890 WLS
Ron Riley, 89 WLS Chicago | October 11, 1968
Date of Recording: 10.11.1968 Station: 890 WLS Chicago, Illinois, USA Format: Top 40 Featured Air Personality: Ronald Riley (WLS/WBKB (TV), others) Contributor: Jim Hampton Airchexx Entry: 1,487 …10:31 LS most music time Ron Riley feelin outta sight baby! How ’bout YOU?! Comments: From the era before John Records Landecker & Fred Winston, the Big 89 had the edge in Chicago music radio. Here’s America’s number one Batman fan Ron Riley talking between every record and doing what so many jocks imitated over the years (to their detriment) – ‘puking’… But this is Sir Ronald Riley doing what he was best known for. There are two (incomplete) newscasts featuring WLS News Anchor Jerry Golden. Listen for a story by reporter John Schubeck (sp). New...
Jim Hampton’s Radio Recall Featuring Kris Eric Stevens
Date of Recording: Unknown Station(s): 104.3 WOMC Detroit, Michigan, USA; 890 WLS & 1000 WCFL Chicago, Illinois, USA Format: Oldies Featured Air Personalities: Jim Hampton (WXYZ/WOMC, others); Kris Eric Stevens (WLS/WCFL) Contributor: Jim Hampton Airchexx Entry: 1,486 Comments: Described as perhaps one of the youngest jocks ever on WLS, Kris Eric Stevens is featured in this interview on Jim Hampton’s Radio Recall show. In it, they talk about Stevens’ career at WLS and at WCFL, as he was one of a few jocks who worked both sides of the river in one of America’s closest Top 40 battles in the early 1970s. Radio Recall was a Podcast featured on the Motor City Radio Flashbacks website, which also airs on Classic Hits radio station 104.3 WOMC Detroit. The program has itR...
Scott Childers Presents: The ORIGINAL WLS Music Montage
Submitted for inclusion into the Airchexx Archives is an original piece from wlshistory.com website curator Scott Childers is this ORIGINAL recording. The backstory of how this happened to be on airchexx.com is that several years ago, Contributor Allen Beebe sent in a recording of this montage, which was mostly correct but missing some of the original audio you hear here. What’s really missing is the description of how this montage came into being. Scott Childers, the creator of the WLS Music Montage wrote and graciously donated a copy of the original work. It is an amazing piece of audio candy that anyone who remembers WLS Chicago will certainly love. Here’s the story of The ORIGINAL WLS Music Montage from Scott Childers: The WLS Music Montage was created in 2001 as part of a ...
QuickCheck: John “Records” Landecker, WLS Chicago | August, 1975
Date of Recording: 08.xx.1975 (Exact Date Unknown) Station: 890 WLS Chicago Illinois, USA Featured Air Personality: John Records Landecker (WILS, WIBG, WLS, CFTR, WLUP, WAGO, WPHR, WJMK, WZZN, WLS-FM) Airchexx Entry: 644 (Repost at 1,453) “If anyone asks you what station YOU listen to, tell them W L S!” Comments: Another too short listen to Landecker, finds him reading off the names of people who will be going to eat dinner with the Osmonds and then see them in concert. Hard to believe Donny & Marie were ever a big deal (if today’s oldies stations are any guage), but JRL sure talks it up. Listen for a great promo for the WLS Monster Bonanza as Tommy Edwards produces this piece that shows WLS giving away a Mazda! We have a similar aircheck here most likely from the sa...
The WLS Big 89 Montage – 1960-1979
As December 2015 drew to a close, ideas were flying around as to what ‘new’ programming I could come up with for my own internet radio show. The first, most logical choice, was a take on the memory of what WLS Chicago did every year after they played the Number One song of whatever particular year they were doing their Big 89 Countdown. The WLS Music Montage (it never really had a name) played immediately before Midnight of the new year. It was always timed out perfectly, so that Auld Lang Syne would air after the montage was over. And each year, WLS production would add a new assortment of song clips (I believe they were each Number One songs) for the current year. So, I amused myself and listened to the original montage in its final version for 1988, and decided I wanted to d...
Larry Lujack with Charlie Van Dyke, 89 WLS Chicago | May 4, 1985
Courtesy of Big Apple Airchecks, we head back to 1985. WLS was celebrating its 25th anniversary as “The Rock of Chicago”. Part of that celebration involved plenty of reunions. …I’ve been known as the comma between Lujack appearances. This particular morning, Larry Lujack is joined by former morning man Charlie Van Dyke, who was there in between gigs at 93 KHJ in Los Angeles. Perhaps in a different world, these two men would have been competitors in the same market. In fact, indirectly, they were for a time. Van Dyke did mornings on WLS when Lujack left to do afternoons on WCFL. This particular day, they reunite on air with a sometimes irreverent, funny and compelling show! Were it not for Chicago’s infamously cold Winters, could these two have made a powerful ...
Composite: 89 WLS Chicago | March, 1973
What did a complete broadcast day sound like in March, 1973? WLS is sporting the “Rock of Chicago” jingles – Gwinsounds cuts, if I recall. Not much in the way of commercials, but this was tightly scoped and all about the air talent. In order: Charlie Van Dyke in the morning Fred Winston J.J. Jeffrey John Records Landecker Bill Bailey This is most definitely when the jocks mattered! Music is solidly 1973 fare. Listen for a promo for “Americana Panorama”, another staple of John Records Landecker, although it was a bit too early for “Boogie Check.” Here’s an enjoyable if not unique listen to WLS in its prime! Airchecks #1,291 since May 2, 2002!
Airchexx and Big Apple Airchecks Present: A Tribute to “Superjock” Larry Lujack
On December 18, 2013, the broadcast world and millions of devoted fans said goodbye to a man who had become a fixture in Chicago radio. Larry Lujack first became a well known DJ in Seattle, at KJR “Channel 95” (950 AM), before moving east to the Windy City. In no time at all, Superjock became a household name, holding down Afternoon Drive on 89 WLS, and later at “The Voice of Labor”, WCFL before returning to WLS to do mornings. But this website is not here to post Lujacks’ resume. In conjunction with Big Apple Airchecks, we at Airchexx present a tribute to Superjock Larry Lujack. This audio tribute is just that. Stories and interviews with friends and co-workers – the very people who knew Lujack the best. From the Big Apple Airchecks website, “Many...
John Records Landecker, 89 WLS Chicago | March 12, 1974
“WLS Musicradio regrets to announce that we have no more fashionable streak-suits…” With that promo voiced by Bob Sirott, the biggest craze of 1974 is out there for all to see! Here’s brand NEW audio of John Records Landecker in the early years of his career on the Enormous 89. WLS had recently begun calling itself “Musicradio”, and was playing with a new deck of jingles, while still using the old 60s cuts sparingly. It wouldn’t be long before we were hearing jingles from JAM. Jeffrey Hendrix reports news – Patty Hurst is still in captivity at this time. Remember, this is at night, so the news update is just that, a couple of headlines at the :50 break. Landecker cracks the mic again at 8:59. Before this ends, Landecker is about to do another...
Tommy Edwards, WLS Chicago | June 8, 1975
Thanks to Patrick of the Aircheck Traders board at Radioinsight, we have a virgin aircheck of this mid-Summer midday show on WLS! This is an original, complete with commercials for 1975 and the scoped hits from artists like Queen, the Carpenters and Elton John! Oh, to be in the Windy City with WLS!
Chuck Brittain, 89 WLS Chicago | April 12, 1985
Chuck Brittain is heard during WLS’ celebration of 25 years as the “Rock of Chicago”, and while subtle format changes were soon to come, WLS is certainly still playing ALL THE HITS, even with a jingle that sings that phrase! WLS had fully embraced the Motorola C-Quam AM Stereo system and is proudly announcing that regularly – for those of us who had receivers, anyway. The current promotion is the “Fantasy Prize Package” where winners will get tickets to any destination in the world! Soon to come (according to Chuck Brittain) on Friday, WLS will be bringing back the personalities that made WLS such a popular station, such as Mort Crowley, Sam Holman and more. This runs just over 5 minutes and there’s not much more we can write about this, you simply...
Larry Lujack in the Morning, 89 WLS Chicago | September, 1970 Reloaded
We re-post this today on the occasion of Larry Lujack’s passing on December 18, 2013 after a lengthy battle with cancer. You can read his obituary from the Chicago Tribune online Newspaper HERE, or the ABC 7 story HERE Perhaps one of the greatest jocks to ever come out of the AM Top 40 era, Here’s a pristine aircheck of the late Larry Lujack which sounds very much like it came right out of the studio skimmer. Discovered in this box of cassettes which the donor asked to be called annonymous several years ago, this is a great look at Mr. Lujack’s morning show in 1970. Includes a few commercials and “The Jeffrey Hendricks Report” from WLS News! Hearing Hendricks and that delivery style – WOW! That was news!
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