Chicago Radio (& TV)
This past week reminds me of when I was a teenager and school was called off because of snow. I often spent the spare time in my room, reading, playing and listening to the radio.
No, I did not listen to the great rock and roll songs of the late 1970s. I was often listening to WGN radio. These people were my friends, including Wally Phillips, Roy Leonard, Bill Berg, Floyd Brown and, of course, best of all, Robert L. (as in “loveable”) Collins.
I discovered WGN through my dad. Dad often drove us somewhere. Sometimes we were driven to school. On the weekends we were often taken to old car shows. Dad liked to listen to WGN in the car.
Wally Phillips had a program that young people could appreciate. He had these drop-in voices that he had on cartridges and were speckled throughout the show. Voices included Tonto, politicians and comedians added spice to the deadpan sound he offered. Harry Shearer does a similar thing today, although on a much smaller scale, by having tapes of Dick Chaney saying “I shot Harry,” pop up every so often on his program, “LeShow”.
Snow days remind me of these people and WGN still has a good lineup of friends with whom you can enjoy and relate. John Williams is my personal favorite, but Spike O’Dell and Steve Cochran do a great job, as do the mid-day team of Kathy and Judy.
For a couple years now I have wished for a consummate website that kept up with the changes in Chicago radio. I believe I have finally found it.
http://chicagoradiotv.com is a relatively new site. It looks like it started last fall.
It is a blog, and is pretty bare-bones, but I like that. It has a number of links to great Chicago area radio information. Mostly it talks about the comings and goings of the current people working in the Chicago market.
Although it calls itself “radio & TV”, it looks like mostly a radio blog. Since it has only been available a few short months, there are not many people responding with comments (like my blog here), but I imagine that will change soon.
If you have an interest in Chicago radio and the people, both past and present, check it out!
No, I did not listen to the great rock and roll songs of the late 1970s. I was often listening to WGN radio. These people were my friends, including Wally Phillips, Roy Leonard, Bill Berg, Floyd Brown and, of course, best of all, Robert L. (as in “loveable”) Collins.
I discovered WGN through my dad. Dad often drove us somewhere. Sometimes we were driven to school. On the weekends we were often taken to old car shows. Dad liked to listen to WGN in the car.
Wally Phillips had a program that young people could appreciate. He had these drop-in voices that he had on cartridges and were speckled throughout the show. Voices included Tonto, politicians and comedians added spice to the deadpan sound he offered. Harry Shearer does a similar thing today, although on a much smaller scale, by having tapes of Dick Chaney saying “I shot Harry,” pop up every so often on his program, “LeShow”.
Snow days remind me of these people and WGN still has a good lineup of friends with whom you can enjoy and relate. John Williams is my personal favorite, but Spike O’Dell and Steve Cochran do a great job, as do the mid-day team of Kathy and Judy.
For a couple years now I have wished for a consummate website that kept up with the changes in Chicago radio. I believe I have finally found it.
http://chicagoradiotv.com is a relatively new site. It looks like it started last fall.
It is a blog, and is pretty bare-bones, but I like that. It has a number of links to great Chicago area radio information. Mostly it talks about the comings and goings of the current people working in the Chicago market.
Although it calls itself “radio & TV”, it looks like mostly a radio blog. Since it has only been available a few short months, there are not many people responding with comments (like my blog here), but I imagine that will change soon.
If you have an interest in Chicago radio and the people, both past and present, check it out!
Labels: Entertainment
posted by Alexander Dimm | 5:57 AM
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