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n the heyday of the late ' 70s and early ' 80s , Loop ( WLUP , 97.9 FM ) was owned by Congressman Cecil Heftel of Heftel Broadcasting . The president of Heftel Broadcasting was Tom Hoyt . A few photos of Hoyt appear in my book The Loop Files , asdoa few stories told by him during his Heftel days , but there aren ’ t any current-day interviews with Hoyt , and he isn ’ t pleased about that .

“ Frankly , yes , I was disappointed you didn ’ t reach out to me ,” he said . He was especially offended that I didn ’ t talk to him about Disco Demolition . “ In my opinion , there ’ s nobody who knows more about what went on with Disco Demolition than me ,” he explained . Since this month is the 45th anniversary of the most famous radio promotion of all time ( July 12 , 1979 ), and my book already has the memories of people who were there like Steve Dahl , Jeff Schwartz , Mitch Michaels , Sky Daniels , Mike Veeck , Lorelei , Paul Natkin , and ( promotion director ) Dave Logan , I decided it was a good idea to add Mr . Hoyt ’ s memories . After all , he had the final word that day .

“ Nothing would have happened if I had not said so ,” he pointed out . “ I gave it the green light .” And he says he was enthusiastic about doing it . “ I loved it . I loved the idea . I loved the direction that the Loop was going with ( consultants ) Burkhardt and Abrams . They were brilliant guys . I mean , they made great suggestions . They suggested we hire Steve Dahl . He had kind of a checkered past and was out of work , but I hired him to be the morning man , and he meshed well with the overnight guy Garry Meier , and it was decided they would work together . We purchased television time , and our spokesperson was Lorelei . I remember meeting her for the first time . She was intelligent and bright . I mean , she had all the right stuff . We had some billboards , we had those Loop T-shirts , but television is really what worked for us .”

He remembers July 12 , 1979 , as a rather harrowing experience . “ The night of Disco Demolition , my wife Bobbi and I went to Comiskey Park . There was an outside elevator that took you up to the roof , and you had to go across a catwalk on the roof to get into the press box and to Bill Veeck ’ s private box . I remember ( Loop General Manager ) Les Elias was there , but I don ' t remember who else was in there . But we were watching this whole thing unfold , and it was like , oh boy , there are ** so many people . Some of the accounts in your book said I was a businessman , and I was trying to be protective , and that I was worried . Yeah , you better believe it . Because we had told Mike Veeck that we didn ’ t have a clue what was going to happen , and neither did he . So , I said , “ Just to be safe , you better have extra security .” He said , “ Don ' t worry about that .” Well , ‘ don ' t worry about that ’ turned into ‘ not enough security .’”

“ So sometime during the mayhem in between games , Harry Caray came into the box and bellowed , ‘ Who ’ s in charge here ?’ Well , everybody looked at me . Harry told me I had to come on television and apologize to the people of Chicago . Well , first of all , what was occurring on the field was not our fault . There wasn ' t enough security to keep the people in the stands . That was really on the White Sox . Not us . Harry looked at me and waited for my response . I was wearing a Greek sailor hat , that famous loop t-shirt , blue jeans , and

WLUP ’ s - The Loop ’ s Tom Hoyt , 1981

cowboy boots . And I said , ‘ Harry , look at me . How credible would this guy with a Greek sailor hat and all this stuff be ? It wouldn ' t make any sense . I ' m not gonna do it .’ With that , Harry stormed out .”

It was not his only confrontation of the night . “ When it was time to go , Bobbi and I crossed the hall to go down the elevator , and the visiting players were there , getting their bus . Sparky Anderson came over to me and said , ‘ Who are you ? Did you have anything to do with this ?’ I said , ‘ Yes , sir . I did . I ’ m the president of the company .’ Bobbi was cringing ; she was worried . She was only five foot one . And this guy was just like maniacally going off , screaming at me . Finally , I said to him , ‘ We didn ' t expect this . Nobody did . We ' re leaving now .”

There was still one person Hoyt hadn ’ t spoken to — and that was the owner of the Loop — Cecil Heftel . Hoyt had no idea what to expect . “ Cecil always called me early in the morning at home . Not every day , but at least three or four times a week . He was a real early riser , but that next morning he called me around 5:00 . When I got on the phone , I braced myself , but he was laughing like crazy . He had read the Wall Street Journal , the New York Times , and The Washington Post . He was thrilled . “ It ’ s unbelievable ! We are on the front page of all these newspapers . Oh , my God !” He went on and on . I said to him , “ Yes , this will help us with our ratings , and we will raise our rates . That ' s the good news . Here ' s the bad news . There will never be another one .”

And there hasn ’ t been .

Illinois Entertainer July 2024 | Page 18

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