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Kevin
Guest
Chicago’s second #1 station from the past www.wcflchicago.com. Great stuff.
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Indeed another great site.
Great site, great station. I like the online recreation of WCFL. Lots of original features, commercials, jingles, and the production work headed up by the incomparable Dick Orkin. The only negative....JMHO....is that the music mix seems just a bit disjointed. The idea is "what would WCFL sound like if it were still in operation today". At least that's what it was the last time I "tuned in". I think it would be a more faithful recreation with strictly what was played during WCFL's 1965-76 top 40 run.
K
Kevin
Guest
I listen to them a lot, very enjoyable. And yes they do throw in some 80’s, which in my opinion is not the WCFL I remember.
Same here. A minor annoyance, but I'd listen a lot more if the music was "the genuine article". Funny, it's not that I dislike 80s music. It just doesn't fit. At least to my admittedly jaded ears.
WCFL ceased to be a rock station on 3/15/1976, at 5 PM. One had to hear it to believe it, but Uncle Lar' stayed on the job when they switched to elevator music at that time. IIRC, he finished out his contract and returned to WLS that fall.
Who at the Chicago Federation of Labor thought it was a good idea to do elevator music on Ancient Modulation, when Chicago already had WLOO 100.3, and the format was sinking like a stone even on FM?
I've never understood that decision. Did any of you listen to the FM reincarnation of WCFL on 104.7 in the early 90s? They had the original "Super CFL" jingles. The idea was a good one, but since they were transmitting from the Joliet area the signal over most of the metro was poor.
Yes. I lived in Streamwood and worked in Oakbrook Terrace at the time, and they came in fairly well at home and on my commute. Too bad it didn't last. The change to religion (which it still is, AFAIK?) was deja vu AM 1000 circa 1984 all over again.
The problem was they couldn't be heard well in most of the northern suburbs. Then they got fined for running too much power.
They sunk fast after that.
I lived in Wauconda in the mid '80s, and had no trouble receiving them. WLS was another story; WCBS caused interference.
We might be talking about two different stations. WCFL-FM didn't come on until 1990.
I seem to remember that WCFL was a kind of Hot AC/Adult Top 40 before and after the 1965 to 1976 era. Specifically, I remember them playing "On Summer Nights" by Marianne Faithfull before the full strength Top 40, and "Just When I Needed You Most" by Randy VanWarmer and "How Much I Feel" by Ambrosia after they dropped Beautiful Music. I remember Jack Stockton, who seemed like a mild mannered incarnation of Larry Lujack, although he managed to get some borderline humor in there, back in the late 1970s.
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It seems like WLS bought out a portion of the Larry Lujack contract with WCFL doing beautiful music. I remember Larry talking about "WCFL always paid me on time, and still do, I might add." "Loyalty is not my strong point." I think the contract specified a certain percentage to continue to be paid. Maybe some of you remember more accurately, or have recordings of him saying these things, some on the air, some in interviews.
I always liked this Music Mike recreation of WCFL in 1967, with a jingle and the original "C'mon Marianne" by The Four Seasons.
I always liked this Music Mike recreation of WCFL in 1967, with a jingle and the original "C'mon Marianne" by The Four Seasons.
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K
Kevin
Guest
I have to this day the “WCFL Double Gold” LP in mint condition along with the “CKLW Gold” both volumes. I was a friend of the late Buzz Curtis, who produced these albums for a number of Top 40 stations from that era. I do have many other station albums that Buzz gave me years ago. Buzz Curtis was the owner of Post Records back then. These albums are no doubt classics.
That's what happened. WLS wanted Superjock and CFL wanted to cut costs. To this day it amazes me how much money the Federation of Labor went through before realizing they didn't need to be in the radio business.
Didn't Fred Winston sue Larry Lujack over Superjock's return to WLS?
Yes, WCFL waited awhile and let Lujack play beautiful music for 6 months. Eventually WLS showed interest and took Lujack off their hands, but WCFL paid most of the remainder on that contract.
Yes he did even though Winston left before Lujack went back to WLS. Don't know how that suit ended.
Probably they quietly paid off Fred Winston a relatively modest sum with a nondisclosure clause. That's how it rolls in the Shire.
Probably something like that. When Lujack went back to WLS in the fall of 1976 he mentioned he was being sued for several million. In typical Lujack fashion he said "Easy come, easy go!"
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