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The late 80's were probably the last great era in Chicago radio. In 1985, WLUP bought a floundering Christian radio station broadcasting at 1000 on the AM dial. Two years later they loaded it with an all-star lineup of Jonathan Brandmeier in the mornings, Steve Dahl and Garry Meier in the afternoons, and a young hotshot personality/impressionist from Grand Rapids named Kevin Matthews manning middays. After Steve and Garry, the station would simulcast with WLUP FM and re-air Dahl and Meier's show during the witching hour.
Station managers Jim DeCastro and Larry Wert tried to position AM 1000 as a younger, fresher, hipper version of WGN, which (even then) didn't take much effort. At 50,000 watts of broadcast power, it could also reach a large portion of the continental US after dark. We can remember waking up before sunrise while attending our version of grad school in Connecticut and catching the final hour of Steve and Garry with crystal clarity. It was a tie to home that we never took for granted whenever we missed Chicago.
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Radio never got any better than that...in Chicago or anywhere, for that matter. That was a time when our Chicago radio personalities were like rock stars (literally, as well as figuratively).
Nothing beats Brandmeier singing "Stay in Milwaukee and Die" and "We're all crazy in Chicago." I loved Kev, too, before he became all conservative and right-wingy.
Again, the page refreshes while I'm watching the vid. Please, for the love of God, let me choose to turn that auto-refresh off. I HATE it.
Man, radio back then was the shit.
Brandmeier had his fastball, Matthews was hilarious, and Dahl (with Meier) were unbeatable. Just a murderer's row of solid DJ's.
Fuck Eric and Kathy.
Kev was always conservative and right-wingy. We just didn't recognize it then.
What I find fascinating about all of those personalities is that none of them grew as talents. Brandmeier still does the same shtick he did in '83, Kev actually regressed, and Meier overvalued his worth as a partner, and Dahl became the king of dead air for years at 'CKG.
And man, Kev's hair and acid washed jeans while he lusts after Leeza Gibbons. What about the glory days of jazz on WBEZ? Neil Tesser? It was the same time frame...
For the record, 1000 AM was WCFL, which stood for "Chicago Federation of Labor," the group that started the station back in probably the 1920's or 1930's.
For more trivia, in the 1960's and early 1970's, the number one pop music station was WLS (890 AM) and the number two pop music station was WCFL (1000 AM).
I just remember Kev's Bill Cartwright impression. That always made me laugh.
ward: i love radio call letters. haven't checked them all out, but some of my faves are WBBM (started out as World's Best Battery Maker), WLS (World's Largest Store) and WMAQ (We Must Ask Questions).
This week's flashback was a toss-up between this or Kev's "Jim Shorts" impression. Anyone interested in seeing that next week?
WGN = World's Greatest Newspaper
Chuck: Yes! Dig that!
And WVON = "Voice of Negroes."
What I'd like to get my hands on are some old Herb Kent tapes from 'VON, with "Jim Shoe Creeper."
Johnny B. was a rock star for sure, and always funny. For a while he had a mullet & mustache that gave him a 70s porn star/Village People look.
"Bang the Drum All Day" was Johnny's Monday morning anthem ("I don't want to work..."), and the Friday morning anthem was "Shout" by the Isley Brothers. He'd play these two songs all the way through, every week. Does anybody else remember this? My mother blasted Johnny B. every morning.
It's too bad Buzz Kilman is now playing second fiddle to Dahl, I was hoping for a Johnny-and-Buzz reunion when Johnny came back.
Dahl's getting back on the ball in the mornings. The show is more structured, not as rambly. He really could use a better partner than Buzz, who sounds like the stoned old man he is. I think Dahl needs someone to play off him, hence the reason he and Garry worked so well.
Brandmeier is all right. He's total jive and that can wear on you. Kevin Matthews just went insane and lives up in god's country now. Of the three he's the sorriest case.
Jimmy DeCastro once described the Loop as "High School with Money". Very apt.
I missed out. In that time frame I was usually listening to WXRT with Teri Hemmert.
I missed out as well, back in those days I was still stuck on Z95 (aka WLS-FM), and Y108 at work (at a White Hen Pantry, no less)...