Vintage WNUS AM & FM Audio Circa '70/'71

[oidarman]

Available now at www.oidar.com in the Rex Miller Tribute section. Enjoy!

 

[thebeach33445]

Hey Guys:

Would anybody know the exact date of when WNUS-AM and FM changed from All News to Beautiful Music?

Thanks
T.J.

 

[kba]

I don't know when WNUS changed from news to music, but the Rex Miller aircheck must have been recorded before Oct. 10, 1970, the date that Illinois Secretary of State Paul Powell died in office. Miller jokes about Powell signing drivers licenses in the aircheck.

 

[uncamark]

I don't know when WNUS changed from news to music, but the Rex Miller aircheck must have been recorded before Oct. 10, 1970, the date that Illinois Secretary of State Paul Powell died in office. Miller jokes about Powell signing drivers licenses in the aircheck.

And I don't remember at any time WNUS having (or promoting) a personality jock in morning drive playing more vocals than any easy listening format. Of course, I was listening to either LS or CFL in the morning back then, but I usually remembered seeing radio station ads or commercials and I think I would remember if NUS was promoting jocks in ads.

NUS went EL right before WBBM flipped to all-news in 1968--McLendon knew that his little rip-and-read operation couldn't compete with mighty CBS and pulled out of the format, just like with XTRA in LA against KFWB and KNX. I recall BBM running ads before the all-news flip saying "IS YOUR NEWS RADIO STATION NOW PLAYING BEAUTIFUL MELODIES INSTEAD? SWITCH TO WBBM 780!" (They knew it was coming.) The "Enchanted Oasis" ended when McLendon sold the stations to Globetrotter Communications, who had just bought WVON from the Chess brothers, in 1975. They moved VON down to 1390 (with a changeover stunt of playing "Midnight at the Oasis" over-and-over, mixing in "Sweet Georgia Brown" until that became played over-and-over until the official flip). WNUS-FM was EL for a little longer, although by 1976 they went all--or-mostly disco briefly (beating out WKTU) until morphing into an urban station as WGCI and firing the old NUS announcers, although when disco was cool they kept the image (calling themselves "Studio 107" in 1979).

For the record, after the move 1450 was blank for a year or two until WFMT took it over, simulcasting the FM station, which was allowed then because of the classical format. In 1980, the FCC split the frequency, Pervis Spann and Wesley South got there first with WXOL (later to get the VON calls when 1390 became WGCI-AM) from 10 p.m. to 1 p.m. and then in 1981 the WFMT simulcast ended in full when the Migalas' WCEV hit the air from 1 to 10 p.m.