Just surfin' around & found - some more history on WNMP/WLTD/WONX - thought someone might enjoy reading:
http://71.57.24.170/public/zecom/museum/radiohunt/wonx.htm
http://71.57.24.170/public/zecom/museum/radiohunt/wonx.htm
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WONX Doubles Power - Flips Call Letters to WCGO
- Thread starter knowsthings123
- Start date
R
redbloodedradio
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The Saturday Night Special on WCGO 1590 am...
Tune in to the Saturday Night Special every week on WCGO 1590am (wcgo1590.com) starting October 31st, 2009 from 4pm to 6pm. News, talk, local music bands, sprinkled with some Albanian American spice...oh...and its in English. Spread the love...tell your friend!
Tune in to the Saturday Night Special every week on WCGO 1590am (wcgo1590.com) starting October 31st, 2009 from 4pm to 6pm. News, talk, local music bands, sprinkled with some Albanian American spice...oh...and its in English. Spread the love...tell your friend!
I was stationed at the Great Lakes Navy Base 1968-69 and remember WNMP 1590 well. It had a very good signal there. It was what one would describe as a "beautiful music" station in the 70's. The power increase, I believe, could only happen if (a) The West Allis (Milwaukee) station on 1590 (back then, WAWA, highly DA to protect WNMP) shut down, and (2) 1600 in the south suburbs (Chicago Heights) shut down. Apparently both these stations, which boxed in WNMP, have disappeared. And yes, Kovas' WKFM 103.5 was around at that time. It was one of a half-dozen beautiful music stations on FM, differentiated in that it mixed in a lot of big-band music with the schmaltzy stuff.
I'm long gone from Chicago, so don't know what's happening there - but in NYC several AMs wanted to increase power or loosen up their DA, but they were boxed in by stations in a suburban community perhaps 30 to 60 miles away (some co-channel, some adjacent channel). The NYC AM bought the problem suburban station and shut it down, paving the way for a power increase by the NYC station. This happened in several instances ... I know of two - WADO 1280 and WWRL 1600.
I'm long gone from Chicago, so don't know what's happening there - but in NYC several AMs wanted to increase power or loosen up their DA, but they were boxed in by stations in a suburban community perhaps 30 to 60 miles away (some co-channel, some adjacent channel). The NYC AM bought the problem suburban station and shut it down, paving the way for a power increase by the NYC station. This happened in several instances ... I know of two - WADO 1280 and WWRL 1600.
That's exactly what happened Alex. Kovas bought WKKD AM 1580 in Aurora, WCGO 1600 AMJ Alex Bowab said:
in Chicago Heights and WMCW 1600 AM in Harvard.
They got CP's for WKKD to move out west to the Quad Cities area, and for WCGO to move to Jennison
MI. I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for them to be built
.As for WMCW, they turned in the license to the FCC, because there were no other stations licensed to
Harvard Il. They were not allowed to move it.
The sad thing is after shutting all these stations down and increasing the power 7kW ND, the signal
is not much better, in most areas of the metro area than it was before.
I have found some other interesting things about the Kovas plans that I've meant to put up
here for a while. They involve Clear Channel twisting the FCC rules. I will post it when I can.
Let's just say if Kovas could have done what they wanted to do originally, the stations that are
gone now would probably still be around.
Bowab said;
WKFM 103.5 was around at that time. It was one of a half-dozen beautiful music stations on FM, differentiated in that it mixed in a lot of big-band music with the schmaltzy stuff.
Well not quite. I worked for Kovas there. WKFM was about 1/3 beautiful music and 1/3 "light classical." The other third was $198 album specials. WKFM only had about 200 albums.
You may be thnking of WDHF with the beaut music mixed with big band.
WNMP only had about 100 albums and no air conditioning. A "swear shop" - Like WXFM behind the awning store on Harlem Ave. At wnmp, the music was all in the "beautiful" and light classical catergory. At times they only had about 10 commercials through the whole broadcast day.
WKFM 103.5 was around at that time. It was one of a half-dozen beautiful music stations on FM, differentiated in that it mixed in a lot of big-band music with the schmaltzy stuff.
Well not quite. I worked for Kovas there. WKFM was about 1/3 beautiful music and 1/3 "light classical." The other third was $198 album specials. WKFM only had about 200 albums.
You may be thnking of WDHF with the beaut music mixed with big band.
WNMP only had about 100 albums and no air conditioning. A "swear shop" - Like WXFM behind the awning store on Harlem Ave. At wnmp, the music was all in the "beautiful" and light classical catergory. At times they only had about 10 commercials through the whole broadcast day.
Prais, you could be right. Seems like I remember a lot of Sammy Kaye and Jan Garber on WKFM. Maybe it was WDHF. I know it wasn't WEBH, WJOI, or WFMF... all of which were MoR/easy listening. WXFM I remember as being very unfocused. I could never quite figure out what their programming format or philosophy was. Didn't they have a lot of block programming along with the easy stuff? Some jazz maybe? And 3 commercial classical stations (WEFM WNIB WFMT) seemed like a lot of sugar for a nickel.
I don't think I would have ever chosen "WNMP" for call letters. They just don't sound good to me. To be as young as I was at the time, I did like listening to the station. Recall one announcer whose last name was Churchill? Oh, and back then Paul Malloy wrote a radio/TV column in the Sun Times, and I was fascinated that he once devoted half his column to a positive review of WNMP. I thought I was the only person out there who knew it existed. I remember him saying that to find it you had to have a "deft tuning finger" - an apparent reference to the fact that in many parts of Chi-land, you could hear something on 1570, 1580, 1590, and 1600.
I don't think I would have ever chosen "WNMP" for call letters. They just don't sound good to me. To be as young as I was at the time, I did like listening to the station. Recall one announcer whose last name was Churchill? Oh, and back then Paul Malloy wrote a radio/TV column in the Sun Times, and I was fascinated that he once devoted half his column to a positive review of WNMP. I thought I was the only person out there who knew it existed. I remember him saying that to find it you had to have a "deft tuning finger" - an apparent reference to the fact that in many parts of Chi-land, you could hear something on 1570, 1580, 1590, and 1600.
WNMP was named after Nathanial M. Pompers, the first owner of the station. The second set of call letters WLTD stood for "Limited" as in "Limited Talk." Kovas changed it to WONX after about a year owning WLTD. The call letters were supposed to mean "1 X" for some arcane reason. The last change to WCGO means "Chicago."
J Alex Bowab said:
My memory of WXFM in the late 70s early 80s was old time radio broadcasts in the morning hosted by Jack Cripe (sp?), followed by jazz mid-days, big band later in the afternoon (really old stuff at that). I was working in an office in downtown Chicago and listened to the jazz show at work from time to time. "Count BJ" IIRC. Very pompous and outspoken, but the guy DID have a version of Sinatra singing "My Kind of Town" that included the line "....and it has...Count BJ's jazz".
Cyberdad, My memories of WXFM are older than yours.
Count BJ came from the top floor 333 N Michigan Building ( a bit later than '65 - maybe about '69?).WOW! What a beautiful view in a very elegant building.
That was the time when WXFM had some foreign language (German?) programs and don't forget "Triad." The station was making MUCH better money then, and it was "for sale." It was a much different place than what I saw only a few years before.
Sherman, Set the Wayback Machine for 1965.
What I was talking about came from the West side of Harlem near Grand from a ramshackle shack behind an awning store.
Saturdays, I often rode their on my bike when I was a kid, arriving about 7:30am, and leaving about 9pm. The radio bug bit me hard.
By mid high school I was a paid employee. They knew they had a BIG sucker.
When WCLM was removed from the air by the fcc, (an inspector
walked in while they were broadcasting horserace results on their subcarrier), probably about 1965-ish, their freq and their property were siezed" and wxfm, somehow, became the benefiiary of "the physical plant." I believe WRSV became the beneficiary of the freq.
Some of the announcers at WXFM when I worked there, were
"Stu Olsen" 6-midnight, (who eventually went to San Francisco), "Al Von Maisch" midnight to 6, 6 nights a week, who LIVED at the Harlem Ave. studio. He slept on a desk in the office (REALLY!). Not sure if he ever showered. He eventually committed suicide. He did the "Polk Brothers Showcase" (remember them?).
One of the wxfm owners (Richard Victor?) was a relative of the owner of Polk Brothers, and they got alot of financial support and many lp's from there. Tod Branson (Milwaukee sportscaster) worked 6-midnight Saturdays, and drank a gallon of Tom Collins' (that I brought him from a nearby tavern) while her did the broadway show each Sat. evening. He lived at a Holiday Inn near downtown.
WXFM had quite a few advertisers in those days. I remember one
being Treasure Island supermarket on Diversey near Clark.
There were also a few college fellas, and me. A GE console, 2 16 inch Gates Turntables, a Magnecord reel to reel, 2 GE reel to reels, in a horribly HOT not ventilated room. There was one window air conditioner in the office, but NO cool air ANYWHERE else.
It was entirely in stereo.
The announcer sat in a squeaky office chair on wheels at a desk w/the console. There was a pully system with a rope by which the dj could close the studio door (behind him) without getting up. The albums (maybe 1000+) were in a different room, and the HUGE GE(?) transmitter (maybe 3 or 4 cabinets wide) was in yet another room.
Zeb Zarnecki was the original owner and he sold it to Victor and some partners. If you Google "Zarnecki" you can read abut it in a publication from Chuck Schaden.
I love remembering those days.
PS to J Alex who said "Oh, and back then Paul Malloy wrote a radio/TV column in the Sun Times, and I was fascinated that he once devoted half his column to a positive review of WNMP. I thought I was the only person out there who knew it existed. I remember him saying that to find it you had to have a "deft tuning finger" - an apparent reference to the fact that in many parts of Chi-land, you could hear something on 1570, 1580, 1590, and 1600.
J, It would be my educated guess that Molloy was doing a (political) favor for the owner, Harry Semerow - a politician. This IS Chicago, where everything works like that.
Count BJ came from the top floor 333 N Michigan Building ( a bit later than '65 - maybe about '69?).WOW! What a beautiful view in a very elegant building.
That was the time when WXFM had some foreign language (German?) programs and don't forget "Triad." The station was making MUCH better money then, and it was "for sale." It was a much different place than what I saw only a few years before.
Sherman, Set the Wayback Machine for 1965.
What I was talking about came from the West side of Harlem near Grand from a ramshackle shack behind an awning store.
Saturdays, I often rode their on my bike when I was a kid, arriving about 7:30am, and leaving about 9pm. The radio bug bit me hard.
By mid high school I was a paid employee. They knew they had a BIG sucker.
When WCLM was removed from the air by the fcc, (an inspector
walked in while they were broadcasting horserace results on their subcarrier), probably about 1965-ish, their freq and their property were siezed" and wxfm, somehow, became the benefiiary of "the physical plant." I believe WRSV became the beneficiary of the freq.
Some of the announcers at WXFM when I worked there, were
"Stu Olsen" 6-midnight, (who eventually went to San Francisco), "Al Von Maisch" midnight to 6, 6 nights a week, who LIVED at the Harlem Ave. studio. He slept on a desk in the office (REALLY!). Not sure if he ever showered. He eventually committed suicide. He did the "Polk Brothers Showcase" (remember them?).
One of the wxfm owners (Richard Victor?) was a relative of the owner of Polk Brothers, and they got alot of financial support and many lp's from there. Tod Branson (Milwaukee sportscaster) worked 6-midnight Saturdays, and drank a gallon of Tom Collins' (that I brought him from a nearby tavern) while her did the broadway show each Sat. evening. He lived at a Holiday Inn near downtown.
WXFM had quite a few advertisers in those days. I remember one
being Treasure Island supermarket on Diversey near Clark.
There were also a few college fellas, and me. A GE console, 2 16 inch Gates Turntables, a Magnecord reel to reel, 2 GE reel to reels, in a horribly HOT not ventilated room. There was one window air conditioner in the office, but NO cool air ANYWHERE else.
It was entirely in stereo.
The announcer sat in a squeaky office chair on wheels at a desk w/the console. There was a pully system with a rope by which the dj could close the studio door (behind him) without getting up. The albums (maybe 1000+) were in a different room, and the HUGE GE(?) transmitter (maybe 3 or 4 cabinets wide) was in yet another room.
Zeb Zarnecki was the original owner and he sold it to Victor and some partners. If you Google "Zarnecki" you can read abut it in a publication from Chuck Schaden.
I love remembering those days.
PS to J Alex who said "Oh, and back then Paul Malloy wrote a radio/TV column in the Sun Times, and I was fascinated that he once devoted half his column to a positive review of WNMP. I thought I was the only person out there who knew it existed. I remember him saying that to find it you had to have a "deft tuning finger" - an apparent reference to the fact that in many parts of Chi-land, you could hear something on 1570, 1580, 1590, and 1600.
J, It would be my educated guess that Molloy was doing a (political) favor for the owner, Harry Semerow - a politician. This IS Chicago, where everything works like that.
Gettin' a bit off the topic of 1590 AM, but the mention of WRSV jogs my memory also... Radio Skokie Valley, 101.9... another beautiful music station in the 1968-69 time frame when I was up there. Remember meeting the owner, a lady, and her son, who was visually impaired. I applied for a job there, talked to manager named Ed something. They were on a short tower with little power, but listenable at the Great Lakes Navy Base where I was.
Funny how today you can't find beautiful music anywhere except on Sirius/XM, but back then it was everywhere ... on AM at 820 WAIT and WNMP, on FM - WEBH WJOI WFMF WRSV WEFA (Waukegan), WLS FM (in the daytime, underground at night) WDHF WKFM... and on and on.
Funny how today you can't find beautiful music anywhere except on Sirius/XM, but back then it was everywhere ... on AM at 820 WAIT and WNMP, on FM - WEBH WJOI WFMF WRSV WEFA (Waukegan), WLS FM (in the daytime, underground at night) WDHF WKFM... and on and on.
And one other beautiful comes to mind ... 106.3 Lansing, believe WLNR? If you liked Mantovani and Percy Faith, you were in hogs heaven!
Those stations do not exist with that format any longer because they played music for our parents generation (now 80 and 90 year olds) no longer viable for revenue.
One of the station I owned in Columbia City, IN was also at 106.3.
I remember wlnr when it was TALK.
The lady at wrv was Sonia (last name forgotten). I met her son a few times.
One of the station I owned in Columbia City, IN was also at 106.3.
I remember wlnr when it was TALK.
The lady at wrv was Sonia (last name forgotten). I met her son a few times.
Re: Beautiful Music
I recognize that the old "beautiful music" format isn't commercially viable today, but I would suggest that it would still be appreciated not only by people in their 80s and 90s, but also by many in their 60s and 70s. I'm in my 60s, and I'd definitely listen if it was still available on the radio. Thankfully, it can still be found on the Internet and on Sirius/XM, and I often tune it in from these sources.
I understand the desire of advertisers to reach the ears of people under the age of 55, but it's a shame that the American broadcasting model essentially thumbs its nose at the tens of millions of people beyond that age. So much for serving the public interest. It's primarily the advertisers' and investors' interests that are served on the ostensibly public airwaves.
I recognize that the old "beautiful music" format isn't commercially viable today, but I would suggest that it would still be appreciated not only by people in their 80s and 90s, but also by many in their 60s and 70s. I'm in my 60s, and I'd definitely listen if it was still available on the radio. Thankfully, it can still be found on the Internet and on Sirius/XM, and I often tune it in from these sources.
I understand the desire of advertisers to reach the ears of people under the age of 55, but it's a shame that the American broadcasting model essentially thumbs its nose at the tens of millions of people beyond that age. So much for serving the public interest. It's primarily the advertisers' and investors' interests that are served on the ostensibly public airwaves.
Prais....
Thanks for the portrait of WXFM in the '60s. Great stuff! Indeed that pre-dates my memories. In those days...high school & college for me...there was no way I'd intentionally tune in anything other than a rock station except for live sports broadcast. WIND (my parents' favorite) was as much "non-rock" as I could stand.
"Triad". Yes. I was trying to think of that name during my earlier post. Also, I do know that I'm correct about the time frame of my hearing "Count BJ" because my time working from an office downtown lasted October '79-September '82. A little less than three years. Most of my time, however, in those days was spent with WFYR and WCLR.
As for those who miss the "beautiful music" format.....
Just like anything else, you can find it online. "Airstream FM" (Austin, TX), "Crystal Radio" (Toronto, Canada), and Super FM (Brasilia, Brazil) are three high-quality streams that Jim Schulke might approve of. Google any of these, or do a search on Radio Time and listen in. No need for sleeping pills when you have these.
Thanks for the portrait of WXFM in the '60s. Great stuff! Indeed that pre-dates my memories. In those days...high school & college for me...there was no way I'd intentionally tune in anything other than a rock station except for live sports broadcast. WIND (my parents' favorite) was as much "non-rock" as I could stand.
"Triad". Yes. I was trying to think of that name during my earlier post. Also, I do know that I'm correct about the time frame of my hearing "Count BJ" because my time working from an office downtown lasted October '79-September '82. A little less than three years. Most of my time, however, in those days was spent with WFYR and WCLR.
As for those who miss the "beautiful music" format.....
Just like anything else, you can find it online. "Airstream FM" (Austin, TX), "Crystal Radio" (Toronto, Canada), and Super FM (Brasilia, Brazil) are three high-quality streams that Jim Schulke might approve of. Google any of these, or do a search on Radio Time and listen in. No need for sleeping pills when you have these.
Re: Beautiful Music
I am in my 30s, and love the Easy Listening format. I stream WGCY out of Gibson City pretty often online. One of the last of the Mohicans of the old school Beautiful Music format. There really isn't anything soft on the radio dial anymore where I am in St. Louis. Even the Soft AC KEZK isn't really soft anymore. Chicago is pretty much the same, but at least there is Smooth Jazz on Channel 6 (87.7) where receivable. I think there are many people in their 20s - 40s who would enjoy an updated version of the format. Only problem is it would be a very, very hard sell - might be a good format for a public or non-comm school station.
Nsubuga said:
I am in my 30s, and love the Easy Listening format. I stream WGCY out of Gibson City pretty often online. One of the last of the Mohicans of the old school Beautiful Music format. There really isn't anything soft on the radio dial anymore where I am in St. Louis. Even the Soft AC KEZK isn't really soft anymore. Chicago is pretty much the same, but at least there is Smooth Jazz on Channel 6 (87.7) where receivable. I think there are many people in their 20s - 40s who would enjoy an updated version of the format. Only problem is it would be a very, very hard sell - might be a good format for a public or non-comm school station.
Re: Beautiful Music
Agree.
The only reason I didn't include WGCY in my prior post is because the stream is lower quality than the three examples I used.
I also have to qualify my inclusion of Crystal Radio (Canada), and Super FM (Brazil) just a little. Most of the day they're both "old school beautiful music". But Crystal goes heavily into piano music late evenings, while Super has a couple of blocks of classical and opera.
If anyone's into hearing some really hardcore elevator snooze music, there's a stream available on Shoutcast of an old Seeburg 1000 background music system playing 16rpm records! I think it's simply called the 'Seeburg 1000 stream'. 128kbs stream but dismal audio....which actually may have been the original intent of something designed 50 years ago for stores, restaurants, dentist offices, etc. as a background music competitor for Muzak.
mbatchelor said:
Agree.
The only reason I didn't include WGCY in my prior post is because the stream is lower quality than the three examples I used.
I also have to qualify my inclusion of Crystal Radio (Canada), and Super FM (Brazil) just a little. Most of the day they're both "old school beautiful music". But Crystal goes heavily into piano music late evenings, while Super has a couple of blocks of classical and opera.
If anyone's into hearing some really hardcore elevator snooze music, there's a stream available on Shoutcast of an old Seeburg 1000 background music system playing 16rpm records! I think it's simply called the 'Seeburg 1000 stream'. 128kbs stream but dismal audio....which actually may have been the original intent of something designed 50 years ago for stores, restaurants, dentist offices, etc. as a background music competitor for Muzak.
Prais, the lady who owned WRSV was Mrs Earlene Stebbins. I looked it up in a 1969 Broadcasting Yearbook. Fortunately, davidgleason.com has on-line copies of many broadcast publications from previous years. The "Sonia" you are thinking about may have been associated with WNIB. The same publication lists someone by that name at NIB.
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