Captain Whammo, WMET Chicago | April 1978

Jim Channel, aka “Capt. Whammo” is heard here on 95 1/2 WMET. Note the disco music and the WCFL-style jingle package in use at the time which kinda sounds out of place considering the year. They sound good at this point, but I’m at a loss as to why WMET had some of the worst jingles ever heard prior to ‘78… low budget, maybe? And, in your humble webmaster’s opinion, the imaging voice is and was horrible, but that’s made up for the fact that the format itself slams, and Whammo is in top form on this aircheck… lively and energetic.

This is a good quality recording, one you’ll enjoy as an alternative to samples of WLS around the same timeframe.

Composite: 95 1/2 WMET Chicago | March 1977

Who knows what became of this 1970’s FM competitor in the Windy City? Certainly, there’s plenty of personality on 95.5 FM (including ol’ Captain Whammo aka Jim Channel), but the jingles in use are probably the worst ever heard in contemporary radio. I suppose that would be unique enough to keep an audience, but one would think that MET had enough personality playing the hits to give WLS a run for its money. Not being from Chicago, I know next to nothing about WMET other than it existed and that Captain Whammo went on to become a preacher with his own ministry sometime after his MET days.

Come to think of it, the jingles and top 40 approach seems similar to the John Long sound at X-Rock 80 down in Juarez, Mexico… minus the cutsey Mexican female voice

This composite runs approximately 46 minutes scoped. Its in mono, but pretty clean sounding considering it’s now 31 years old as of this writing. 31 years! wow, was high school that long ago?