WLS WENR MERGER.

[thebeach33445]

Hey Guys:

Question: I read in the Zecom files that when WLS took over WENR in 1954 they had Popular Music programming at night along with there farm country hilbilly format. Is that correct?

Thanks

T.J.

 

[radioman148]

Hey Guys:

Question: I read in the Zecom files that when WLS took over WENR in 1954 they had Popular Music programming at night along with there farm country hilbilly format. Is that correct?

Thanks

T.J.

When I first heard WLS in the late 50s I never heard any music. They ID'd as "The Prairie Farmer Station".
My memory of anything from 1954 is very limited.

 

[secondchoice]

IIRC at on time they "shared" the freq. Just imagine if WENR got control if the channel. Jingles would have been "Music radio 89 the big WERN Chicago!"

 

[KeithE4]

IIRC at on time they "shared" the freq. Just imagine if WENR got control if the channel. Jingles would have been "Music radio 89 the big WERN Chicago!"

They did. ABC, who owned WENR, bought out WLS owner Prairie Farmer Magazine in 1954. The WENR calls stayed on the FM for several more years, while The Future Big 89 took the WLS calls.

So, it never was "Music Radio 89, The Big Weeener!" ;D

 

[cyberdad]

So, it never was "Music Radio 89, The Big Weeener!" ;D

And we never got to hear the slogan "1OA2GW"

 

[howardm]

IIRC at on time they "shared" the freq. Just imagine if WENR got control if the channel. Jingles would have been "Music radio 89 the big WERN Chicago!"

They did. ABC, who owned WENR, bought out WLS owner Prairie Farmer Magazine in 1954. The WENR calls stayed on the FM for several more years, while The Future Big 89 took the WLS calls.

So, it never was "Music Radio 89, The Big Weeener!" ;D

1960 was the magic year the Prairie Farmer station switched to top 40 with Dick Biondi, Sam Holman, Bob Hale, Ed Grennan, & Gene Taylor.

 

[radioman148]

IIRC at on time they "shared" the freq. Just imagine if WENR got control if the channel. Jingles would have been "Music radio 89 the big WERN Chicago!"

They did. ABC, who owned WENR, bought out WLS owner Prairie Farmer Magazine in 1954. The WENR calls stayed on the FM for several more years, while The Future Big 89 took the WLS calls.

So, it never was "Music Radio 89, The Big Weeener!" ;D

1960 was the magic year the Prairie Farmer station switched to top 40 with Dick Biondi, Sam Holman, Bob Hale, Ed Grennan, & Gene Taylor.

Don't forget Jim Dunbar & Mort Crowley.

 

[howardm]

Mort Crowley, the man of 1000 voices, mornings 6-10, what a talent

IIRC at on time they "shared" the freq. Just imagine if WENR got control if the channel. Jingles would have been "Music radio 89 the big WERN Chicago!"

They did. ABC, who owned WENR, bought out WLS owner Prairie Farmer Magazine in 1954. The WENR calls stayed on the FM for several more years, while The Future Big 89 took the WLS calls.

So, it never was "Music Radio 89, The Big Weeener!" ;D

1960 was the magic year the Prairie Farmer station switched to top 40 with Dick Biondi, Sam Holman, Bob Hale, Ed Grennan, & Gene Taylor.

Don't forget Jim Dunbar & Mort Crowley.

 

[b344077]

I was an 18 year old living in Oklahoma when WLS was transformed. Actually heard the sign on at 5:30am. I believe the first show was a farm show with Captain Stubby and the Buccaneers with a mix of pop music. Could be wrong but that is my recollection.

 

[recto101]

IIRC at on time they "shared" the freq. Just imagine if WENR got control if the channel. Jingles would have been "Music radio 89 the big WERN Chicago!"

They did. ABC, who owned WENR, bought out WLS owner Prairie Farmer Magazine in 1954. The WENR calls stayed on the FM for several more years, while The Future Big 89 took the WLS calls.

So, it never was "Music Radio 89, The Big Weeener!" ;D

1960 was the magic year the Prairie Farmer station switched to top 40 with Dick Biondi, Sam Holman, Bob Hale, Ed Grennan, & Gene Taylor.

Don't forget Jim Dunbar & Mort Crowley.

Jim Dunbar is that the same person who went to KGO 810 AM in San Francisco who did the Morning News up to the 1990's.

 

[radioman148]

IIRC at on time they "shared" the freq. Just imagine if WENR got control if the channel. Jingles would have been "Music radio 89 the big WERN Chicago!"

They did. ABC, who owned WENR, bought out WLS owner Prairie Farmer Magazine in 1954. The WENR calls stayed on the FM for several more years, while The Future Big 89 took the WLS calls.

So, it never was "Music Radio 89, The Big Weeener!" ;D

1960 was the magic year the Prairie Farmer station switched to top 40 with Dick Biondi, Sam Holman, Bob Hale, Ed Grennan, & Gene Taylor.

Don't forget Jim Dunbar & Mort Crowley.

Jim Dunbar is that the same person who went to KGO 810 AM in San Francisco who did the Morning News up to the 1990's.

That's right. Dunbar left WLS in March of 1963 to program a floundering KGO. A very good decision on his part.

 

[w9wi]

IIRC at on time they "shared" the freq. Just imagine if WENR got control if the channel. Jingles would have been "Music radio 89 the big WERN Chicago!"

They did.

I wonder if anyone knows just how the time was split? - which hours did WLS get, which hours did WENR get?

 

[b344077]

I found the following on a website a couple of weeks ago:

Under the terms of the agreement WLS will present programs from 6 A.M. to 10:15 A.M and from 11:45 A.M. until 3:30 P.M., every weekday except Saturday, when the schedule will be from 7:30 P.M. to midnight. On Sundays WLS will present programs from 6 A.M. to 8 A.M., and from 12:30 P.M. to 3:30 P.M.

 

[radioman148]

It would've really been cool if they had kept the WENR calls during the Rock years.
"And now another great hit on the big WENR"

 

[w9wi]

I found the following on a website a couple of weeks ago:

Under the terms of the agreement WLS will present programs from 6 A.M. to 10:15 A.M and from 11:45 A.M. until 3:30 P.M., every weekday except Saturday, when the schedule will be from 7:30 P.M. to midnight. On Sundays WLS will present programs from 6 A.M. to 8 A.M., and from 12:30 P.M. to 3:30 P.M.

If I'd had to *guess* which hours WLS got, that's probably what I would have guessed! Morning farm show, midday markets, Saturday night barn dance -- seems just about right.

 

[howardm]

Mort Crowley, mornings, the man of 1000 voices, very talented. Ed Grennan mid day 10-2. Sam Holman afternoons. Gene Taylor 7-9. Dick Biondi 9-12 midnight. Bob Hale east of midnight. That's the line-up I remember. Taylor was program director.

 

[radioman148]

Mort Crowley, mornings, the man of 1000 voices, very talented. Ed Grennan mid day 10-2. Sam Holman afternoons. Gene Taylor 7-9. Dick Biondi 9-12 midnight. Bob Hale east of midnight. That's the line-up I remember. Taylor was program director.

That is the correct original lineup. After about 4-5 months Art Roberts replaced Ed Grennan. Grennan by his own admission wasn't cut out to be a Rock & Roll DKJ.

 

[Bob1370]

Sam Holman wasn't around too long either, IIRC he went east to help transition WABC in New York to top 40 as MusicRadio 77 late in 1960. (That station also had a big turnover soon after--Holman, Chuck Dunaway and Jack Carney were gone by the end of 1961, and moved to the Midwest once more--to be replaced by guys like Dan Ingram, Charlie Greer, Ron Lundy and Bruce Morrow, the personalities we most closely associate with WABC even now.)

 

[radioman148]

Sam Holman wasn't around too long either, IIRC he went east to help transition WABC in New York to top 40 as MusicRadio 77 late in 1960. (That station also had a big turnover soon after--Holman, Chuck Dunaway and Jack Carney were gone by the end of 1961, and moved to the Midwest once more--to be replaced by guys like Dan Ingram, Charlie Greer, Ron Lundy and Bruce Morrow, the personalities we most closely associate with WABC even now.)

Not exactly. Sam Holman left WLS for WABC in Sept 1961. He was replaced by Gene Taylor as PD & Clark Weber as a DJ who had been in Milwaukee. Holman was at WABC until 1963 when he was replaced by Rick Sklar. Ingram began at WABC July 61. Bruce Morrow a few months later. Charlie Greer was already there when WABC switched to Rock in late 1960. Greer left in 1969.

 

[DanStrassberg]

(That station also had a big turnover soon after--Holman, Chuck Dunaway and Jack Carney were gone by the end of 1961, and moved to the Midwest once more--to be replaced by guys like Dan Ingram, Charlie Greer, Ron Lundy and Bruce Morrow, the personalities we most closely associate with WABC even now.)

I believe that Carney was in Boston for a while in the early '60s--either at WILD, when it was briefly owned by Bartell Family Media (KCBQ, WOKY) or at WMEX, or both. And I would swear that, while driving through western Mass a year or so later, I heard him on WTXL, a 250W Class IV AM licensed to W. Springfield MA. WTXL was doing Top 40 and was the classic over-produced mish-mash of that era. It was fun to listen to if you didn't take it seriously.