WTMX
Encyclopedia
WTMX is an adult top 40 radio station
licensed to Skokie, IL in the Chicago market. It is owned by Hubbard Broadcasting.
" format for years. The station played easy listening
renditions of pop standards/other songs along with a few vocalists and AC
artists. The station dropped the instrumentals in the late 1970s and became a very Soft AC station still known as MOR playing a blend of easy listening vocals and soft pop songs from the '50s to '70s.
By the early 1980s, the station evolved to a straight-ahead AC format with studios located at 8833 Gross Point Road in Skokie, Illinois
. WCLR was "Chicago's Lite Rock" from about 1982 until 1989. The station was best known for its soft rock
and lite rock starsets in the 1980s and their Saturday night all-request oldies program.
In 1989, WCLR moved to a hot AC format, changed its call letters to WTMX, and became known as "The Mix". By 1995, WTMX had moved its studios to the Prudential Building in downtown Chicago and began leaning more toward modern rock
. By 1996, the format was modern AC, basically modern rock
without any hard rock
. They played more female vocalists and '80s retro music than most modern rock
stations and were hot AC in tempo and presentation.
In September 1996, The Mix debuted the Eric & Kathy morning show fronted by Chicago natives Eric Ferguson and Kathy Hart. They have boasted strong listenership among advertiser-coveted 25-to-54-year-old females for most of their tenure at the station. The key to the success of this entertainment based, lifestyle driven show has been its ability to keep the content edgy enough to engage grownups but clean enough to sail right over the heads of youngsters. On any given week The Eric & Kathy Show will feature interviews with top Hollywood celebrities, including Reese Witherspoon
, Oprah, Vince Vaughn
, Matthew McConaughey
and others. In addition to celebrated guests, the show has played host to live performances from platinum selling, chart topping artists like Goo Goo Dolls
, Pink
, Dave Matthews
, Bon Jovi
, John Mayer
, Lenny Kravitz
and others.
In February 2006, WTMX began broadcasting in HD Radio
. WTMX's HD-2 format features music from independent, unsigned bands called "iChannel". Both streams are broadcast on the web along with an all 80's channel called "Totally 80s"
Also in 2006, WTMX evolved toward an adult top 40 format with the addition of pop-crossover music by artists such as Rihanna, Justin Timberlake and Timbaland, while still retaining many of the modern AC artists they have been playing since 1996.
Bonneville International
announced the sale of WTMX, as well as 16 other stations, to Hubbard Broadcasting on January 19, 2011. The sale was completed on April 29, 2011.
Current roster includes: Eric Ferguson, Kathy Hart and Melissa McGurren (mornings), Cara Carriveau (middays), Koz (afternoons), Erin Carman (evenings), Mike Roberts (overnight)
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
licensed to Skokie, IL in the Chicago market. It is owned by Hubbard Broadcasting.
History
Former call letters were WCLR. WCLR surfaced on the 101.9 frequency in December 1970; prior to that, its call sign was WRSV (for Radio Skokie Valley). The station ran a "beautiful musicBeautiful music
Beautiful music is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in American radio from the 1960s through the 1980s...
" format for years. The station played easy listening
Easy listening
Easy listening is a broad style of popular music and radio format that emerged in the 1950s, evolving out of big band music, and related to MOR music as played on many AM radio stations. It encompasses the exotica, beautiful music, light music, lounge music, ambient music, and space age pop genres...
renditions of pop standards/other songs along with a few vocalists and AC
Adult contemporary music
Adult contemporary music is a broad style of popular music that ranges from lush 1950s and 1960s vocal music to predominantly ballad-heavy music with varying degrees of rock influence, as well as a radio format that plays such music....
artists. The station dropped the instrumentals in the late 1970s and became a very Soft AC station still known as MOR playing a blend of easy listening vocals and soft pop songs from the '50s to '70s.
By the early 1980s, the station evolved to a straight-ahead AC format with studios located at 8833 Gross Point Road in Skokie, Illinois
Skokie, Illinois
Skokie is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Its name comes from a Native American word for "fire". A Chicago suburb, for many years Skokie promoted itself as "The World's Largest Village". Its population, per the 2000 census, was 63,348...
. WCLR was "Chicago's Lite Rock" from about 1982 until 1989. The station was best known for its soft rock
Soft rock
Soft rock is a style of music which uses the techniques of rock music to compose a softer, more toned-down sound. Soft rock songs generally tend to focus on themes like love, everyday life and relationships. The genre tends to make heavy use of acoustic guitars, pianos, synthesizers and sometimes...
and lite rock starsets in the 1980s and their Saturday night all-request oldies program.
In 1989, WCLR moved to a hot AC format, changed its call letters to WTMX, and became known as "The Mix". By 1995, WTMX had moved its studios to the Prudential Building in downtown Chicago and began leaning more toward modern rock
Modern rock
Modern rock is a rock format commonly found on commercial radio; the format consists primarily of the alternative rock genre...
. By 1996, the format was modern AC, basically modern rock
Modern rock
Modern rock is a rock format commonly found on commercial radio; the format consists primarily of the alternative rock genre...
without any hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
. They played more female vocalists and '80s retro music than most modern rock
Modern rock
Modern rock is a rock format commonly found on commercial radio; the format consists primarily of the alternative rock genre...
stations and were hot AC in tempo and presentation.
In September 1996, The Mix debuted the Eric & Kathy morning show fronted by Chicago natives Eric Ferguson and Kathy Hart. They have boasted strong listenership among advertiser-coveted 25-to-54-year-old females for most of their tenure at the station. The key to the success of this entertainment based, lifestyle driven show has been its ability to keep the content edgy enough to engage grownups but clean enough to sail right over the heads of youngsters. On any given week The Eric & Kathy Show will feature interviews with top Hollywood celebrities, including Reese Witherspoon
Reese Witherspoon
Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon , better known as Reese Witherspoon, is an American actress and film producer. Witherspoon landed her first feature role as the female lead in the film The Man in the Moon in 1991; later that year she made her television acting debut, in the cable movie Wildflower...
, Oprah, Vince Vaughn
Vince Vaughn
Vincent Anthony "Vince" Vaughn is an American film actor, screenwriter, producer and comedian. He began acting in the late 1980s, appearing in minor television roles before attaining wider recognition with the 1996 movie Swingers...
, Matthew McConaughey
Matthew McConaughey
Matthew David McConaughey is an American actor.After a series of minor roles in the early 1990s, McConaughey gained notice for his breakout role in Dazed and Confused . He then appeared in films such as A Time to Kill, Contact, U-571, Tiptoes, Sahara, and We Are Marshall...
and others. In addition to celebrated guests, the show has played host to live performances from platinum selling, chart topping artists like Goo Goo Dolls
Goo Goo Dolls
The Goo Goo Dolls are a Grammy-nominated American rock band formed in 1986 in Buffalo, New York, by vocalist and guitarist John Rzeznik and vocalist and bass guitarist Robby Takac. Since the end of 1994, Mike Malinin has been the band's drummer, a position previously held by George Tutuska...
, Pink
Pink (singer)
Alecia Beth Moore , better known by her stage name Pink , is an American singer-songwriter, musician and actress....
, Dave Matthews
Dave Matthews
David John "Dave" Matthews is a South African–born American musician and occasional actor, best known as the lead vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist for the Dave Matthews Band...
, Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi is an American rock band from Sayreville, New Jersey. Formed in 1983, Bon Jovi consists of lead singer and namesake Jon Bon Jovi , guitarist Richie Sambora, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, as well as current bassist Hugh McDonald...
, John Mayer
John Mayer
John Clayton Mayer is an American pop rock and blues rock musician, singer-songwriter, recording artist, and music producer. Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut and raised in Fairfield, Connecticut, he attended Berklee College of Music in Boston. He moved to Atlanta in 1997, where he refined his...
, Lenny Kravitz
Lenny Kravitz
Leonard Albert "Lenny" Kravitz is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and arranger, whose "retro" style incorporates elements of rock, soul, R&B, funk, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, folk and ballads...
and others.
In February 2006, WTMX began broadcasting in HD Radio
HD Radio
HD Radio, which originally stood for "Hybrid Digital", is the trademark for iBiquity's in-band on-channel digital radio technology used by AM and FM radio stations to transmit audio and data via a digital signal in conjunction with their analog signals...
. WTMX's HD-2 format features music from independent, unsigned bands called "iChannel". Both streams are broadcast on the web along with an all 80's channel called "Totally 80s"
Also in 2006, WTMX evolved toward an adult top 40 format with the addition of pop-crossover music by artists such as Rihanna, Justin Timberlake and Timbaland, while still retaining many of the modern AC artists they have been playing since 1996.
Bonneville International
Bonneville International
Bonneville International Corporation is a broadcasting company wholly owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through its for-profit arm, Deseret Management Corporation...
announced the sale of WTMX, as well as 16 other stations, to Hubbard Broadcasting on January 19, 2011. The sale was completed on April 29, 2011.
Current roster includes: Eric Ferguson, Kathy Hart and Melissa McGurren (mornings), Cara Carriveau (middays), Koz (afternoons), Erin Carman (evenings), Mike Roberts (overnight)