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WLUP Sold To EMF
- Thread starter TheBigA
- Start date
That's unknown. All we know is that Merlin is seeking buyers for the station. I imagine if he finds a buyer who wants to keep the format, it will stay. If the buyer wants a new format, then it won't. The situation with Cumulus is temporary until Merlin finds a buyer.
i know i'm not familiar with Chicago and it's radio market as i call North Texas home and view the DFW market as my home market, but i know what it feels like to lose heritage stations in our market.
in the last 20 years, we lost heritage rockers KTXQ Q102 in August 1998 when the company that owned it at the time merged with another company that became AMFM (which itself would merge into Clear Channel in 2000) and they flipped it to Jamming Oldies "Magic 102.1 (the station would flip again in 2000 when the Clear Channel/AMFM merger completed and Radio One got 94.5 FM and the 102.1 call letters and format/trademarks/jocks at the time since Magic"s format fit with Radio One's African American ownership better while 94.5's calls, format, jocks and trademarks moved on to 102.1 in what was dub the "Magic/Edge switch of 2000").
then in 2004, we lost heritage rocker KEGL 97.1 The Eagle when the station underperformed after Russ Martin's departure from 97.1 to KYNG/KLLI (now KRLD-FM, The Fan) Live 105.3 when that station flipped from Young Country to hot talk in 2000. (KEGL returned to rock and The Eagle branding in late 2007, after the Sunny format that replaced it failed then the Spanish format that replaced Sunny also failed).
then in 2007, classic rock 92.5 KZPS (which i consider a newer heritage due to the call letters dating back to 1986 ad the classic rock format dating back to 1990) flipped to a Classic Rock/Country hybrid called Lone Star 92.5, that format failed and reverted back to Classic Rock the next year while retaining the Lone Star 92.5 branding.
and we also lost most recently in November 2016, KDGE The Edge flipped from Alternative Rock to AC after 27 years of being a heritage Alt Rocker, first at 94.5 FM from 1989-2000 and then from 2000-20016 at 102.1 FM in which brought a form of Rock back to 102.1 after 2 years and almost 3 month without rok after KTXQ flipped from Q102 to Magic 102 before flipping to 102.1 The Edge as KDGE (again due to the Edge/Magic switch of 2000).
and another heritage station in the Dallas market flipped last November to Alternative Rock as as part of Entercom taking over CBS Radio flipped KVIL as AMP 103.7 to ALT 103.7 after it failed as a top 40 station after it flipped to top 40 in 2016 only to re-brand from KVIL (which in 2013 dropped the Lite FM name it adopted in 2005) to Amp in early 2017.
so pretty much, we in the DFW area know how it fells to lose a heritage rocker, especially to radio companies that don't care about the station's storied history as a rocker in that market.
also, i bet Mancow moves over to Podcast if no other Chicago station picks his show up once his No-Compete clause expires. i know Mancow is to Chicago as Howard Stern and Don Imus was to New York, Tom Leykis was to LA, Don & Mike was to Washington DC and Russ Martin is to us in the DFW area as in the big name shock jock that ruled the market.
in the last 20 years, we lost heritage rockers KTXQ Q102 in August 1998 when the company that owned it at the time merged with another company that became AMFM (which itself would merge into Clear Channel in 2000) and they flipped it to Jamming Oldies "Magic 102.1 (the station would flip again in 2000 when the Clear Channel/AMFM merger completed and Radio One got 94.5 FM and the 102.1 call letters and format/trademarks/jocks at the time since Magic"s format fit with Radio One's African American ownership better while 94.5's calls, format, jocks and trademarks moved on to 102.1 in what was dub the "Magic/Edge switch of 2000").
then in 2004, we lost heritage rocker KEGL 97.1 The Eagle when the station underperformed after Russ Martin's departure from 97.1 to KYNG/KLLI (now KRLD-FM, The Fan) Live 105.3 when that station flipped from Young Country to hot talk in 2000. (KEGL returned to rock and The Eagle branding in late 2007, after the Sunny format that replaced it failed then the Spanish format that replaced Sunny also failed).
then in 2007, classic rock 92.5 KZPS (which i consider a newer heritage due to the call letters dating back to 1986 ad the classic rock format dating back to 1990) flipped to a Classic Rock/Country hybrid called Lone Star 92.5, that format failed and reverted back to Classic Rock the next year while retaining the Lone Star 92.5 branding.
and we also lost most recently in November 2016, KDGE The Edge flipped from Alternative Rock to AC after 27 years of being a heritage Alt Rocker, first at 94.5 FM from 1989-2000 and then from 2000-20016 at 102.1 FM in which brought a form of Rock back to 102.1 after 2 years and almost 3 month without rok after KTXQ flipped from Q102 to Magic 102 before flipping to 102.1 The Edge as KDGE (again due to the Edge/Magic switch of 2000).
and another heritage station in the Dallas market flipped last November to Alternative Rock as as part of Entercom taking over CBS Radio flipped KVIL as AMP 103.7 to ALT 103.7 after it failed as a top 40 station after it flipped to top 40 in 2016 only to re-brand from KVIL (which in 2013 dropped the Lite FM name it adopted in 2005) to Amp in early 2017.
so pretty much, we in the DFW area know how it fells to lose a heritage rocker, especially to radio companies that don't care about the station's storied history as a rocker in that market.
also, i bet Mancow moves over to Podcast if no other Chicago station picks his show up once his No-Compete clause expires. i know Mancow is to Chicago as Howard Stern and Don Imus was to New York, Tom Leykis was to LA, Don & Mike was to Washington DC and Russ Martin is to us in the DFW area as in the big name shock jock that ruled the market.
First, thanks for the interesting chronology of the changes.
Not to throw water on the fire, but radio stations are not museums. Heritage in a format that is not working is valueless. Actually, it costs lots of money to change format, as all existing revenue is lost and it takes 6 months to a year to get back, if the change works, to a good level of billing. In the meantime, there is a big hole that needs money thrown in it, and owners do not take that lightly; change is done when there is a belief that the current format has limited future potential and, thus, any heritage value has been erased by more recent history.
Steve Dahl Gets the Last Word on The Loop
There will indeed be one last farewell show on WLUP on Friday afternoon 3/9/2018 from 2-6 PM Central Time.
Steve Dahl will "take over" The Loop "On the air before the prayer!"
Link to Steve's Twitter announcement: http://twitter.com/SteveDahlShow/status/971885027704426501
I don't know if the program will be simulcast on Steve's regular 2-6 PM show on WLS-AM
or if someone will sit in for him there.
There will indeed be one last farewell show on WLUP on Friday afternoon 3/9/2018 from 2-6 PM Central Time.
Steve Dahl will "take over" The Loop "On the air before the prayer!"
Link to Steve's Twitter announcement: http://twitter.com/SteveDahlShow/status/971885027704426501
I don't know if the program will be simulcast on Steve's regular 2-6 PM show on WLS-AM
or if someone will sit in for him there.
Cumulus had nothing to do with it. The station was owned by Merlin, and they're the company that sold it to EMF.
He's talking about the former WABB in Mobile, Al. EMF originally bought it from the Dittman family, then swapped it to Cumulus for smaller stations in Mobile, Al. and Nashville, Tn.
Anyone remember April 1987 when Scott Ginsburg's Evergreen Broadcasting owned "Chicago's Christian Connection" AM 1000 WCFL merged with then Loop FM owner Heftel Broadcasting to become Loop AM. Now Loop FM becomes K-Love. Is turnabout fair play?
Man, screw EMF. They already control too many stations around here...."I WANNA ROCK!!" -- Twisted Sister
I remember the on-air announcements "if you want to hear the Word of God and not Steve and Gary, write to us" (no they really didn't say "Steve and Gary" but the implication was clear). So yeah, the Loop gets displaced by a Christian format. BTW I'm thinking the born-again Captain Whammo may have worked for the Christian version of WCFL under his real name but I could be wrong
I think you may be correct, but I can't say that for sure.
Yeah, just looked it up, Captain Whammo (Jim Channell) was PD and afternoon drive at WCFL during the Christian format.
Steve Dahl To Be The Last Talent Voice
In a fairly classy move, Cumulus is simulcasting "the Stever" on his old home this afternoon. His will be the last live talent voice heard on 97.9 under the current calls and format. Sort of bookending the station's existence in reality. Especially if he has Sky Daniels on, who was the first PD or MD as I recall.
It's a really sad day for me...I came of age with the Loop and still have artifacts of the old first tubular blue LOOP logo before the jagged letter logo came out in 1979.
And I was also in a seat at Disco Demolition desperately wanting to see two game for less than a dollar. How utterly bitter...
I hope someone records and posts a audio clip of the last few songs they play...and the transition to EMF. Which should be smooth (fade local automation down, fade the remote feed up) as the audio will still route through the old studios for technical and legal reasons until the close in 75 or so days.
RR
In a fairly classy move, Cumulus is simulcasting "the Stever" on his old home this afternoon. His will be the last live talent voice heard on 97.9 under the current calls and format. Sort of bookending the station's existence in reality. Especially if he has Sky Daniels on, who was the first PD or MD as I recall.
It's a really sad day for me...I came of age with the Loop and still have artifacts of the old first tubular blue LOOP logo before the jagged letter logo came out in 1979.
And I was also in a seat at Disco Demolition desperately wanting to see two game for less than a dollar. How utterly bitter...
I hope someone records and posts a audio clip of the last few songs they play...and the transition to EMF. Which should be smooth (fade local automation down, fade the remote feed up) as the audio will still route through the old studios for technical and legal reasons until the close in 75 or so days.
RR
Check out Sky's amazing station in LA - http://885fm.org - which he discussed during his on-air interview with Steve Dahl today.
Sky in LA
Sky took the concept which he and Harvey Wells concocted as NINE-FM and carried to it to the one place it might work....a well synchronized non-comm simulcast in LA. And it has taken off there.
My hat is off to him to find that success with a licensee who would give him the latitude to experiment and play around with the format and music. Something corporate radio doesn't do, nor will they. Even the irreverent Newsweb Radio people who tend to thumb their nose at big radio convention didn't see the gold.
RR
Sky took the concept which he and Harvey Wells concocted as NINE-FM and carried to it to the one place it might work....a well synchronized non-comm simulcast in LA. And it has taken off there.
My hat is off to him to find that success with a licensee who would give him the latitude to experiment and play around with the format and music. Something corporate radio doesn't do, nor will they. Even the irreverent Newsweb Radio people who tend to thumb their nose at big radio convention didn't see the gold.
RR
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