Chicago 'Superjock' Larry Lujack Dies At 73
By Chuck Sudo in News on Dec 19, 2013 2:35PM
Chicagoans of a certain age lost a little part of their youth Wednesday. Larry Lujack, the legendary radio personality at WCFL-AM and WLS-AM and FM whose surly demeanor and exasperated, sarcastic on-air presence helped set the stage for the “shock jock” movement, died in Santa Fe, New Mexico at age 73. Mr. Lujack had been suffering from esophageal cancer and was in hospice care when he died.
Born Larry Lee Blankenburg June 6, 1940 in Quasqueton, Iowa, Mr. Lujack began his radio career in 1958 in Idaho, taking the surname of his football idol, Notre Dame quarterback Johnny Lujack. He migrated through various radio jobs in the Pacific northwest before landing in Chicago at WCFL in 1967. Mr. Lujack was at WCFL for four months before moving over to WLS, where he began to develop the signature segments that cemented his reputation such as the “Cheap, Trashy ShowBiz Report,” the “Klunk Letter of the Day” and his most famous bit, “Animal Stories” where Lujack fellow personality Tommy Edwards (as “charming and delightful ol’ Uncle Lar” and “little snot-nosed Tommy”) would read and mock weird animal stories.
It was in Chicago where Mr. Lujack gave himself the nickname "Superjock" and perfected his slightly standoffish on-air personality. It wasn’t entirely an act; Mr. Lujack was intensely private away from the radio studio.
By the mid-1980s Mr. Lujack’s influence began to wane as a new crop of radio personalities began to vie for a share of Chicago listeners, most notable among them the team of Steve Dahl and Garry Meier, who would taunt him mercilessly on-air as out of touch. (Mr. Lujack once famously stormed Dahl and Meier’s show in the WLS studios and threatened to run Dahl’s head through a wall.)
WLS bought out Mr. Lujack’s contract in 1987 amid declining ratings. He would land two more gigs on Chicago radio: at WUBT-FM from May 2000 to January 2001 and at WRLL-FM from September 2003 through August 2006. He would broadcast his show from his home in New Mexico.
Mr. Lujack is survived by his wife Judith Seguin Lujack, two sons, a daughter, a stepson and two grandchildren. He was elected to the Illinois Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame in 2002 and the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2004.