The Last Days of WSDM

[tvnut]

...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.

Yes. Still is a repeater, as it were, of WDRV, though with IBOC you can't hear it too far south any longer.

 

[cyberdad]

Yes. Still is a repeater, as it were, of WDRV, though with IBOC you can't hear it too far south any longer.

FWIW. 96.9 is stronger thaan 97.1 at my location in McHenry county.

 

[EDwalker]

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.

In talking with the late J. Blackburn, who was the PD brought in to flip the station from WSDM and put together the format, the Loop moniker came from his wife, Chancey Blackburn; me thinks the relationship between WLUP and Phil and Leonard is purely coincidence.

 

[Brian Bowers]

the Loop moniker came from his wife, Chancey Blackburn

The Loop logo was so identifiable, and so Chicago. I give whomever credit for establishing it, I think, as one of the best radio station logo's ever. I'm trying to think back when WKQX switched to AOR in January of 1977. I don't think they had a logo that made such an impact like The Loop logo did. Of course at the time, WXRT Chicago's Fine Rock Station logo was magnificent too (later updated to Chicago's Finest Rock). Radio station logos; someone could probably write an entire book on the subject.

 

[tvnut]

The Loop logo was so identifiable, and so Chicago. I give whomever credit for establishing it, I think, as one of the best radio station logo's ever. I'm trying to think back when WKQX switched to AOR in January of 1977. I don't think they had a logo that made such an impact like The Loop logo did. Of course at the time, WXRT Chicago's Fine Rock Station logo was magnificent too (later updated to Chicago's Finest Rock). Radio station logos; someone could probably write an entire book on the subject.

I don't recall that WKQX had a logo at all beyond the Helvetica typeface all NBC-owned operations used with the 1976 switch to the big N logo. I found one in a 1/14/1977 ad in the Tribune and would post it if I knew how. Maybe there was one less corporate later on.

 

[theman8410]

As a resident of Germantown, WI I was used to seeing the listing for WKZN 96.9 in the Milwaukee Journal yet I could not hear the station and I could not understand why it was in the Milwaukee listings. It was not until I got my driver's license and ventured farther south in Wisconsin & into Illinois that I found out what was programmed on the station. The listings for some Racine & Kenosha radio stations were also published and the editors had decided to group WKZN in with them.

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

The WKZN...WWDV tower is in Pleasant Prairie, WI, along WI 31, about a mile into Wisconsin. It's only a few miles or so from WIIL 95.1 Union Grove, WI.

It arose when allotments were based on contour overlap to WNIB...WDRV. 60 dBu was the protected contour originally. In circa 1964, Short Spacing Zones allowed 50, 20, 10, or 5 kW ERP at 80, 65, 50, <50 miles on first adjacent channels. Stations usually went to the highest practical Zone to allow nondirectional antennas. They keep changing the 73.213 rules, and they ended up with a 17 dB null toward WDRV, in excess of what the FCC normally allows, 15 dB.

It was originally a Kenosha station. Looks like it was in the 5 kW Zone, but they didn't want interference to WNIB...WDRV.

http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getimportletter_exh.cgi?import_letter_id=81829

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

1964-circa 1980 Part 73.213 short spaced Zones.

 

[deepstblu]

My freshman roommates and I listened to WSDM more than a little bit during the station's last six months. The playlist was sort of AOR-meets-AC; no Barry Manilow or Carpenters, but no really hard rock either until the last couple weeks when they began preparing for the transition to the Loop. (They also started signing off at midnight at that time.) Albums like Eagles, Hotel California; Steve Miller Band, Fly Like an Eagle; Jackson Browne, The Pretender; George Harrison, 33 1/3; Linda Ronstadt, Hasten Down the Wind; Stills-Young Band, Long May You Run; Steely Dan, The Royal Scam; Firefall, self-titled debut; Klaatu (not the Beatles), self-titled debut; Stevie Wonder, Songs in the Key of Life; Gordon Lightfoot, Summertime Dream; Bonnie Koloc, Close-Up. Some slightly older songs they played: Aliotta Haynes Jeremiah, Lake Shore Drive; Fleetwood Mac, Bob Welch-era tracks (Hypnotized, Emerald Eyes, the original Sentimental Lady), Heartsfield, Music Eyes and The Wonder of It All. Also the occasional miscellaneous single, like It's Not the Spotlight by Kim Carnes and Emmylou Harris's cover of Chuck Berry's (C'est La Vie) You Never Can Tell.

 

[ILOVERADIO]

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!

I agree with David that Yvonne Daniels was a great DJ. She spent several years in the 1970s at WLS. I believe she was the first female and African American full time DJ at this powerful top 40 station. Unfortunately most of her years there were on the all night shift. She eventually ended up with a better shift at the smooth jazz station. She not only had a great voice but an awesome, conversational delivery.

 

[davideduardo]

In talking with the late J. Blackburn, who was the PD brought in to flip the station from WSDM and put together the format, the Loop moniker came from his wife, Chancey Blackburn; me thinks the relationship between WLUP and Phil and Leonard is purely coincidence.

Yes, it was J and Chancey together who came up with the name (Chancey) and positioning concept (J). I have not spoken to Chancey (via the web, these days) since before Christmas but I can ask if anyone thinks this is important enough to bother her with verification.