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WIND

Back in the Sixties, Group W programmed a mix of MOR and Top 40 on their stations. I think KYW in Cleveland was the purest Top 40 and KDKA was the most MOR. I remember WINS gave up music in 1965. What exactly did WIND do? I could get all the Group W stations (WOWO, KYW, KDKA,WINS,and WBZ) where I lived except WIND. I saw on the LA board that Robert W. Morgan was there at one time. So what type of programming did they do and were they competitive with WCFL and WLS? You never hear much about them.
 
In the 50s & 60s WIND was mostly an MOR station with some lean towards top 40. In the late 50s they published a top 40 chart (actually I think it was 20 or 25 records) and they did have a chart show on Sunday nights hosted by Howard Miller. Also Milo Hamilton the same one that does the Astros games these days, hosted the chart show on weekdays.
In 1970 WIND started to go mostly top 40 with some oldies mixed in. That's when they brought in new DJs including Robert W. Morgan. Although this format helped them for awhile, they were never able to make any serious inroads on WLS or WCFL which dominated that format on AM.
By the late 70s WIND was all talk.

Robert W. was there less than 2 years. I think he came in around the fall of 1970 & went back to LA in 72.
About the time Morgan went back to LA, Charlie Van Dyke came to WLS in 72 to replace Larry Lujack when Lujack moved to CFL. Van Dyke lasted in Chicago less than a year.
For some reason those two high profile LA jocks didn't catch on in Chicago.
 
Take it from an old man;

In the early 70's, (maybe '69) WWestinghouse brought pd Bob Moomey to WIND and for about 3 years programmed "Number One Music."

WGLD played oldies fulltime on the cheap (tracking solid gold albums) in Chicago on fm, but it didn't really make it. WGLD owner, Earl Sonderling's son was experimenting w/something that would make WOPA-FM NOT simulcast the very successful ethnic am. WGLD later changed to album rock and scored well, prior to changing to WBMX, black programming.

WIND added personality and pizzazz (great jingles and excitement) and it was a home run. They were oldies til 9pm and talk 9pm-6am. It fit well - their heritage. They played about 2500 songs from 1954 through 1971. I know because I carted the music. Originally, the dj's (all veteran guys) chose their own music. A "real playlist" didn't happen until about the last year.

They hired Robert W for morning drive, and Larry the Legend Johnson for overnights. Ron Riley, Ron Brittain, Joel Sebastian, Doug Dalghren and a few other x-ls and cfl jocks were also there. They also played "The History of Rock and Roll" a few years.

They had a few great books.

Then, WIND got blown out of the water when RKO bought WKFM (103.5) for the (then) most money ever paid for an fm; a million dollars, RKO changed it to WFYR, and played automated oldies. Drake music (Solid Gold Rock and Roll) and Schaefer automation w/no dj's only back announced tapes. The loss of Howarrd Miller after the '68 MLK riots also cost WIND the number one slot in morning drive, a position it held for 10 years.

At WFYR, despite it's heavy Los Angeles bias, (lots of oldies that never scored in Chicago) it was FM and Stereo and sounded really great. They bought a night club, and changed it to "The FYR station" from which they broadcast every Saturday night.

Trying to figt back, WIND upgraded their signal (making it LOUDER - not more powerful) but the move to FM was on. WIND changed to "satellite talk" (talknet) but it was NOT local and the stations ratings vanished.

Prior to the oldies change, WIND was, "upbeat mor" for many years, an "easier" competitor to ls and cfl, 'ind having switched from contemporary music in the late 50's. It attracted lots of housewives. WIND played most of the ls/cfl playlist, and music directror Ed Schwartz added Sinatra, Herb Alpert and Claudine Longet.

WIND was #1 mornng drive in the 50's and 60's w/Howard Miller. Very weather and "what you need this morning" oriented. WIND always had a great news department, and was one of the first stations in Chicago to have a professional meterologist (Earl Finkel) do the weather. WIND was Chicago's original "rock" station" when Kay Starr and Tony Bennett and the Coasters were "rock.".

In the late 50's, 50kw (then) daytimer WJJD went rock, and that turned WIND "softer." WLS killed wjjd's rock days.

Now, where is my rocking chair?
 
>>Prior to the oldies change, WIND was, "upbeat mor" for many years, an "easier" competitor to ls and cfl, 'ind having switched from contemporary music in the late 50's.>>

I remember riding in the car with my parents in the 60s. I didn't like the music they listened to and they couldn't
tolerate WLS & WCFL. Consequently we were able to agree on WIND because of their MOR leaning music and not the "loud rock & roll" that my folks couldn't handle.
 
prais---You mentioned the MOR days & some of the familial folks at 'IND. Tow questions: First, wasn't there kind of a transition time between the music days & the "Talknet" era? Where did people like Clark Weber, Eddie Schwartz & Steve & Johnnie come in? Second, (or third) You mentioned an Ed Schwartz as a PD. Was this the same man that became "Chicago Ed" on IND & later at WGN, before slipping out of radio on WLUP AM/FM. By the way...How is "Chicago Ed" doing these days.
 
Thanks for the info. It seems from reading posts from different cities that there was a movie called "Before there were Giants" about the really pioneering top 40 outlets that disappeared when the biggies like WLS and WABC came along. I could include WERE and WJW in Cleveland,WJBK in Detroit, WJJD in Chicago, WEEP in Pittsburgh, 1340 in Atlanta, 1280 in NYC, WMGM in NYC, and who knows what else. I know some were only Top 40 at night. Anybody have any history on this forgotten group of non-legendary outlets. Seems like this board responds better than others. Chicago is great and CUBS WIN! CUBS WIN!
 
dxer720 said:
Where did people like Clark Weber, Eddie Schwartz & Steve & Johnnie come in? Second, (or third) You mentioned an Ed Schwartz as a PD. Was this the same man that became "Chicago Ed" on IND & later at WGN, before slipping out of radio on WLUP AM/FM.

...Clark Weber came over from WMAQ when NBC took 670 from that A/C-Talk hybrid to Country around '75. He was the PD who eventually took WIND into talk. Eddie Schwartz (yes, the same guy who was in the music department and then produced both Robert W. Morgan and Larry "The Legend" Johnson) switched to on-mic duty when Johnson left to do a TV show on WLUK/11 Green Bay and later take over the morning drive on WZUU-AM-FM Milwaukee, circa '73. I believe Steve King had briefly done a few weekends at WIND between his gigs at WBBM-FM and WLS; when WLS brought in John Gehron, who shook up the air staff a bit upon arrival, Steve came back to WIND, then a talker. Johnnie Putman then came over from (IIRC) WCLR...
 
DXER,

As I remember, there was no transition between WIND formats. I believe it was oldies music one day and talknet the next. It was late during this era that they moved from the Wrigley Building to farther North on the East side of Michigan Ave (660?) address forgotten.

Clark Weber and Joel Sebastian were on a long list of WIND morning men after Chuck Benson and Kurt Russell, who took over about a year after Howard Miller was fired. Benson & Russell had quite an unenviable position in that job, as Miller OWNED the market one day, and (literally) WIND LOST THE WHOLE AUDIENCE the next day, in late '68. That's when Wally Phillips on WGN got to be #1. WIND Manager Phil Nolan fired Miller for suggesting Chicago police get a raise for working the King riots and the abuse they took. He also supported (Old) Mayor Daley's shoot looters on sight comment. If that is wrong I'm sure ultimajock will correct it. His info on Steve and Johnnie is spot on.

Later when they were "number one music" WIND hired Robert W Morgan for mornings for about 2 years. He left in the Fall of the year, and his last song played was "California Dreamin' by the Mamas and Papas.

Yes, Eddie Schwartz was THAT Ed Schwartz of WGN/WLUP fame and NEVER PD, but "music director" as I said above. He was also overnights between Bruce Lee and Larry the Legend.

Eddie was recently on w/Steve Cochran on WGN. His voice sounded quite weak.

I was out of the coverage area (station owner near Fort Wayne) when S & J were on WIND. Phil Nolan was the GM during that era.

WJJD, 1160, owned by Plough Inc. (who makes Coppertone and St. Joseph's Asprin) was then a daytime station on 1160. They were REALLY a "hillbilly format" playing lots of country and western music, w/Randy Blake as the morning man and church shows in between. Back then it was owned by "The Loyal order of Moose." When they went top 40, WJJDs studio was located in a small house on Ballard Road (Des Plaines) and their 50kw transmitter was in the basement.

On the air, WJJD featured lots of echo, great jingles, and FUN to listen to. When it was top 40, Ernie Simon was their wonderfully funny morning man. Del Clark did mid-days. They also had GREAT LOCAL NEWS at 55 and 25.

There was also WYNR, 1390, owned by Gordon McLendon, who challenged WLS in about 62/63, prior to CFL's challenge that I believe started in 64. WYNR had been WGES, a foreign language station. WYNR jocks included Lucky Cordell, Bruce Brown, Floyd Brown, and (the wild child) Dick Kemp. Their studios were at 2708 W. Washington. That station dropped top 40 to go black music (and WVON killed them), then (moving to their southside transmitter site) all-news (before wbbm) then beautiful music.
 
I have fond memories of the old WIND music format as a kid growing up in the western burbs back in the 70's. Random memories:

1. Night jock named Connie Cerszan. Used to play a game called "Connie's countdown" where she'd play about 5 seconds of a song leading up to the hook, with a timer counting down from 5 to 1. If you could name the title before the timer ran out, you'd win. Funny to think of it now after 25+ years in radio but I was a "regular" contestant:) Anyone know what she's doing now?

2. Lots of other contests come to mind... the "Rainy Days and Mondays" contest... if it was raining on a Monday they'd give away roses or something... the "I Love You Chicago" mystery voice and mystery sounds contests...

3. Eddie Schwartz's classic "interviews" with pro wrestlers. He'd have them in the studio about 1 or 2 in the morning when suddenly a "fight" would break out between the wrestlers. Classic stuff:)

4. Also remember Eddie playing the "Wiffinpoof song" every night at like 2am... when the bars closed, I think.

5. As I recall, WIND was THE source for school closings in the winter. I remember sitting at the breakfast table listening to Clark Weber, hoping he'd name my school (Lyons Township) in the long list of closures... with of course frequent updates from Earl Finkle.

6. Midday jock Dave Baughm's daily sign-off: "Mama get the coffee ready, the kid is on his way".

7. Jocks used to send out autographed B&W pictures to all contest winners... as a frequent listener and "contest pig" I think I had at least one from each of them back in the '75-'76 days.

It all seems like a long time ago... but to the former WIND staffers who are reading this thread... know that you had a profound influence on at least one young listener who went on to be a successful major market PD/morning jock years later. There was a time when 'IND was a great radio station and it's great to remember it. Best to all--
 
This thread is awesome. I'm 28 and so, only remember WIND as being Spanish-language for most of my life and it's great to read about the station's history prior to the 80's. Like WCFL, WMAQ and even like WLS for awhile in the 90's, the various format and ownership changes have somewhat led to the station's history being submerged.

WIND was also radio home of the Cubs for many years until the late 50's (WGN-TV's association with the team is actually longer than the radio side) and also aired the Hawks in the early 80's.
 
Guys...what a great thread ! Lot's of history behind those call letters...



"Sherman set the way back machine to 1970"... Mr. Peapody
 
Regarding WJJD studios in Des Plaines didn't they have studios for awhile downtown during their rock years?
I remember they had a Chicago phone # State 2-5466--in the late 50s & early 60s before WLS blew them away.
Also during those years WJJD was daytime only with restricted hours depending on the time of year due to KSL Salt Lake City. Does anyone know whether their daytime only facilities were directional in those days?
 
WJJD WAS directional (there was more than one tower at the Ballard Road site) and signed ON about 4am in the Summer (I once got up to hear the sign on) and off around the 9pm hour.

I stood in the control room in about 1958 or 9. It was about a thousand degrees in there on that Summer day. They changed only the format when they went country. The same equipment; turntables, board, etc.were used.

O, YES they WERE downtown on Michigan Ave when they were top 40. I can't remember the address, but I believe the NEXT tenant of their downown space was AC Gilbert. If someone has an old Erector Set (I did) and that address was in the book w/various projects. You could go to that address and see lots of the Erector set stuff built and operating.

WJJD's offices remained downtown for a while. Then AC Gilbert moved in.
 
Prais said:
Clark Weber and Joel Sebastian were on a long list of WIND morning men after Chuck Benson and Kurt Russell, who took over about a year after Howard Miller was fired. Benson & Russell had quite an unenviable position in that job, as Miller OWNED the market one day, and (literally) WIND LOST THE WHOLE AUDIENCE the next day, in late '68. That's when Wally Phillips on WGN got to be #1. WIND Manager Phil Nolan fired Miller for suggesting Chicago police get a raise for working the King riots and the abuse they took. He also supported (Old) Mayor Daley's shoot looters on sight comment. If that is wrong I'm sure ultimajock will correct it. His info on Steve and Johnnie is spot on.

...pretty much accurate. I have a mid-'50s aircheck of Paul Gibson one WBBM morning on which he cranks on the new programming directive of giving time and temperature every three minutes no matter what; the rationale being that Howard Miller on WIND was also giving time and temp every three minutes, and was generating better ratings. Of course, Miller was also playing three-minute records, while Gibson was strictly talk. The aircheck opens with Gibson saying, "Howard Miller is doing a show over on WIND, if you want a better program, dial him!" WIND never did recover from Miller's departure, but, for that matter, Miller didn't do all that well, either. He popped up on WCFL for a while (by order of Chicago Federation of Labor president William Lee, partly as a favor to Mayor Daley), then was on WGN for a bit, then moved to WMAQ, and finally went back to WIND (at the same time as Clark Weber) to do the late night "Contact" show when Dave Baum left for KMOX St. Louis. He never generated much of an audience at any of those post-April '68 gigs, and even alienated the vast majority of co-workers in the process (Eddie Schwartz claims he was the only person on the staff that Miller got along with during the later WIND gig). He then bought WRRR Rockford and ran that place for a while...
 
Prais said:
DXER,

As I remember, there was no transition between WIND formats. I believe it was oldies music one day and talknet the next. It was late during this era that they moved from the Wrigley Building to farther North on the East side of Michigan Ave (660?) address forgotten.

Actually, WIND had several years as a strong all-local talk station immediately after they abandoned their music format in the mid-70's. Clark Weber, Dave Baum, Bill Hale, Steve King, Ed Schwartz, and Ted Lauderbach were among their talk hosts. They snagged Gary Lee away from WBBM to do traffic, and had a pretty good news department, as I recall.

The switch from music to talk wasn't too abrubt. Baum was already doing an evening call-in show even during the music days, and I remember him taking a lot of calls from music listeners who were upset about the coming change.

I think the move toward network talk began in the early 80's.
 
Great thread!
I worked with several WIND people at WMAQ. They were hired back by Westinghouse when it bought WMAQ and turned it into all-news. Ted Lauderbach worked part time as an anchor and used to drive the bosses crazy when he'd ad-lib around the liner cards.
 
It's great to read history about WIND. It was a well-run station for many years until it ran out of gas in the early '80s, and I've long been frustrated trying to find references like the ones in this thread.

A couple of questions I have: up until it changed from MOR to a more contemporary format, WIND had a wonderful jingle package. The general theme was "The Sound of the City" featuring a choral group in rich harmony, and even included a full song that had four or five verses. I think some of the other Group W stations like KSFO had a similar jingle package. Does anybody know if copies of those jingles exist anywhere? I've never been able to find them.

There's also a story behind 2:00 a.m. "Whiffenpoof Song" that dates way back to the '30s or '40s, though I haven't been able to find a definitive story on that.
 
I believe "Whiffenpoof Song" at 2am went all the way back to the 30s and 40s.  Something to do with students at Northwestern needing to be back in the dorms at that hour (or something else similar). The song apparently being the signal that it was time to call it a night and head home.  I definitely stand to be corrected on that one.

It might be hard for some to fathom today, but the fact is WIND indeed enjoyed a very proud history as one of the major players on the Chicago radio scene for many years.  I'd describe the format as top 40, but the music as something of a top-40/MOR hybrid during its heyday in the 50s and 60s.  Kids like me may not have liked it when their parents tuned to WIND, but it was much "brighter" and contemporary than the frequently stale stuff eminating from the 50KW blowtorches (except 'LS after 1960).

Yes WIND slipped when Howard Miller left in '68, but then it scored an impressive comeback a couple of years later as one of the pioneering oldies stations.  That was an interesting and popular format.  Oldies, but with a current chart tune once during each half hour.

The advent of music on FM (and oldies on WFYR) finally put an end to the glory days in the form of a talk format that never quite caught on...despite the considerable talents of Weber, Baum, Hale, & company.
 
rfichaser said:
It's great to read history about WIND. It was a well-run station for many years until it ran out of gas in the early '80s, and I've long been frustrated trying to find references like the ones in this thread.

A couple of questions I have: up until it changed from MOR to a more contemporary format, WIND had a wonderful jingle package. The general theme was "The Sound of the City" featuring a choral group in rich harmony, and even included a full song that had four or five verses. I think some of the other Group W stations like KSFO had a similar jingle package. Does anybody know if copies of those jingles exist anywhere? I've never been able to find them.

There's also a story behind 2:00 a.m. "Whiffenpoof Song" that dates way back to the '30s or '40s, though I haven't been able to find a definitive story on that.

There was an outcry when they quit playing the song. It was sometime in the mid eighties.
 
One more memory that comes to mind is the old song "Lakeshore Drive" by Alliotah, Haines, and Jeremiah. Obviously just a "regional hit", but WIND used to play it often... and it used to sound SO good coming out of that old AM speaker in the car. Does anybody in Chicago still play it?
 
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