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WLS-FM moves to Classic Hits, Announces New Hires

radioman148 said:
I'm happy for Fred Winston, and I'm glad Shannon is gone, but leaving Dick Biondi on that terrible time slot is an insult to his listeners. Biondi sounds 10 times better than Landecker, but Jan Jeffries plays favorites.
Then again Jeffries has never cared about Biondi's listeners.

I wonder if they will still carry American Top 40, "The 70's" on Sunday Morning, or will switch to "The 80's" version of that show.

Old Chicago
 
A poster mentioned that KRTH and KOOL already have gone the route WLS is taking. Not really. KRTH still plays Motown and pure pop hits and are more "oldies" than "classic hits",even though the line is getting blurrier.

I listened on line yesterday for a couple of hours. For me, fatigue. I know the 60's music is getting sparser on these stations, but where does one go for Motown these days..or Gary Lewis, The Monkees, Hermans Hermits and many British Invasion groups,Gary Puckett,Wilson Pickett,etc?

I still cringe when I hear Eddie Money, Peter Frampton,Queen, and 80's rock hits on oldies/classic hits stations, but that's the way of the world. WLS has that heritage and great air staff in their favor.

I'm surprised WJMK doesn't add those 60's artists. In a market with two classic hits/oldies stations, one should be rock leaning and one should be mainstream.
 
OldChicago said:
casual observer said:
From AllAccess.com. The Fred Winston move is brilliant. Smart upgrades across the board.


No more oldies in Chicago. This is a shame. Why mess with something that seems to be working so well. I hope they fail, and fail big time.

Old Chicago

After spending a weekend listening to 94.7, 100.3 and 104.3, I gotta say there isn't much difference between the 3 of them. Yeah, WLS-FM will play the VERY occasional 60s song and some 70s songs the others won't play, but basically you have 3 stations doing almost(note I said ALMOST) the same music now that 94.7 has given up for the most part on 60s musis(even late 60s stuff was rarely heard on them this weekend). However, I did hear The Boys Are Back In Town on 2 of them yesterday afternoon.

Sounds like WLS-FM will become another K-Earth....great jocks, mediocre playlist.
 
radioman148 said:
I heard "Hold On" by Eddie Money three times yesterday and I didn't listen all that much. This must be one of those records that "tests" really, really well. ;)

To hear it 3x in one day...that is absurd! Once a week is fine by me.
 
1954 said:
How many people listening at 11:30pm would be listening at 5am? Not many.It makes total sense
to recycle the high testing songs like "Oh,Pretty Woman" . As great a some of Roy Orbisons other songs(Crying, Only The Lonely,In Dreams) are , they just don't test well under the age of 54 anymore.

To play "Oh, Pretty Woman" during the late night/ wee hours of the morning twice, when few are awake defeats the purpose of playing a well tested song like that. Perfect time to play all the songs that don't test well.
 
WLS has some of the greatest personalities in Chicago radio history. Two problems..these legends really aren't allowed to say much and most of these guys are not associated with the music the station is playing.

Jan Jeffries said this station will sound like no other station. Go up and down the dial..in Chicago or any other market. This "classic hits" format is done on so many other stations. Only difference is the air talent. I mentioned in another post..where does one go to hear Motown or the big non rock hits of the 60's and 70's.

WJMK and WLS sound almost identical in their music. WDRV is similar, as are a few other stations in Chicago.
 
I would be interested in knowing the difference between WLS-FM and K-Hits in the money demos. You can do well 6+ but have quite an older audience. 60s still has a lot of audience, but just not in the money demos. So, it would be interesting to know how much of WLS-FM's audience was over 55 prior to the recent changes and to see if their 6+ drops much. I'd guess they were not doing well in 25-54.

They are icons, no doubt, but I can't help but wonder if the audience for the 70s/80s classic hits really relate to guys like Dick Biondi. I agree that they aren't associated with the music the station is playing, really.

WLS-FM has eliminated much of the disco/pop/R&B/new wave-type material and is now relying on most rock and pop/rock. K-Hits has more of the Commodores, Spinners, KC, Stevie Wonder, ABBA, Bee Gees, Earth Wind & Fire, etc. type of classic hits. Personally, I feel K-Hits has a better variety. In all honesty, I think the former listeners of WLS-FM would probably be more comfortable with K-Hits' mix.

I still think CBS is hoping Cumulus will do what they are famous for and "homogenize" WLS-FM. They have succeeded with classic hits in almost every market they've done it in. Perhaps a change like WLS-FM has recently made will cause some loyal listeners to give K-Hits another chance.
 
Jan Jeffries reminds me of Jerry Krause. I recall him saying when he destroyed the "Dream Team" as being a "Genius or an Idiot" Only the ratings will call him the right word! Time will tell! I already changed my preset on all my radios.
 
Dr Wayne said:
Jan Jeffries reminds me of Jerry Krause. I recall him saying when he destroyed the "Dream Team" as being a "Genius or an Idiot" Only the ratings will call him the right word! Time will tell! I already changed my preset on all my radios.

WLS-FM has been off my radio for almost 2 weeks. Welcome WJMK.
Jeffries is a jerk. He had the potential to have a great station with great DJs and goes with music that doesn't fit the DJs that he hires.
If wanted to listen to that music I would've been listening to the Drive.

Hopefully WJMK keeps doing what they have been doing this weekend.
 
I don't understand why WLS-FM has gone to almost exclusively rock. Why not have more variety like most other classic hits stations? They could have evolved but maintained/added to the disco, R&B, 80s pop, etc. Now they're wedged between WJMK and The Drive.

This might be a golden opportunity for WJMK.
 
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