WZZN
Encyclopedia
- For the radio station in The Village, OklahomaThe Village, OklahomaThe Village is a city in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, United States, and a part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. The population was 10,157 at the 2000 census.-Geography:The Village is located at ....
, see WWLS-FMWWLS-FMWWLS-FM is a radio station broadcasting a Sports radio format. Licensed to The Village, Oklahoma, USA, the station serves the Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA, area...
.
WLS-FM 94.7 FM is a Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
oldies
Oldies
Oldies is a term commonly used to describe a radio format that concentrates on music from a period of about 15 to 55 years before the present day....
radio station playing the hits of the late '50s, through the early '80s. The station was founded by ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, and was sold (along with the rest of ABC's non-Radio Disney
Radio Disney
Radio Disney is a radio network based in Burbank, California and headquartered out of the Disney Channel headquarters on West Alameda Ave., from where it has been based since November 2008. Prior to that, the network was based in Dallas, Texas...
and ESPN Radio
ESPN Radio
ESPN Radio is an American sports radio network. It was launched on January 1, 1992 under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN." ESPN Radio is located at ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut...
stations) by Disney
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
to Citadel Broadcasting
Citadel Broadcasting
Citadel Broadcasting Corporation was a Las Vegas, Nevada-based broadcast holding company. Citadel owned 243 radio stations across the United States and was the third-largest radio station owner in the country...
in 2007; it is now owned by Cumulus Media
Cumulus Media
Cumulus Media, Inc. is the second largest Owner and Operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States, behind Clear Channel Communications, operating 570 stations in 150 markets as of September 16, 2011. The company also owns Cumulus Media Networks...
, following its 2011 merger with Citadel. The station switched to oldies
Oldies
Oldies is a term commonly used to describe a radio format that concentrates on music from a period of about 15 to 55 years before the present day....
on September 26, 2005, first carrying only syndicated "The True Oldies Channel
The True Oldies Channel
The True Oldies Channel is a syndicated radio programming stream begun in the spring of 2004, hosted by American radio personality Scott Shannon...
" programming, but later adding local personalities including Rock and Roll Hall of Fame disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
s John Landecker
John Landecker
John Records Landecker is a Top40/Oldies disc jockey best known for creating "Boogie Check," "Americana Panorama," and satirical songs and bits based on current events such as "Make a Date with the Watergate," and "Press My Conference." He currently hosts a TKO Radio Networks syndicated weekend...
, Scott Shannon
Scott Shannon
Michael Scott Shannon is a radio disc jockey, current co-host of the "Scott and Todd in the Morning" show on WPLJ, host of The True Oldies Channel, and the official voice of The Sean Hannity Show.-Early Radio Career:...
, Dick Biondi
Dick Biondi
Dick Biondi is an American Top 40 and Oldies disc jockey. Calling himself "The Wild I-tralian", he was one of the original "screamers," known for his screaming delivery as well as his wild antics on the air and off. In a 1988 interview, Biondi related he had been fired 23 times; both fits of...
, along with Greg Brown, Danny Lake and Dave Fogel. The station's official callsign changed to WLS-FM again on June 26, 2008.
History
94.7 began in the 1950s as WENR-FM, simulcasting the audio of sister TV station WBKB-TVWLS-TV
WLS-TV, virtual channel 7, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, located in Chicago, Illinois, USA. The station operates their full power digital operations on UHF channel 44, with their digital fill-in translator on VHF channel...
, as well as programming classical
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
and Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
show tunes. The station was operated out of a broom closet with minimal personnel in hopes that FM broadcasting
FM broadcasting
FM broadcasting is a broadcasting technology pioneered by Edwin Howard Armstrong which uses frequency modulation to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. The term "FM band" describes the "frequency band in which FM is used for broadcasting"...
would grow.
In 1965, WENR-FM became WLS-FM with a beautiful music
Beautiful music
Beautiful music is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in American radio from the 1960s through the 1980s...
format broadcasting in stereo from noon to midnight as well as Blackhawks
Chicago Blackhawks
The Chicago Blackhawks are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . They have won four Stanley Cup championships since their founding in 1926, most recently coming in 2009-10...
home games. By 1968, WLS-FM expanded its hours on the air from 6 a.m. to midnight, simulcasting sister AM WLS
WLS (AM)
WLS is a Chicago clear-channel AM station on 890 kHz. It uses C-QUAM AM stereo and transmits with 50,000 watts from transmitter and towers on the south edge of Tinley Park, Illinois....
's Clark Weber
Clark Weber
Clark Weber has been an American radio personality in Chicago, Illinois. He runs his own radio advertising consultancy, Clark Weber Associates. In July 2008 he published a book, Clark Weber's Rock and Roll Radio: The Fun Years, 1955-1975...
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
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
show. Dubbed Spoke, the program aired from 10 PM to 12 midnight. It was replaced in 1969 with a syndicated program from the ABC Radio Network entitled Love which aired from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. Shortly afterwards, WLS-FM adopted a full-time progressive rock format.
The frequency adopted an AOR
Album-oriented rock
Album-oriented rock is an American FM radio format focusing on album tracks by rock artists.-Music played:Most radio formats are based on a select, tight rotation of hit singles...
format as WLS-FM became WDAI in 1971 in order to establish a separate identity from sister stations WLS AM
WLS (AM)
WLS is a Chicago clear-channel AM station on 890 kHz. It uses C-QUAM AM stereo and transmits with 50,000 watts from transmitter and towers on the south edge of Tinley Park, Illinois....
and WLS-TV
WLS-TV
WLS-TV, virtual channel 7, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, located in Chicago, Illinois, USA. The station operates their full power digital operations on UHF channel 44, with their digital fill-in translator on VHF channel...
. The joke at the time was that "DAI" stood for "Develop An Identity". WDAI call letters had originally been intended for Detroit
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
's WXYZ-FM (ABC had requested WXIF for Chicago), but the FCC instead assigned WDAI to replace WLS-FM and WRIF
WRIF
WRIF — branded 101 WRIF: The RIFF — is a commercial active rock radio station licensed by the FCC to operate in Detroit, Michigan serving surrounding Metro Detroit. The station is currently owned by Greater Boston Radio, Inc. WRIF is a grandfathered Class B station with a signal equivalent to...
to WXYZ-FM. Both call letter changes were part of ABC's 1971 AOR
Album-oriented rock
Album-oriented rock is an American FM radio format focusing on album tracks by rock artists.-Music played:Most radio formats are based on a select, tight rotation of hit singles...
format conversions in New York, Chicago, Detroit, and Los Angeles.
WDAI became the original radio home of Steve Dahl
Steve Dahl
Steven Robert Dahl has been an American radio personality and humorist for more than thirty years. He is currently podcasting, and releases the podcasts for download daily from his own website as well as the iTunes store...
in January 1978, and used the tagline "Chicago's Best Rock with the Morning Sickness with Steve Dahl.
WDAI switched to all-disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
as Disco "DAI" in December 1978 and stayed with the disco craze until mid-1980, when it flipped to WRCK FM 95 featuring Bob Sirott in mornings for a brief time. The 1978 flip to disco was the first in a series of ill-fated format changes that continued up to its most recent switch to oldies
Oldies
Oldies is a term commonly used to describe a radio format that concentrates on music from a period of about 15 to 55 years before the present day....
in September 2005.
In late 1980, WRCK-FM initiated a simulcast of 890 WLS (AM) and flipped its call letters back to WLS-FM in December 1980. WLS-FM 94.7 simulcast 890's Top 40/rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
format morning drive (Larry Lujack
Larry Lujack
Larry Lujack , a Top 40 Music radio disc jockey, was known for his world-weary sarcastic style, "Klunk Letter of the Day" and darkly humorous "Animal Stories" along with "sidekick Little Tommy", and "Cheap Trashy Show Biz Report." He was also referred to as Superjock, Lawrence of Chicago, Uncle...
) and evening programming (Brant Miller
Brant Miller
Brant Miller is a meteorologist for NBC owned and operated television station WMAQ-TV in Chicago. At WMAQ-TV he is the meteorologist on NBC 5 News at 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 10 p.m and now at 4:30 p.m....
) into the mid-1980s. WLS-FM was programmed separately during the day and simulcast 890 at night.
In 1986, WLS-FM broke away from AM and became known as WYTZ "Z-95". Initially, the station played Top 40 and rock but by the late 1980s, the station was more mainstream, as competitor B96
WBBM-FM
WBBM-FM, known on air as "B96", is a Rhythmic Contemporary outlet in Chicago, Illinois with a Rhythmic based playlist. The station is owned by CBS Radio and broadcasts at 96.3 MHz with an ERP of 4.2 kW. WBBM's main competition is WKSC-FM "103.5 Kiss FM", as well as urban rivals WGCI-FM &...
increasingly focused on R&B and dance music. WYTZ, also known later as "Hell" (an aborted and controversial one-week stunt) and Hot 94.7, could not withstand the competition from WBBM-FM
WBBM-FM
WBBM-FM, known on air as "B96", is a Rhythmic Contemporary outlet in Chicago, Illinois with a Rhythmic based playlist. The station is owned by CBS Radio and broadcasts at 96.3 MHz with an ERP of 4.2 kW. WBBM's main competition is WKSC-FM "103.5 Kiss FM", as well as urban rivals WGCI-FM &...
, "B96".
After a couple years of very low ratings, WYTZ again became WLS-FM in 1991 and became a talk station simulcasting 890 WLS much of the time. After still achieving low ratings, WLS-FM separated from WLS again in 1995. The station took a country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
format and became "Kicks 94.7" WKXK just after Christmas of 1995. Unfortunately, Infinity (now CBS Radio
CBS Radio
CBS Radio, Inc., formerly known as Infinity Broadcasting Corporation, is one of the largest owners and operators of radio stations in the United States, third behind main rival Clear Channel Communications and Cumulus Media. CBS Radio owns around 130 radio stations across the country...
) station WUSN
WUSN
WUSN is an FM radio station in Chicago, Illinois, The station broadcasts on 99.5 MHz and is a country radio station owned by CBS Radio. The station focuses on country music from the '90s, along with current product and some classic country from the '70s and '80s.-99.5 WEFM/99-"We" FM:Until 1978,...
continued to do well as the heritage country station while WKXK was unable to even achieve mediocre ratings.
Early in May 1997, WKXK dropped the country format and changed call letters to WXCD, and became known as "CD94.7" WXCD and broadcasted a broad-based classic rock
Classic rock
Classic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on the hard rock genre that peaked in popularity in the...
format (similar to today's 97.1 The Drive
WDRV
WDRV is a radio station in Chicago, Illinois. The station is currently owned by Hubbard Broadcasting, and simulcasts on WWDV . "The Drive" programs a broad-based classic rock format called "Timeless Rock"...
). After some early ratings success at WXCD, former heritage classic rocker WLUP
WLUP
WLUP-FM is a commercial classic rock radio station serving the Chicago metropolitan area. Owned and operated by Merlin Media, LLC, WLUP transmits its signal from an antenna located the top of the Willis Tower in Downtown Chicago at a height of with an effective radiated power of 4,000 watts...
, which had earlier switched to an adult contemporary format, returned to the classic rock format as a direct competitor of WXCD, causing mediocre ratings at WXCD until 2000.
On November 29, 2000, WXCD abruptly dropped classic rock for an 80's hits format and "The Zone" identifier, and assumed the new call sign WZZN. As "The Zone," the station broadcasted 80s music that leaned to rock and uptempo pop. By 2001, the station had evolved into a gold-based modern rock
Modern rock
Modern rock is a rock format commonly found on commercial radio; the format consists primarily of the alternative rock genre...
/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....
format. In September 2001, the Zone morphed again to alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
to take on Q-101 WKQX, which previously had the genre to itself.
By 2003, "The Zone" again evolved into more of an active rock
Active rock
Active rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations across the United States and Canada. Active rock plays contemporary rock artists with a mix of songs common in the classic rock radio format.-Format background:...
format, all the while using "94.7 The Zone" as its handle, and positioning itself on the air as "the hardest rock on the planet". The station continued to flounder in the ratings. By 2004
2004 in radio
The year 2004 saw a number of significant events in radio broadcasting history.-Events:*30 October - In the UK a 163-metre-high radio mast at Peterborough collapses in a fire.-Debuts:...
, the station began beating WKQX with the shift to active rock
Active rock
Active rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations across the United States and Canada. Active rock plays contemporary rock artists with a mix of songs common in the classic rock radio format.-Format background:...
, but yet beaten again by WKQX during the Spring/Summer 2005
2005 in radio
The year 2005 in radio involved some significant events.-Events:*April 29 - KFRC 610 AM in San Francisco, switches formats as a result of ownership change. KFRC becomes KEAR, the "Sound of the New Life", a listener-supported, gospel/religious only station. It had been previously KFRC from...
when WDRV
WDRV
WDRV is a radio station in Chicago, Illinois. The station is currently owned by Hubbard Broadcasting, and simulcasts on WWDV . "The Drive" programs a broad-based classic rock format called "Timeless Rock"...
moved from classic hits
Classic hits
Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes rock and pop music from 1964 to 1989. The term is sometimes erroneously used as a synonym for the adult hits format, but is more accurately characterized as a contemporary style of the oldies format...
to classic rock
Classic rock
Classic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on the hard rock genre that peaked in popularity in the...
and WLUP-FM from classic rock to mainstream rock
Mainstream rock
Mainstream rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada.-Format background:...
.
After long-time oldies station WJMK dropped its 60's/70's oldies
Oldies
Oldies is a term commonly used to describe a radio format that concentrates on music from a period of about 15 to 55 years before the present day....
format in June 2005 for a variety hits format called "Jack FM
Jack FM
JACK FM is the alternative name and on-air brand of 60 radio stations in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Russia. Jack stations play a mix of 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s hits with some current hot adult contemporary singles. Jack's slogan "playing what we want" can also be...
", WZZN dropped its active rock format (and finally ditched "The Zone" handle) at Noon on September 26, 2005 for an oldies format (The True Oldies Channel
The True Oldies Channel
The True Oldies Channel is a syndicated radio programming stream begun in the spring of 2004, hosted by American radio personality Scott Shannon...
) playing the hits of 1964 to 1969 with some 1955-1964 hits and some early 70s hits mixed in. This change made WZZN the only oldies station on the FM dial in Chicago. The format then was strictly off of ABC's satellite "The True Oldies Channel
The True Oldies Channel
The True Oldies Channel is a syndicated radio programming stream begun in the spring of 2004, hosted by American radio personality Scott Shannon...
". In 2006, the station added some local air personalities who were previously at WJMK when it was an oldies station. Ratings have been good for this format.
In 2007, Walt Disney Company sold its ABC Radio radio division, including WLS (AM)
WLS (AM)
WLS is a Chicago clear-channel AM station on 890 kHz. It uses C-QUAM AM stereo and transmits with 50,000 watts from transmitter and towers on the south edge of Tinley Park, Illinois....
and WZZN, to Citadel Broadcasting
Citadel Broadcasting
Citadel Broadcasting Corporation was a Las Vegas, Nevada-based broadcast holding company. Citadel owned 243 radio stations across the United States and was the third-largest radio station owner in the country...
. On June 19, 2008
2008 in radio
Several events occurred in radio in 2008.- Events :* January 2: WWFT finished Christmas music stunting, rolling out the red carpet for Adult contemporary music branded as "Warm."...
, Citadel announced that WZZN would become once again WLS-FM. The WZZN call letters were dropped at midnight on June 25, 2008, and as of 12:01am on June 26, 2008, the station has officially been known as WLS-FM. The idea was to bring back the heritage of WLS and its old Top 40 format and jingles. The station is now positioned as "94.7 WLS-FM" with the slogan "Chicago's Greatest Hits Of All Time." Citadel merged with Cumulus Media
Cumulus Media
Cumulus Media, Inc. is the second largest Owner and Operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States, behind Clear Channel Communications, operating 570 stations in 150 markets as of September 16, 2011. The company also owns Cumulus Media Networks...
on September 16, 2011.