In the early ’80s time of the “disco backlash,” legendary Top 40 AM WLS Chicago became, essentially, an Album Rock station, at least in the evening hours when I could hear it. During that time, two things kept it tethered to CHR. One was the jocks. The other was the WLS jingle, even if it was being segued into “Crazy Train” by Ozzy Osbourne.
WLS’s jingle was already one of radio’s most recognizable, rivaled only perhaps by KHJ Los Angeles and WABC New York. Those AMs left Top 40 a few years ahead of their Chicago counterpart, but the WLS signature took on new life, thanks to the success of KIIS Los Angeles. When WLS itself was finally challenged in 1982, it was by a new CHR with even more jingles, “Hot Hits” WBBM-FM (B96).
The WLS jingle was still part of the News/Talk AM that WLS became. Earlier this year, it made a quiet return to its Cumulus sister Classic Hits FM under new PD Todd Cavanah. This week, TM Studios officially unveiled the “WLS Classic Hits” package. Three days in, Chief Creative Officer Dave Bethell says he is receiving TM’s biggest response to any project, a reflection of the goodwill surrounding both the station and the iconic jingle. We took a Fresh Listen.
When we first heard jingles back on WLS-FM, in mid-January, they were being phased in with one cut an hour. Now they’re at two an hour, both used for song-to-song transitions, and Bethell says that the signature top-of-hour jingle is likely next.
Other than those stations co-owned by Audacy, WLS-FM was the major-market Classic Hits station most reminiscent of KRTH (K-Earth 101) Los Angeles. Under Cavanah, power rotations are still similar (31x a week vs. KRTH’s 34), but the feel of the imaging is different, cleaner than KRTH’s more frenetic listener drops. (Another difference: There’s not the same push into the late ’90s/2000s as in K-Earth’s ongoing evolution.)
Even without a direct competitor, Chicago is a crowded place for Classic Hits, thanks to Classic Rock WDRV (The Drive), Soft AC WLIT (Lite FM), ’60s/’70s-based WRME (Me-TV-FM), heritage Triple-A WXRT, and three stations playing some form of CHR throwbacks covering the ’90s forward. Despite this, Mediabase shows WLS-FM with about 50 exclusive titles, including “Stayin’ Alive,” “Danger Zone,” “Never Gonna Give You Up,” “My Sharona,” and “You Make Loving Fun.”
While ’80s pop/rock is the center of most large-market Classic Hits stations these days, it’s especially resonant in this hour of WLS. “No One Like You” by the Scorpions is a regular part of Classic Hits now, but it entered the format canon retroactively in most places. WLS was one of the few Top 40s to play it as a current. Middayer Erin Carman is heard here giving away Sammy Hagar tickets. WLS was his most prominent Top 40 supporter in the days before Van Hagar as well.
Here’s WLS-FM at 10 a.m., March 11:
- Bon Jovi, “Livin’ on a Prayer” — Preceded by the legal ID as the sweep starter. Two local town mentions. Also, “No. 1 for the ’80s and Classic Hits.”
- Bananarama, “Cruel Summer” — Opening break from middayer Erin Carman.
- Elton John, “Rocket Man” — App promo “so you can stream Dave & Kim on the go.”
- OMD, “If You Leave” — the first of two jingles this hour, “Theme 5/Slogan” with the “’80s/Classic Hits” slugline.
- Fleetwood Mac, “Go Your Own Way” — The Oscars were the night before. Carman jokes “last night was the first and last time I wasn’t distracted by John Cena’s horribly fake hair.”
- Eric Carmen, “Hungry Eyes” — Sweeper with the calls/slugline. Carmen’s death would become public later that day. Followed by a Dave & Kim morning show promo (“$300 is up for grabs tomorrow morning” in Show Biz Quiz) into the stopset.
- Bryan Adams, “Summer of ‘69” — App promo, “Make sure you stream us wherever you are,” brings us back to music.
- Scorpions, “No One Like You” — The percussive “Theme 6/ID,” which begins with the instrumental sig, then the calls, is the transition here.
- Michael Jackson, “Billie Jean” — “It’s Erin Go Bragh!” Carman says. “Countdown to the greatest day ever, St. Paddy’s Day on Sunday, and you could get lucky tomorrow. Every hour between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., it’s ‘Two Ticket Tuesday’” with tickets to Sammy Hagar and Loverboy.
- Goo Goo Dolls, “Iris” — Sweeper: “Stream us on your phone, smart speaker, and desktop.”
- Survivor, “Eye of the Tiger” — Cold segue.
- Daryl Hall & John Oates, “Maneater” — Carman jokes about “another story from the ‘I make bad decisions’ file” — specifically about scheduling a kids’ sleepover for “Spring Forward” Saturday night/Sunday morning. Followed by a Dave & Kim promo into the stopset.
TM’s publicity for the new package asks programmers to “set aside their personal biases against jingles.” At Classic Hits, the issues for jingles have gone even deeper. Classic Rock has successfully continued to play the early ’70s and even some ’60s while still attracting new listeners, But Classic Hits remains self-conscious about not sounding retro, and that likely influences attitudes toward jingles as well. At this moment when classic hits have such all-ages currency, perhaps there’s nothing to prove anymore.
While several Classic Hits outlets, including K-Earth, have long-running call letters, WLS-FM is one of only two stations in the top 20 markets with calls that reach back to its CHR era. (The other is Q105 Tampa.) In that era, the WLS jingle was so powerful that listeners were asked to “sing it and win.” Now, the new jingles add vibrancy and variety to WLS-FM, keeping it from, among other things, overtaxing the station’s imaging in an era of only four jock breaks per hour. Here’s hoping that WLS can “sing it and win” again.
The sway that WLS continues to hold over radio people today is evident from the number of tribute projects. Here’s a look at three current or forthcoming efforts, including a jingle history page, an online station, and further recreations of WLS audio.
This story first appeared on radioinsight.com