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WLS-FM Returns

Lujack wants to be back on the air, He said so twice last year on WLS. Once on the Rewind and again when he was on Roe Conn's show. He even said he'd work for next to nothing and that he has one more gig left in him.
It probably wouldn't take much to get him.
He and Edwards would be great in the morning on WLS-FM.
 
My advice is to enjoy WLS-FM while you can. If it goes the way most of the oldies exparements goes no matter what they do the numbers won't be good enough to satisfy the bean counters or someone will say the demographics are not sellable. The listeners will all have a different idea what the station should be baised on when the listened to WLS. You'll have the early '60's WLS fans, the late '60's WLS fans and the ones who remember WLS from the '70's, none of them will agree.

It won't be perfect no matter what they do. Just enjoy it for what it is, while it is.....
 
Lujack was miserable at 1690 and said so on last year's "WLS Rewind." No signal, no nothin'. It was a disaster.

He'd want to do the show from the ranch ISDN and not come back to Chicago unless 1) the bucks were there and 2) if he could phone it in.
 
Just think of all the legendary stations that will never come back----------like WHK , WFUN, WCAO, WQXI. WAYS, WHB KNUZ,WEAM,WSGN,KXOK,KQV,WTAE,WIXY,WKDA, WNOX---------at least you got a chance for a rewound all the time,,
 
They probably will be obligated to run network sold spots for the duration of the program contract....
 
Help!

While I also loved (working for) the Todd Storz stations like (Yours Truly) KOMA and KXOK (The spirit of Saint Louis), these formats are D-E-A-D. We live for today and plan for tomorrow, even in radio. Maybe developing a more locally flavored format makes sense but it must work with the realities of today's economics.

Yep, gimmie some old guys who know today's game and can live in today radio world.
 
Y'know... they could make a bundle selling weekend overnight shifts to old guys who wanted to make it to WLS but never had the chance... sort of a fantasy radio camp experience. You pay the bucks, do your four, and they give you an honest-to-goodness WLS aircheck to play for the grandkids!
 
robgrayson said:
Y'know... they could make a bundle selling weekend overnight shifts to old guys who wanted to make it to WLS but never had the chance... sort of a fantasy radio camp experience. You pay the bucks, do your four, and they give you an honest-to-goodness WLS aircheck to play for the grandkids!
Click to expand...

Lets see...Money for Cummulus for a dead shift. GREAT radio for the locals (and the nation if also ran on the Big 89),
seems to me a win-win.

In reality, they will never go for it!
 
radioman148 said:
Lujack wants to be back on the air, He said so twice last year on WLS. Once on the Rewind and again when he was on Roe Conn's show. He even said he'd work for next to nothing and that he has one more gig left in him.
It probably wouldn't take much to get him.
He and Edwards would be great in the morning on WLS-FM.
Click to expand...

Do you really think today's management and programmers understand the importance of putting Lujack and lil' Tommy back on the air? :'(
 
cahokia said:
IS KOMA the only original station left, that never changed format?
Click to expand...

KOMA changed format to country in the early 80's before it went oldies in the late 80s.
 
I was at Lake Geneva over the weekend and heard the WLS-FM music log - song for song - duplicated on a Milwaukee station three minutes before 'LS. If you hear a klinker now and then, it's because someone else is picking the music and the 'LS jox are filling the content...weakly...in comparison to the original.

If it was me - and maybe there's a legal reason why they can't - I'd never even mention the FM. It would be just "WLS," and an absolute replay of the old jingles and even at the top of the hour, I'd sneak in "FM" under my breath before they sang, "CHICAAGO!"

You're absolutely right about the reverb, too. WLS and WABC had the best reverbs on the air. It's part of the sound that made it great. And while you're at it, where's the compression? The mic oughta pull the guy's tongue out of his mouth if he stops to take a breath! I want to hear headphone feedback like the good old days.

Someone who grew up listening to it should be picking the music, they need to goose the talent and get some enthusiasm into the delivery - remember up, Bright, Clean & Tight - and bring back the AM "color" processing sound rather than the sterile FM cleanliness that they're serving.

JJ Jackson's "But It's Alright" doesn't sound right unless it's 10% distorted and in mono.

Oh yeah...throw in an occasional Cryan Shames cut other than "Sugar And Spice" now and then...like when the satellite programs a cover by Herman's Hermits.
 
Arbitorn said:
I was at Lake Geneva over the weekend and heard the WLS-FM music log - song for song - duplicated on a Milwaukee station three minutes before 'LS. If you hear a klinker now and then, it's because someone else is picking the music and the 'LS jox are filling the content...weakly...in comparison to the original.

If it was me - and maybe there's a legal reason why they can't - I'd never even mention the FM. It would be just "WLS," and an absolute replay of the old jingles and even at the top of the hour, I'd sneak in "FM" under my breath before they sang, "CHICAAGO!"

You're absolutely right about the reverb, too. WLS and WABC had the best reverbs on the air. It's part of the sound that made it great. And while you're at it, where's the compression? The mic oughta pull the guy's tongue out of his mouth if he stops to take a breath! I want to hear headphone feedback like the good old days.

Someone who grew up listening to it should be picking the music, they need to goose the talent and get some enthusiasm into the delivery - remember up, Bright, Clean & Tight - and bring back the AM "color" processing sound rather than the sterile FM cleanliness that they're serving.

JJ Jackson's "But It's Alright" doesn't sound right unless it's 10% distorted and in mono.

Oh yeah...throw in an occasional Cryan Shames cut other than "Sugar And Spice" now and then...like when the satellite programs a cover by Herman's Hermits.
Click to expand...

Only time the -FM suffix is required is at the TOH ID.....otherwise, they dont need to use it; they can call it anything they want....(I thought the same thing about using the old Musicradio jingles...but the FM would need to put in at the TOH somehow)
 
Kudos to the new owners for bringing back the vintage WLS calls and sound!
Dump Shannon, and bring back more of the original guys!
 
cahokia said:
IS KOMA the only original station left, that never changed format?
Click to expand...

I believe KOMA was also pop standards for a time in addition to being country before going back to top 40 oldies.

KIOA in Des Moines is is the only station that immediately comes to mind as being an "original" top 40 station that's been true to its roots on a continuous basis. It also migrated from AM to FM.

CHUM in Toronto comes close....but spent a couple years as sports talk (while streaming oldies...and voice tracked jocks... online).
 
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