WLUP-FM

WLUP-FM

City	Chicago, Illinois
Broadcast area	Chicago market
Branding	97.9 The Loop
Slogan	Chicago's Classic Rock
Frequency	97.9 MHz (also on HD Radio)
First air date	1950s (as WEHS)
Format	FM/HD1: Classic rock HD2: Comedy HD3: Smooth AC
ERP	4,000 watts
HAAT	425 meters (1,394 ft)
Class	B
Facility ID	73233
Callsign meaning	A play on the "Loop" branding, which is taken from The Loop, Chicago's downtown district
Former callsigns	WEHS (1950s-?) WHFC (?-1960s) WSDM (1960s-1977)
Owner	Merlin Media, LLC (operated by Cumulus Media via LMA) (Merlin Media License, LLC)
Sister stations	WKQX, WLS, WLS-FM
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	wlup.com

WLUP-FM (97.9 FM, "The Loop") is a commercial classic rock radio station serving the Chicago metropolitan area. The station is owned by Merlin Media, LLC, and is operated by Cumulus Media. WLUP transmits its signal from an antenna located atop the John Hancock Center in Downtown Chicago at a height of 1,394 feet (425 m) with an effective radiated power of 4,000 watts, while their studios are located in the NBC Tower. WLUP can be heard as far away as Kalamazoo, Michigan, which is 90 miles (140 km) from Chicago.

HD Programming

WLUP also airs HD Radio programming on two subchannels: 97.9-HD2 airs a comedy format ("Loop Laffs").

History of 97.9 FM prior to WLUP

97.9 FM signed on in the 1950s as WEHS. Richard Hoffman, owner of WHFC, in the early 1930s bought out two radio stations which shared the 1420 kc. frequency of his station: WEHS and WKBI. He revived the WEHS call letters in the late 1940s for a new FM station. WEHS broadcast background music for National Tea Grocery stores in the Chicago area. When the contract with National ran out in the mid-1950s, WEHS simulcast WHFC's foreign language and black programming for six hours a day, the minimum broadcast time to keep the license. When the Chess Brothers purchased WHFC and changed its call letters to WVON ("The Voice of the Negro"), they changed the WEHS call letters to WHFC-FM. 97.9 then simulcasted WVON 24 hours a day. In the mid-1960s, the station began airing separate programming as WSDM (which stood for "Smack Dab in the Middle", "the middle" meaning the exact middle of the FM radio dial). ^[1]They also briefly used the term "Stereo Den for Men"; the format featured all female announcers (Yvonne Daniels and Dr. Cody Sweet among others) playing light jazz and instrumental music. This light jazz & instrumental format was similar to the more recent "Smooth Jazz" formats. In the 1970s, WSDM began to mix album rock music with its light jazz. Although WVON was sold to the Potter Palmer family in the late 1960s, the Chess family held on to WSDM, which was being run by Phil Chess' son, Terry Chess.

WSDM was owned by the Chess family of Chess, Checker and Cadet Records fame through their company, L & P Broadcasting. "L" stood for Leonard Chess, who primarily ran the record labels and recording studio, while brother Phil Chess ("P") was president of the radio company. Son Terry Chess was General Manager of WSDM/WLUP through all of the 1970s, up until the time the sale of the station was FCC approved in January 1979. The radio station positioned itself as "jazzed up rock" and the "station with the girls"—a reference to the all-female air talent. Its original program director was Burt Burdeen. Among the disc jockeys were Connie Szerszen, Cindy Morgan (who later left radio, went to Los Angeles and became an actress, her career including roles in such films as Caddyshack and Tron), Danae Alexander, Linda Ellerbee, Yvonne Daniels,^[2] Dr. Cody Sweet, Kitty Loewy, Susan Payne, Janice Gears and Glorie June. There were guys on "the station with the girls", too. Announcers such as Russ James (later known as Russ Albums on the LOOP) David Witz (cousin of former WCFL General Manager Lew Witz) and Don Davis (later an air talent on WDAI/Chicago and then a Program Director for WWDC in Washington, D.C. and WCKG-FM/Chicago) appeared on WSDM in the mid-1970s. Davis made the transition from WSDM to the WLUP airstaff when the format changed in 1977.

WLUP

The call letters changed to WLUP in March 1977. The station called itself "The Loop FM98" which is what the main business district in Chicago is nicknamed. The first song on "The Loop" was "Morning Has Broken" by Cat Stevens. WLUP programmed a low-key female-friendly AOR format. Jay Blackburn was Program Director and Tommy O'Toole served as the station's first morning host and was the first Loop DJ to sign on the air. The original Loop air staff included O'Toole in mornings, William "Captain Billy" Martin in middays, Les Tracy in afternoon drive, Gregory "Greg" Budell evenings, and Don Davis overnights, alongside was WLUP's first ever Rock Girl Lorelei "Pow!" Shark as the official spokesperson and as the face of The Loop in 1978.

Hawaiian Congressman Cecil Heftel purchased the radio station in early 1979, kept the call letters, and "Loop" identifier. Lee Abrams was hired as consultant. The rock format was kept in place, but emphasis was put on harder-edged rock. Lee Abrams became the consultant, and Jesse Bullit the program director. Steve Dahl, who had been unemployed since WDAI (94.7) went to a disco format in December 1978 - and who would become the basis for one of the most infamous promotions in sports history, Disco Demolition Night - was hired for mornings in March 1979. Overnight disc jockey Matthew "Mondo" Meier was teamed with Dahl to do news; he would eventually start to use his real first name, "Garry". Garry became Steve's full-time sidekick when Buzz Kilman was hired as the newsman in 1980. Chuck Swirsky provided sports reports. Russ Albums became the voiceover artist, and later followed Sky Daniels on the air. Chicago rock veteran Mitch Michaels held the afternoon shift known as "Mitch is doing the cruise". Matt Bisbee became the Production director after Russ Albums was escalated to on-air. Steve and Garry were fired in 1981 for "assaulting community standards". A series of morning men including Matt Bisbee, Mark McEwen (who later gained national fame as a CBS network TV weatherman), and the team of R.J. Harris and Pat Still tried their hand until Jonathon "Johnny B." Brandmeier from KZZP was hired in April 1983. Kilman remained as newsman, and Bruce Wolf replaced Swirsky when he went to WGN in 1981. Steve and Garry returned in 1986 to host afternoons.

In 1985, Heftel Broadcasting bought AM 1000 WCFL, which was once a powerful CHR (Top 40) station, but then became a Christian music and teaching station. In April 1987, that station became WLUP as well, making the FM station WLUP-FM. The religious format was dropped from 1000 WLUP and the station simulcast WLUP-FM overnights. During the day, though, WLUP 1000 ran a full service rock format while focusing on talk. By 1990, the AM station would evolve to mostly talk with a few rock songs mixed in per hour. In late 1992, Heftel sold WLUP to Evergreen Media, as Heftel sold all of their English language stations in order to focus on their Spanish language properties.

By this time, WLUP-FM also began mixing more talk into the format by simulcasting morning and afternoon drive with the AM station. In September 1993, the AM station became a sports station as WMVP. WLUP-FM became WLUP again, and evolved to a talk format with a few rock songs mixed in per hour.

WLUP was one of the first stations to have the "FM talk" or "hot talk" (comedy/talk) format in the early 1990s. Some of the shows were Jonathon Brandmeier with "News-man/Blues-man" Buzz Kilman, Kevin Matthews, Danny Bonaduce, Steve Dahl and Garry Meier, Liz Wilde, Ed Schwartz and Seka. In February 1996, sister station WYNY in New York simulcasted WLUP for a day as part of a week-long stunt of simulcasting sister stations nationwide before flipping formats to rhythmic adult contemporary as WKTU. In June 1996, WMVP dropped their sports format and returned to simulcasting WLUP.

WLUP switched to a Modern AC format on September 30, 1996.^[3][4] In 1997, Evergreen and Chancellor Media merged. In order to stay under federally-mandated ownership limits, Evergreen opted to sell WLUP to Bonneville in July (which already had a Modern AC outlet in WTMX), and then switched WLUP back to a rock format on July 21 at 5 AM, after stunting with all-Who songs as part of a Who concert that previous weekend (Chancellor retained AM 1000, which aired a separate talk/sports format before it was sold to ABC Radio in 1998 and became the Chicago affiliate for ESPN Radio). (The first song under the relaunched "Loop" was "Rock and Roll" by Led Zeppelin.)^[5][6] Also that month, Jonathon Brandmeier would be released from the station (a few months later, he would join WCKG as a midday host).^[7] In June 1998, WLUP shifted to classic rock and adopted the slogan, "Classic Rock That Really Rocks". During this period, full-time on air personalities included Byrd, Steve Downes, Tim Virgin, Eddie Webb, Pete McMurray, Seaver, Cara Carriveau, Scott Loftus, Jimmy Novak, Laura Steele, Sari and Mark Zander.

Emmis Communications traded three of their stations in Phoenix to Bonneville for WLUP-FM and $70 million in 2004. While under Emmis ownership, WLUP slowly evolved into a mainstream rock format, while continuing to lean on classic rock with a harder edge.

In 2005, Emmis brought back Jonathon Brandmeier to do mornings on The Loop and hired Zakk Tyler to host afternoon drive. Erin Carmen began hosting middays in 2006.

On January 15, 2007, Chicago's NBC owned and operated station, WMAQ-TV channel 5, began a new weekday morning show called Barely Today which airs from 4:30–5 a.m. The new morning show was simulcast on WLUP-FM and hosted by Bruce Wolf, who was the former weekday morning traffic/sports anchor for WMAQ.^[8][9] The show would be cancelled five months later due to poor ratings.

On September 8, 2008, Emmis announced a programming partnership with WorldBand Media and used WLUP's HD3 signal to produce programming for the South Asian communities in 3 major cities, including Chicago.^[10] The South Asian format, known as HumDesi Radio, became available on the HD-2 signal of alternative-rock sister station WKQX.

By 2011, WLUP shifted completely to a classic rock format.

On June 21, 2011, Emmis announced that it would sell WKQX, sister station WLUP-FM, and New York's WRXP to Merlin Media, a group headed by former Tribune Company executive Randy Michaels.^[11] Emmis, who would retain a minority stake in Merlin Media, would grant Merlin a local marketing agreement to operate WKQX and WLUP-FM from July 15 until the sale to Merlin officially closed on September 1.^[12]

On May 3, 2012, Merlin added a satellite-fed version of the smooth jazz format on WLUP's HD3 subchannel (97.9-HD3).^[13] As of July 2012, the syndicated Broadcast Architecture Smooth Jazz feed has been dropped and replaced with a locally produced, automated Smooth AC format featuring a wide mix of music from Frank Sinatra to The Jackson Five in addition to instrumental contemporary jazz.

On January 3, 2014, Merlin Media announced an local marketing agreement (LMA) with Cumulus Media that would see Cumulus take over operations of WLUP-FM and sister station WIQI as well as inherit Merlin's LMA for WKQX-LP. The deal includes an option for Cumulus to purchase the stations from Merlin. The deal sees Merlin relinquish operations of its last remaining radio stations; the company had previously sold off single stations in New York City and Philadelphia in 2012 and 2013, respectively. The deal also sees an expansion of Cumulus' Chicago reach; the company already owns and operates news/talk station WLS (890 AM) and classic hits station WLS-FM (94.7).^[14][15]

Programming

On September 15, 2014, three quarters of the new Loop on-air talent lineup were named. Midday personality Lyndsey Marie (Lyndsey Marie Cook), afternoon personality Tim Virgin (replacing Patrick Capone, who was released on September 12, 2014). Virgin previously worked at The Loop in the mid-’90s during their brief run as a Modern AC. Also added is evening personality Pyke (Jeremy Peterson). Mornings remained open while The Loop conducted a nationwide search to replace Maxwell Slater "Max" Logan (Benjamin Bornstein) and John Czahor (who were also released on September 12, 2014). This search culminated in the hiring of Matthew Erich "Mancow" Muller, who now hosts the "Mancow Morning Show". ^[16][17][18]

In 2009, Jonathon "Johnny B." Brandmeier exited WLUP.

Radio personality and WEBN alum Maxwell Slater "Max" Logan (Benjamin Bornstein), best known for his years as host of The Maxwell Show at WMMS and WNCX in Cleveland, took over as the WLUP-FM morning host on July 30, 2012.^[19] Former personality Zakk Tyler (Dominic Zaccagnini) was also returned.

On February 16, 2015, Chicago shock jock Mancow Muller was announced as WLUP's new morning show host.

Their current Loop Rock Girl is April Rose Haydock, the Loop Rock Girl from 2007 to 2008.

Music theme shows include:

• The Loop's 97 @ 9 (97 minutes of commercial-free music, every weekday at both 9am and 9pm)

Some of the former music themed shows include:

• Get The Led Out! (a three-song set of Led Zeppelin songs that aired weeknights at 8 pm)
• Saturday Night Rock Of The 1980s (an all-'80s rock music show that aired from 7-9pm)
• The Loop On Stage! (a full hour of live rock music that aired at 10 pm on Friday nights)
• The Live At Nine (a full hour of live rock music aired weeknights at 9pm)
• The Loop's 11 Grooves (a full album played weeknights at 11pm)
• The Loop's Rock 'N' Roll Diner (all request show weekdays at 12noon)
• Two Fer Tuesdays (2 songs from the same artist, every Tuesday, all day)

Saturday Night Rock Of The '80s was originated by one-time Night and Overnight DJ Zander in 2003. He brought the show over from WCKG where he created it in 1997, and later took it to WXXY (The '80s Channel). He now is heard on "the Rockin' '80s", airing on over 45 stations in North America.

Dr. Demento was carried on WLUP from 1987 through 2010, just prior to when Dr. Demento ceased over-the-air broadcasting.

Advertising and promotion

In the early 1990s, WLUP aired a popular television commercial featuring a fat man dubbed "Joey Bag O' Donuts" dancing to Aerosmith's "Walk This Way".^[20] In the time span since the original commercial was aired, the footage of the dancing fat man in the commercial has been used by numerous other radio stations across the country. The original WLUP commercial was re-created in the mid-late 2000s and briefly featured Kelly the Loop Rock Girl.

References

External links

• 97.9 The Loop official website
• Query the FCC's FM station database for WLUP
• Radio-Locator information on WLUP
• Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for WLUP

Coordinates: 41°53′56″N 87°37′23″W / 41.899°N 87.623°W / 41.899; -87.623