Strolling Down On Memory Lane (WVVX 103.1)

The Good Old Days Of WVVX FM-103.1

Now! This was way long before they’ve played Heavy Metal or even Motown format had taken over the airwaves. I’m talking about going way way way back! Back to a time when life was simple and enjoyable! The golden age of WVVX FM-103.1 of rare classic oldies of long ago!

A very long time ago way back in 1976, I was living at a lived in facility out in Palatine IL. It was an institutional environment for people with special needs called: Little City Foundation. While during my stay at Little City, me and a friend of mine would sit at the dining room tables at our cottage during the evening hours and listen to a radio station that plays rare and obscure oldies music from the 50s and early 60s.

The radio station that we’ve pick up it came from Highland Park called: WVVX FM-103.1. The music that they’ve played were lots of rockabilly, doowap, surf music, and a handful of other artistes and rare songs that you’ve could NOT imagine!

This station used to play every song from these artistes stuff like: Fats Domino - Bill Haley – Carl Perkins – Chuck Berry – Elvis Presley –
The Penguins – The Beach Boys – Nerves Norman – Dion & The Belmonts - Gene Vincent - The Platters - Little Richard – Jerry Lee Lewis – The Drifters – The Clovers – Dean Martin – Frank Sinatra – The Everly Brothers – The Diamonds Frankie Lyman, and many more.

WVVX back then was an FM ethnic radio station with many programs with foreign languages. But they’ve played oldies during the week from 7pm till about 12 midnight. And also on Saturdays from 6pm to 2 or 3am. And they had a theme song at the beginning of their oldies program called: “Live It Up” by Bill Haley & The Comets.

I remember one time that Mark Miller was having problems with one of the turntables and he had made a funny comment he said:
“Ladies and gentlemen due to technical difficulties one of our turntables isn’t working. Now, If I only can get this stupid thing to work?” and there was a 15 seconds of silence and he said “Work Dummy!” and then he played The House Of The Rising Sun by The Animals.

WVVX was like having a real good friend who was like your next door neighbor, among with the radio DJs as the unforgettable Mark Miller, Johnny Geibe, and later on added a person that you’ve wouldn’t guess in a million years! Yes! That’s right! Katharine Johns! She used to be on WVVX when they expanded the oldies program on Sunday evenings around about 8pm to 11pm. (this was back in the very early 80s) Also part of the early 80s they had the lunchtime oldies hour when they’ve played 15 minutes of rockabilly and the rest was just oldies.

Yes my friends WVVX FM-103.1 is Just an old memory from way long time ago. I wish that they would come back on the air again just like they did back in 1976, but that is just wishful thinking on by behalf. I may have a few old recordings on audio cassettes of the old WVVX oldies show somewhere in my huge tube of old archives but I just can’t seem to find them anywhere in my house.

However, It is a good thing that we now have Sirius Satellite Radio that we can listen to, because Sirius Gold Channel 5 is just like listening to WVVX nation wide!

I remember WVVX very well from the late 70s & early 80s. They played oldies many more hours of the day during that time. I don't remember Catherine John's being on there though, Would've liked to have heard that.

Early 70s there was a guy named Paul Knudsen or something close to that...we listened all the time in
Winnetka. I think they played Radar Love five times a day. Loved that station.

I used to listen to WVVX in Indiana. I lived right at the southern tip of Lake Michigan, and their signal had a clear shot
over the lake, I also received WNUR 89.3 and WZRD 88.3 very well there.
I have many cassette airchecks of their oldies programming,
and used to buy records at one of their sponsors, Marvelous Marv's records in Higland Park.
They sure did play some great and obscure records. I have lifted some songs from these airchecks for use in my
part 15 AM station.

jp1520 said:

Early 70s there was a guy named Paul Knudsen or something close to that...we listened all the time in
Winnetka. I think they played Radar Love five times a day. Loved that station.

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I don't quite recall WVVX ever played any heavy metal music back 1970s, because heavy metal or rap music did not came out until the mid to late 1980's You must be thinking about the late 1980s when WVVX had sold their oldies format to heavy metal format.

I think hard rock would be a more accurate name for it. And it was in the early to mid 70s. I left northern
Illinois in 1975...so it was before that.

Scott Loftus and "The Rock Of Chicago" were very popular here on the southside of the city in the mid to late 80's.
Scott had quite a following with hard rock listeners.

The station back then was not even broadcasting in stereo, back then, pure FM mono. I remember people making all kinds
of crazy antenna's for their "boomboxes" just to listen.

Then The Blaze came along and watered down the format and VVX kind of took a big hit because of the weak signal compared
to the full market 103/5 signal.

I believe at that time they were foreign language during the day and rock at night.

All of us here have different memories of this station, but we have one thing in common. We all miss the days of independent
radio stations that related to the listeners whether they wanted oldies, big band, Russian or rock. ahh, the good old days

TR1992 said:

All of us here have different memories of this station, but we have one thing in common. We all miss the days of independent radio stations that related to the listeners whether they wanted oldies, big band, Russian or rock. ahh, the good old days

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I go along with you on that one TR1992!
And I'll drink to that!!!

The oldies format was definitely late 70's and early 80's when the airchecks I recorded were for use in my 1st car, a '66 Plymouth, which I still have. Since WVVX was playing a much deeper list, I was hooked.
I remember for sure one of the all-night guys going by "Jack Slack".

They even had jingles..

( to the tune (lead-in) of "I wonder" why by Dion )
Nim- Nim Nim , Ne-neh neh-neh nim ,,etc Double -U, Vee, Vee, ex, One-oh-three point one, classic gold."

And to tune of "Don't be Cruel" by an Elvis impersonator.
"...Rock and Roll is back, on WVVX, Classic Gold...... In Higland Park".

I heard some great songs on WVVX I'd never heard before or since, and that's for me why they are still memorable.

Tom Wells said:

The oldies format was definitely late 70's and early 80's when the airchecks I recorded were for use in my 1st car, a '66 Plymouth, which I still have. Since WVVX was playing a much deeper list, I was hooked.
I remember for sure one of the all-night guys going by "Jack Slack".

They even had jingles..

( to the tune (lead-in) of "I wonder" why by Dion )
Nim- Nim Nim , Ne-neh neh-neh nim ,,etc Double -U, Vee, Vee, ex, One-oh-three point one, classic gold."

And to tune of "Don't be Cruel" by an Elvis impersonator.
"...Rock and Roll is back, on WVVX, Classic Gold...... In Higland Park".

I heard some great songs on WVVX I'd never heard before or since, and that's for me why they are still memorable.

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Oh Boy! Oh Boy! Oh Joy! Oh Yes! That brought back a lots of memories to me! The old radio jingles of WVVX!
I wish I had some of those old recordings from long ago, but like I said I might of had some old WVVX recordings somewhere
in my tub of archives of old cassettes...

hey Guys:

I know this topic is old but I enjoyed reading it. Would anybody know when did this oldies format on WVVX air? At night?

And I see that the RPM Heavy Metal show started on May 1, 1985 does anybody know what the last day was that heavy metal ended on WVVX?

Thanks

T.J.

t.j. said:

hey Guys:

I know this topic is old but I enjoyed reading it. Would anybody know when did this oldies format on WVVX air? At night?

And I see that the RPM Heavy Metal show started on May 1, 1985 does anybody know what the last day was that heavy metal ended on WVVX?

Thanks

T.J.

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Sorry I can't give you any specific dates on the oldies format at WVVX. My recollection is that I first heard it around 1978 and on into the early 80s. The times they played oldies varied. I remember the oldies being on in the afternoon--around drive time. Sometimes you'd hear it in the evening, but most evenings were filled with ethnic programming.

I recall the oldie format shows being on weekend overnights.

My memory is that WVVX uncorked the oldies during holes in Bill Paar's mostly-brokered broadcast day. I do remember in the late '70s that oldies were on for most of the afternoon. As for the "Don't Be Cruel" jingle, I recall that it began with "....You know we're havin' fun (bop bop) at 103 point 1..."

The heavy metal came a number of years later.

What I don't remember on WVVX is Catherine Johns. I worked with her for a couple of years in the mid-70s, but I don't remember her making a stop at WVVX (which is not to say she didn't).

cyberdad said:

My memory is that WVVX uncorked the oldies during holes in Bill Paar's mostly-brokered broadcast day. I do remember in the late '70s that oldies were on for most of the afternoon. As for the "Don't Be Cruel" jingle, I recall that it began with "....You know we're havin' fun (bop bop) at 103 point 1..."

The heavy metal came a number of years later.

What I don't remember on WVVX is Catherine Johns. I worked with her for a couple of years in the mid-70s, but I don't remember her making a stop at WVVX (which is not to say she didn't).

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I never knew that Catherine Johns was at WVVX. What I remember about WVVX during their oldies years was that most of their DJs seemed to be college age kids with what might have been for many of them their first radio job.

radioman148 said:

I never knew that Catherine Johns was at WVVX. What I remember about WVVX during their oldies years was that most of their DJs seemed to be college age kids with what might have been for many of them their first radio job.

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Cat got the ax from WHBF-TV in the Quad Cities in '75 or thereabouts. Pure cost-cutting. Cat was pretty much just a kid who'd only been there a year or two, and IIRC, the cuts were across the board and pretty much seniority based. As a result, some talented people were out, while a few stiffs got to keep their jobs. 'HBF was a family run operation in those days...mostly a nice group of people, but some of them would never be accused of being Einsteins!

Anyway, Cat's a Chicago area native, so she may have landed at WVVX for a short while just to have a gig. I have no memory of that, however.

I remember WVVX from both the oldies and heavy metal. I seem to remember that the station was not stereo. Am I correct about that?

cyberdad said:

radioman148 said:

I never knew that Catherine Johns was at WVVX. What I remember about WVVX during their oldies years was that most of their DJs seemed to be college age kids with what might have been for many of them their first radio job.

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Cat got the ax from WHBF-TV in the Quad Cities in '75 or thereabouts. Pure cost-cutting. Cat was pretty much just a kid who'd only been there a year or two, and IIRC, the cuts were across the board and pretty much seniority based. As a result, some talented people were out, while a few stiffs got to keep their jobs. 'HBF was a family run operation in those days...mostly a nice group of people, but some of them would never be accused of being Einsteins!

Anyway, Cat's a Chicago area native, so she may have landed at WVVX for a short while just to have a gig. I have no memory of that, however.

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Well it looks like Catherine got the last laugh on those people.

RayInChicago said:

I remember WVVX from both the oldies and heavy metal. I seem to remember that the station was not stereo. Am I correct about that?

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That's correct about 103.1 not being in Stereo. 103.1 was one of the last frequencies in the area to go Stereo. Why? We'll probably never know. I don't think it would've costed that much to add a Stereo generator to the transmitter, and a Stereo console at the studio. I know that 103.1 was Stereo by the time it went full time Spanish/Mexican. Could 103.1 have been Stereo for "The Eighties Channel?"

radioman148 said:

Well it looks like Catherine got the last laugh on those people.

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Indeed. I didn't know her very well, and she almost certainly wouldn't remember me. I worked morning drive radio, she worked afternoon/evening TV. Overlap probably less than a year (I left in '76)

But there was quite a group of us in "The Quads" during the mid-70s who all went on to bigger and better things. A couple of these people still have on-air gigs in Chicago. And no, I'm not referring to Spike O'Dell...who came a few years after us.