Posted by Jeremy Andrews on October 04, 2009 at 11:39:04:
I pulled out an old tape of 106.7 WYLL dated 10-26-00
It was recorded between 2AM and 4AM which was the only time they played music. It was syndicated from Salem's "Today's Christian Music" although they were still refering to it as its original positioner "The WORD In Music"
WYLL was still Salem's standalone station.
I still cannot believe this was almost 9 years ago.
My point of this thread the biggest shakeups in Chicago radio probably for the entire decade were soon to come, and that's nearing 10 years already.
First, Salem bought 1160 from Infinity. First they simmulcasted 106.7, then 106.7 disappeared from the FM dial for a week before becoming 106.7 The Fish. They also simmulcasted WYLL on their newly accuired 540 in Milwaukee.
End of 2000 led to the launch of "94.7 The Zone" the 2nd round of 80s music in Chicago
1-12-01 was the day "Kiss 103.5" hit the air. Few weeks later the infamous (or famous) Energy 92-7&5 was launched. Towermate with 106.7 and 92.7 103.1 WXXY flipped to Spanish around the same time and hasn't spoke English since.
March 2001 brought K-Love onto 94.3 while 820 was stunting with what would now be considered "Variety Hits" and later "One On One Sports" now "Sporting News Radio" would hit the 820 airwaves. Skip ahead....820's sister stations known as "Nine FM" now simmulcast 820. 820 seems to have pioneered what "Nine FM" was.
February 2001 brought the end of WNIB "Classical 97" while end of March 2001 brought on the beginning of "The Drive" which started out as a mainly 60s-70s Oldies format as we would normally hear on oldies stations today.
March 2001 also brought K-Love to 94.3 as mentioned above and 106.7 returned to the air as "The Fish" both within days of each other.
We entered the decade we're about to leave with a huge shakeup that helped define this decade in Chicago radio. What's next for 2010?