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WLS AM/FM SOLD

...why he's known as The Demonic Screw Hayes wherever he's employed, going all the way back to his string-pulling days at WMAQ...
 
WLS Legend Fred Winston is recovering from quad bypass surgery. He had surgery last week at Northwestern Hospital according to Rob Feder! Get Well Fred!
 
I don't care for their new playlist (70's and 80's with very little 60's and really no 50's) Only time will tell if more people feel as I do. Let's watch their ratings! My guess it will go South!
 
Dr Wayne said:
I don't care for their new playlist (70's and 80's with very little 60's and really no 50's) Only time will tell if more people feel as I do. Let's watch their ratings! My guess it will go South!
Click to expand...

Jan Jeffries thinks he knows what's best for us.
 
Dr Wayne said:
I don't care for their new playlist (70's and 80's with very little 60's and really no 50's) Only time will tell if more people feel as I do. Let's watch their ratings! My guess it will go South!
Click to expand...

The 6+ may indeed decline, but since they are not interested in and can not sell 55+, the move may have a very positive effect on 25-54.
 
Dr Wayne said:
This was a promo from 1968. Clark Weber seems to be broadcasting from not the main WLS Studio. Was this just because of the promo? Or is this the studio Weber did all his broadcasts?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GClMGGvrb0&feature=youtu.be
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Interesting video. Don't know if Weber did his show from another studio, but it does look different from the main one they had at the time.
I wonder who's voice that is doing the movie promo?
 
Dr Wayne said:
This was a promo from 1968. Clark Weber seems to be broadcasting from not the main WLS Studio. Was this just because of the promo? Or is this the studio Weber did all his broadcasts?
Click to expand...

Thank you for posting the link. The piece is very well done and certainly gives a real feel for the station and its ties to the market... I don't think a time buyer would give 12 minutes to any station presentation today.

I did get goose bumps with the news sounder and one of the voices I grew up listening to on the newscast. These are the moments when computers and iPads and streams and such just can't replace hearing Bob Hale, Dick Biondi, Gene Taylor, Sam Holman, Art Roberts, Mort Crowley and Jim Dunbar on Doubleyooo elle esss Chi-ca-go.

At its best, 60's WLS was a work of art. I don't miss the songs as much as I miss the flair and personally and overall savoire faire of the station. It had personality, it had stationality, it had warmth and excitement and drama and just sounded "big." It was 89, WLS.
 
Right, the original WLS line-up from 1960. And Art Roberts sign off was: "this has been a work of Art". Mort Crowley morning wake-up, he was the man of 1000 voices. Bob Hale's pgm was called "East of Midnight". He came to WLS via WIRL in Peoria. And didn't Sam Holman do the late afternoon slot? Gene Taylor's pgm was 7-9PM. Dick Biondi's moniker was "the wild Itralian"? Wonderful memories, but 1960 was the end of the 50's and that top 40 niche was dominated by WJJD, 1160. Carmen Anthony, Sid Roberts, Cy Nelson, Stan Major, Del Clark & others. Of course WLS dominated from 1960 on.
 
Actually Art Roberts wasn't a WLS original when they began playing the hits on May 2nd, 1960. Art joined WLS from Buffalo about 6 months later replacing Ed Grennan.
Sam Holman did do the late afternoon slot. He was the first host of the "Silver Dollar Survey Show".
 
I was in Tennessee last night and caught a show on the Memphis PBS TV station narrated by Garrison Keilor about the early history of WLS in the pre-top 40 days. The program was focused on the 34-year run of the "National Barn Dance", which was a very serious competitor to WSM's "Grand Ole Opry".

Great stuff, and I highly recommend watching for it on your local PBS station. It was produced by WTTW in Chicago, so it may have already aired there and/or other markets. But for whatever reason, I wasn't aware of it, and I came across it for the first time last night. Very well done, and a great illustration of the power of the original class 1-A clear channel stations.

WLS' days as a top-40 powerhouse was actually "Act 2" of what the station was able to accomplish at night.
 
cyberdad said:
I was in Tennessee last night and caught a show on the Memphis PBS TV station narrated by Garrison Keilor about the early history of WLS in the pre-top 40 days. The program was focused on the 34-year run of the "National Barn
Click to expand...

Here are about 20 issues of the WLS Family Album from the time when it was owned by The Prairie Farmer magazine and publishing company...

http://www.americanradiohistory.com/WLS-Family-Album-Master-Page.htm
 
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