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WLS-FM AI simulator
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WLS-FM AI simulator
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WLS-FM
WLS-FM (94.7 MHz) is a commercial classic hits radio station licensed to serve Chicago, Illinois. Owned by Cumulus Media, the station serves the Chicago metropolitan area, and is the radio home of Dave Fogel. The WLS-FM studios are located at the NBC Tower in the city's Streeterville neighborhood, while its transmitter is located at Willis Tower.
The American Broadcasting Company, owners of Chicago's ABC Radio Network affiliate WENR (890 AM)—which operated in a time-share arrangement with WLS (890 AM), radio adjunct of the Prairie Farmer and itself an ABC affiliate—launched this station as WENR-FM on January 1, 1948. This time-share agreement ended in February 1954, when ABC's parent company American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres and the Prairie Farmer merged their AM stations into one, WLS becoming the surviving entity and jointly owned by both. WENR-FM retained its callsign but began simulcasting WLS's programming, later adopting its own separate programming formats (which included classical and Broadway theater show tunes) for part of the day. ABC purchased the Prairie Farmer in November 1959, giving it sole ownership of WLS and WENR-FM.
In 1964, WENR-FM became WLS-FM, with a beautiful music format broadcasting in stereo from noon to midnight, as well as Blackhawks home games. By 1968, WLS-FM expanded its hours on the air to 6 a.m. to Midnight, simulcasting WLS (AM)'s Clark Weber morning show from 6 to 8 a.m. and carrying Don McNeill's Breakfast Club from 8 to 9 a.m.
In the summer of 1968, WLS-FM experimented with a locally produced underground progressive rock show. Dubbed "Spoke", and using the tag-line "The Flash That Holds The Wheel Of Life Together", the program aired from 10 p.m. to midnight and featured unnamed announcers using stage-whisper delivery laden with plate reverb, obtuse biker-style free verse intros delivered over backgrounds of electronic music, mid-eastern music and sound effects. It was replaced in 1969 with a syndicated program from the ABC Radio Network entitled "Love", voice-tracked by "Brother John" Rydgren, and which aired from 7 p.m. to 1 am. Shortly afterward, WLS-FM adopted a full-time progressive rock format.
In 1970, ABC decided to change the call signs on all of their FM radio stations to distinguish them from their co-owned AM (and excluding two markets, TV) counterparts; this not only included WLS-FM, but WABC-FM in New York City, WXYZ-FM in Detroit, KXYZ-FM in Houston, KGO-FM in San Francisco, and KQV-FM in Pittsburgh. While ABC had originally selected WXAI as a replacement call sign for WLS-FM, WDAI for WXYZ-FM, and WRIF for WABC-FM, the FCC instead assigned WRIF as WXYZ-FM's replacement, and renamed WLS-FM as WDAI; WABC-FM selected WPLJ as a replacement call sign.
As part of this new FM initiative by ABC, all six FM stations dropped the "Love" progressive rock format and each adopted album-oriented rock formats. At age 19, Jim Kerr hosted mornings at WDAI and did additional work at WLS before finding future success at WPLJ and WAXQ. WDAI became the original Chicago radio home of Steve Dahl in January 1978, and used the slogan "Chicago's Best Rock" with the Morning Sickness with Steve Dahl.
WDAI switched to all-disco as "Disco DAI" at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Day, 1979, marking the switch by going from Don McLean's "American Pie" to "Staying Alive" by the Bee Gees. Steve Dahl would wind up the morning host at former crosstown rival WLUP, and would anchor the "Disco Demolition Night" promotion in July 1979, that would later be cited as a harbinger for the genre's popular collapse in America during 1980. The station stayed with the disco craze until 7 am on May 22, 1980, when, after stunting by playing Donna Summer's "Last Dance" on a loop, 94.7 became WRCK-FM, "95 W-ROCK", a hybrid of adult Top 40 and oldies, and featured Bob Sirott in mornings for a brief time. The 1978 switch to disco was the first in a series of format changes that continued up to its switch to classic hits in October 2012.
On October 20, 1980, WRCK-FM switched to a Top 40/CHR format with a partial simulcast of WLS (AM) and changed its call sign back to WLS-FM. The simulcast included Larry Lujack during the morning drive and Brant Miller's evening show into the mid-1980s, while airing its own programming during the day. WLS-FM was thereafter programmed separately during the day and simulcast WLS (AM) at night. Both WLS-AM and WLS-FM simulcasted selected concerts from ON TV and WSNS-TV, as well as WLS-TV's local music video show "Rock On Chicago" in stereo.
WLS-FM
WLS-FM (94.7 MHz) is a commercial classic hits radio station licensed to serve Chicago, Illinois. Owned by Cumulus Media, the station serves the Chicago metropolitan area, and is the radio home of Dave Fogel. The WLS-FM studios are located at the NBC Tower in the city's Streeterville neighborhood, while its transmitter is located at Willis Tower.
The American Broadcasting Company, owners of Chicago's ABC Radio Network affiliate WENR (890 AM)—which operated in a time-share arrangement with WLS (890 AM), radio adjunct of the Prairie Farmer and itself an ABC affiliate—launched this station as WENR-FM on January 1, 1948. This time-share agreement ended in February 1954, when ABC's parent company American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres and the Prairie Farmer merged their AM stations into one, WLS becoming the surviving entity and jointly owned by both. WENR-FM retained its callsign but began simulcasting WLS's programming, later adopting its own separate programming formats (which included classical and Broadway theater show tunes) for part of the day. ABC purchased the Prairie Farmer in November 1959, giving it sole ownership of WLS and WENR-FM.
In 1964, WENR-FM became WLS-FM, with a beautiful music format broadcasting in stereo from noon to midnight, as well as Blackhawks home games. By 1968, WLS-FM expanded its hours on the air to 6 a.m. to Midnight, simulcasting WLS (AM)'s Clark Weber morning show from 6 to 8 a.m. and carrying Don McNeill's Breakfast Club from 8 to 9 a.m.
In the summer of 1968, WLS-FM experimented with a locally produced underground progressive rock show. Dubbed "Spoke", and using the tag-line "The Flash That Holds The Wheel Of Life Together", the program aired from 10 p.m. to midnight and featured unnamed announcers using stage-whisper delivery laden with plate reverb, obtuse biker-style free verse intros delivered over backgrounds of electronic music, mid-eastern music and sound effects. It was replaced in 1969 with a syndicated program from the ABC Radio Network entitled "Love", voice-tracked by "Brother John" Rydgren, and which aired from 7 p.m. to 1 am. Shortly afterward, WLS-FM adopted a full-time progressive rock format.
In 1970, ABC decided to change the call signs on all of their FM radio stations to distinguish them from their co-owned AM (and excluding two markets, TV) counterparts; this not only included WLS-FM, but WABC-FM in New York City, WXYZ-FM in Detroit, KXYZ-FM in Houston, KGO-FM in San Francisco, and KQV-FM in Pittsburgh. While ABC had originally selected WXAI as a replacement call sign for WLS-FM, WDAI for WXYZ-FM, and WRIF for WABC-FM, the FCC instead assigned WRIF as WXYZ-FM's replacement, and renamed WLS-FM as WDAI; WABC-FM selected WPLJ as a replacement call sign.
As part of this new FM initiative by ABC, all six FM stations dropped the "Love" progressive rock format and each adopted album-oriented rock formats. At age 19, Jim Kerr hosted mornings at WDAI and did additional work at WLS before finding future success at WPLJ and WAXQ. WDAI became the original Chicago radio home of Steve Dahl in January 1978, and used the slogan "Chicago's Best Rock" with the Morning Sickness with Steve Dahl.
WDAI switched to all-disco as "Disco DAI" at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Day, 1979, marking the switch by going from Don McLean's "American Pie" to "Staying Alive" by the Bee Gees. Steve Dahl would wind up the morning host at former crosstown rival WLUP, and would anchor the "Disco Demolition Night" promotion in July 1979, that would later be cited as a harbinger for the genre's popular collapse in America during 1980. The station stayed with the disco craze until 7 am on May 22, 1980, when, after stunting by playing Donna Summer's "Last Dance" on a loop, 94.7 became WRCK-FM, "95 W-ROCK", a hybrid of adult Top 40 and oldies, and featured Bob Sirott in mornings for a brief time. The 1978 switch to disco was the first in a series of format changes that continued up to its switch to classic hits in October 2012.
On October 20, 1980, WRCK-FM switched to a Top 40/CHR format with a partial simulcast of WLS (AM) and changed its call sign back to WLS-FM. The simulcast included Larry Lujack during the morning drive and Brant Miller's evening show into the mid-1980s, while airing its own programming during the day. WLS-FM was thereafter programmed separately during the day and simulcast WLS (AM) at night. Both WLS-AM and WLS-FM simulcasted selected concerts from ON TV and WSNS-TV, as well as WLS-TV's local music video show "Rock On Chicago" in stereo.