Winter. Sunrise was so late that the FCC allowed WJJD to sign on an hour before Sunrise with 50 watts. I heard it in Genesee County, where the 50 watts faded in and out with KSL at about the same signal strength. WCFL as Chicken Rock played Marianne Faithfull, who was not accepted as an MOR/AC at the time, but was quite mellow, is an example of a Chicken Rock artist played on WCFL in earlier 1965.
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This is such a great story on so many levels. This was at a time when record labels owned radio stations. The company that owned Columbia Records also owned CBS radio stations. The company that owned RCA Records also owned the NBC radio network and stations. And the owners of Chess Records also owned WLUP. This was very different from the movie business, where movie companies were not allowed to own theaters. Because there was a time when Paramount Pictures also owned Paramount Theaters.
That changed in the 1940s. But there were no laws prohibiting record labels from owning radio stations. In fact until the 70s, it was still possible for newspapers to own radio stations. Nixon was the one who put a stop to that. The Chicago Tribune got a waiver to own WGN.
There was a great story how RCA Records used its ownership of NBC to revive the career of Elvis Presley. By the mid-60s, Elvis' career was basically dead. The British invasion had made his music and everything about him passe'. So the president of RCA Records called the Chairman of RCA Corporation and asked him to tell the president of NBC to do a prime time special around Elvis. Of course we're talking about the 1968 special where Elvis lost some weight, put on leather pants, and revived his recording career.
I went through some History Cards. 1450 Cicero was deleted at least once, and was relicensed, and I can't find what the call letters were when it was first deleted to find the History Card. The L & P (Leonard and Phil Chess) Corporation sold WTAC in early 1961 to a group headed by Gene Milner, then on the air at WIP Philadelphia. The Chess Brothers bought WHFC and WEHS in late 1962, still as The L & P Corporation. Years after, after owning WSRF and WSHE in Ft. Lauderdale, the Milner Family bought 99.9 WBUS The Bus in Kankakee, and sold it after moving the COL to Park Forest, and the next generation of Milners still own a group of stations in nearby Bourbonnais, IL, after Gene and Jackie and son "Tommy Judge" passed away. Jackie Milner passed away quite recently.
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In all of these years, I've never known that. Brilliant on so many levels.
When I heard it doing the Big Change September First "BCSF" promotion was 1962. I was 16, and it was a year before I went to intern in Mexico City. I was fascinated by the theatrical promotion of the format shift, which I first had heard as a DXer on KABL in 1959
In early May 1959, KROW began "stunting" with a continuous loop of a song called "Gila Monster," the theme song from a horror film that Gordon McLendon had co-produced that year. Based on this stunt, it was assumed by the general public — and by the competition — that KROW was to become a Top 40 station along the lines of McLendon's KLIF in Dallas, WAKY in Louisville or KILT in Houston. But the station took everyone by surprise by debuting KABL as a beautiful music station. KABL quickly captured a more mature listening audience that disliked rock and roll. KABL soon became the number one radio station in San Francisco, and would remain at or near the top of the ratings for years afterward.
What that Wikipedia article does not mention was McLendon's use of wildly absurd ads, many taken out of U.S. Government surplus catalogs where they sold tanks and warships and disarmed bombs and the like.. even deserted Pacific atols!
With the utmost respect I copied or adapted many of McLendon's promotions as many of them were so good they could not be improved upon.
For those unfamiliar, https://worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF-ARH/Biography/Gordon-Mclendon-Garay.pdf
Or, some ads and promos: https://worldradiohistory.com/KOWH_Birth_of_Top-40.htm
Ah, McLendon stunting. I knew little about the ins and outs of such at the time, but I remember when WNUS 1390 switched from beautiful music (and as McLendon was selling it to Globetrotter, which had bought 1450 from the Chess brothers), it played "Midnight at the Oasis" by Maria Muldaur for hours on end.
More about WNUS 1390 here: https://www.radiodiscussions.com/threads/vintage-wnus-am-fm-audio-circa-70-71.493504/
More about WNUS 1390 here: https://www.radiodiscussions.com/threads/vintage-wnus-am-fm-audio-circa-70-71.493504/
1948. The Paramount Decrees. As of August 2020, it's now kaput. I could cut and past but you can read all about it here: https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2020/08/paramount-decree-movie-theater-explainer
I don't think you'll have to worry about the studios opening any theaters nowadays. Why pay for staff/brick and mortar buildings/supplies/projector equipment when all they need nowadays are a bunch of servers?
But they still pull the BS of forcing theaters to play their swill. The Mom & Pop chain I work at now are told by the studios "you either play our stuff at all of your theaters for X number of weeks or you don't get any of it. And if they had a movie that did shitty at the box office, they'll force you to play that also if you want their newer stuff. There are two big ones that are just short of acting like the Mafia when it comes to that. Quite a number of times we've told them to take their crap and shove it till it tickles their navels from the insides.....all the while hoping it turns out to be a dud.
WOW! THANKS, guys! Treasure trove of great stuff here! More than enough to keep me informed, educated and entertained as I roll through my recovery from the time I spent in sick bay.
I'm probably overlooking more than a few things. but the closest thing I remember in the Chicago market to the WYNR launch stunt is when Hubbard flipped 97.1 to "The Drive". Different artist/genre nonstop each day for a couple of weeks. Kept a lot of people guessing. Certainly including me!
When Bonneville bought WNIB from the Florian family early in 2001 (for $165 million!), it ran a five-disc CD changer from a closet for a month or so while finishing the new studio. Bonneville bought only the license and transmitter site (on the then-named Standard Oil Building, now the AON Center) from WNIB for WDRV, starting from scratch for everything else. I remember a lot of Barbra Streisand in that CD-changer mix. Bonneville sold to Hubbard in 2011.
...and WNIZ.
sites. 96.9 was licensed to Zion, with it's transmitter on Green Bay Rd. The 96.9 signal was (and is) directional.
Funny, Streisand is what first came to mind for me when I thought of the stunt....and "Bonneville" had slipped my mind entirely.
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