Posted by chicagomedia.org on July 30, 2009 at 10:09:49:
Chicago radio legend chats it up at WIMS
July 30, 2009
By Bob Kostanczuk, Post-Tribune staff writer
It's been a while since John Landecker's heyday in the 1970s as a hero of rock 'n' roll radio in Chicago. But, at 62, he's still putting his wit and knowledge to work on an afternoon-drive show at WIMS-AM (1420) in Michigan City. Having launched his 3-6 p.m. weekday gig last month, Landecker brings along a resume that includes national recognition as Billboard magazine's 1976 Personality of the Year in radio.
Working evenings at Chicago's WLS-AM during the '70s, Landecker was a disc jockey who played pop music for kids, but he didn't necessarily act the part.
"I think one of the reasons that my performance at WLS stood out from some of the other nighttime presentations was that I was not about being a teenybopper," Landecker said in an interview this month. "I was about political satire and taking phone calls and goofin' off."
Not that much has changed.
"I'm still pretty much into political satire, taking phone calls and goofin' off," he laughed.
While cementing his standing as a young DJ to be reckoned with, Landecker kept an eye on what was in the newspapers.
He did imitations of President Richard Nixon. He was topical.
Additionally, he interacted with his audience in ways that went beyond the caller's favorite record or band.
"I took phone calls from kids that had nothing to do with taking a request or making a dedication," noted the man who's recognized in a radio-exhibit section of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland.
A signature Landecker bit was "Boogie Check," a quick-fire string of phone calls from listeners.
"The calls were not screened; it wasn't edited," the broadcaster recalled. "It moved very, very rapidly."
Landecker said such a sequence of live call-ins was unusual for AM rock stations at the time.
At WIMS, talk -- not music -- is Landecker's focus, as he conveys the "live and local feel" that is coveted by Ric Federighi, the station's general manager.
Federighi has previously worked in the radio business with Landecker, who keeps interaction with callers rolling, while relying on time-tested instincts to keep the show fresh and spontaneous.
"It's free-form, so if John does want to play music, he can," Federighi said. "He's a wealth of knowledge."
Residing in LaPorte County, between Michigan City and the Michigan border, Landecker had already lived near WIMS for a few years when he took the afternoon job with the station's "Live and Local" talk show.
"I've known Ric Federighi for years, and it just seemed like the right thing to do," Landecker, a father and grandfather, said. "It was right down the road. I don't pay for parking. I have a 10-minute commute -- and it's a very refreshing environment."
A core enticement was the chance to make that "reconnection as to why I got into radio to begin with."
At 5,000 watts, WIMS is neither a big-city nor national force, but it does represent a key service that radio has historically provided.
"It's an opportunity to go back to what I consider to be the basics of broadcasting and that is local radio for the community that the radio station is in," Landecker said.
With offices at 720 Franklin St. in Michigan City, WIMS does high school sports -- and Landecker talks Northwest Indiana issues.
When he was spinning Top 40 singles on WLS, Landecker was able to craft an image, as well as keep the public happy with rock records.
Beginning his stint at WLS in 1972, he became wildly popular as John Records Landecker, wielding a catchphrase that cleared up any misconceptions: "Records truly is my middle name."
But the golden age of recognizable rock jocks did not last.
"The way music is presented on the radio has changed drastically over the years," Landecker said. "When I played music on the radio, it was a combination of someone playing music, but also being a personality. That is long gone."
Formats splintered into a multitude of genres -- classic rock, light rock, alternative, urban-contemporary, modern rock ... and so on.
"With each new niche came fewer opportunities for people to be personalities, along with the music," the radio veteran said.
Music -- often times much more of it -- took the luster from the DJ.
But the chatter of Landecker is the anchor for "Live and Local," which features Paula Griffin as co-host.
Griffin, a Michigan City resident, said it's "major fun" to be on the air with Landecker.
"He's a true professional," the 56-year-old broadcaster said. "It's an honor to work with him."
Humor often drives the proceedings. There has, for instance, been on-air discussion about the 1971 song "One Toke Over the Line" being performed on "The Lawrence Welk Show." Known for presenting a conservative television program, Mr. Welk apparently did not know that "toke" is a marijuana reference. Griffin said WIMS listeners heard audio of the "Toke" song being sung on Welk's show. Welk called it a "modern spiritual."
Landecker can also call on his extensive broadcasting background for quirky stories.
This month, Landecker reminisced about radio stations he's worked at where those in charge hired "the youngest, hottest women" for their sales departments.
"You can sell lug nuts, if there's a woman in a bikini," assured Griffin, who doubles as local-news dispenser for the afternoon drive.
With a signal that sweeps from southwest Michigan, west into Lake County, WIMS is banking on Landecker and Griffin to stake their claim as the region's dynamic duo of news/talk.
"We have just really sort of clicked, for lack of a better term," Landecker summed up.
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Extras
On the air
John Landecker and Paula Griffin have a talk show called "Live and Local" from 3 to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, on WIMS-AM (1420) in Michigan City.
Visit www.wimsradio.com to listen to the pair live, online.
* A best-of recap -- "Live and Local Rewind" -- airs 3 to 6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays on WIMS.
* Landecker also has a noon to 2 p.m. talk show on Saturdays at Chicago's WLS-AM (890) -- the station that made him famous in the 1970s.
* On another front, he hosts a nationally syndicated music show called "Into the '70s," which is broadcast 7 p.m. to midnight Sundays on Chicago's WLS-FM (94.7).
'Records' is his middle name
Not long after hitting Chicago in the early '70s as a cool jock at WLS, John Records Landecker grabbed a foothold as the DJ with that unusual middle name. "That's my mother's maiden name, and it is my middle name, and it's on my birth certificate," Landecker said. "It's the name I was born with. It was my grandfather's last name: William J. Records was a farmer in southern Indiana."