18 illinoisentertainer . com june 2024
100 YEARS OF THE BIG ‘ 89
T
By Rick Kaempfer his year , WLS-AM 890 is celebrating its 100th anniversary as a radio station . It ’ s really been three radio stations during that time . From 1924 to 1960 , WLS served the farmers of the Midwest . Since 1989 , it ’ s been a conservative talk radio station . But for 29 glorious years ( 1960-1989 ), it was the biggest Top-40 station in the Midwest .
Over the years , I ’ ve been lucky enough to talk to dozens of WLS stars from that era , but only three of them were there in the earliest days . Here are a few of their memories from that historic time .
Bob Hale was the first all-night guy at WLS during the top-40 era .
“ In early 1960 , I was sending a tape every two weeks to Sam Holman , the to-be-program director of WLS . One afternoon , home in bed with a fever and a couple of shots of Dr . Jack Daniels with honey and lemon - the late winter cold had struck - I received a call .
‘ Bob , it ' s Sam Holman at WLS in Chicago .’ Instant sobriety ! INSTANT ! ‘ Yes , Sam , how are you ?’ Actually , I didn ' t care how he was ; I wanted to know why he called !
‘ Bobby , ( right then I knew I was in ! - ' Bobby ') I ' d like you to come on to be my all-night man starting May 2nd . Interested ?’ Oh yeah ... was I interested ! ‘ Besides , Bobby , you keep sending me all those tapes --- I ' ve got no room for more .’
Dick Biondi and I were brought in early so that the three of us could make the rounds of newspaper people , record promoters , and writers . Within 20 hours of that call , two record promoters drove from Chicago to ‘ meet me and say hello .’ I had arrived !
When I came to WLS that first day at the old Prairie Farmer Building on West Washington Blvd , Sam , and Dick , and I were taken to lunch at Fritzel ' s--THE place to be seen ! We weren ' t there more than 10 minutes , guests of Archie Levinson , well-known record promoter and husband of FranAllison , of Kukla , Fran and Ollie fame , when Milton Berle joined us ! I leaned over to Sam and said , ‘ I wonder who they ' ll fly in tomorrow to impress us ?’
The midnight shift at WLS was incredible – we reached 42 of the 50 states . I had a fan club at a secret Air Force base near the Arctic Circle . The guys called sometimes via a link-up with an air base in Indiana . I had to promise to NOT dedicate anything to a name . I ’ d couch it by playing a tune for some of my “ Nightly listeners north of Chicago , who I know are listening to me with one ear and other conversations with the other ear .” They were monitoring Russian Airwaves !
The late Clark Weber was one of the biggest stars of the early Top-40 WLS days .
“ Sam Holman , the PD that started up the top-40 format here at WLS , worked with me in Milwaukee . Sam was a wonderful guy , but a mean drunk . One night we were getting our car , and Sam was loaded . He made a nasty remark to the parking attendant , who promptly pulled out a tire iron and was about to beat the hell out of him . At the time I was able to conjure up an incredibly loud whistle . I ran onto the street and whistled for a nearby cop , who arrived just in time to save Sam ’ s life . Sam told me that night that he would pay me back someday for saving his life . After he got to Chicago , he called me up and said , ‘ Remember when I told you that I would pay you back for saving my life ? How ’ d you like to come Chicago ?’ I became the afternoon guy . Eight months later Mort Crowly took ill and had to resign for health reasons , and suddenly I was the morning guy . Then in 1966 , they threw an extra $ 150 a week my way , and I also became the program director .”
WLS ’ s Clark Weber and Ron Riley circa 1965
Ron Riley was also a popular jock at WLS in the 1960s and had an on-going on-air " feud " with morning man Clark Weber ...
“ I was the big Beatles supporter on the staff , and Clark took the other side of the Beatles argument . He was on the side of the other bands — Beatles competitors like the Dave Clark 5 . I was called Ringo Ron , so he began to call me Ringworm Ron just to rip me .
I used to take calls from these kids , and had them take shots at Clark on tape , saying things like ‘ Down with Weber ,’ and I ’ d intersperse this into the show . I ’ d pretend to call him at home at night ( it was pre-recorded ), and when he answered , I ’ d make a loud trumpet noise , and he ’ d get all mad , ‘ Riley , don ’ t you know I have to get up early !’
It was all this silly stuff . I had this character Bruce Lovely , and at Halloween , Bruce would drop pumpkins on Weber . It was just good , clean , dumb fun . This was ’ 65 or so . I ’ ve done twenty-plus years of radio and twenty-plus years of television , and this is something I still hear about . A woman came up to me in the supermarket in Maryland just recently and said , “ Down with Weber !” Isn ’ t that something ?” Yes , it is .
Many historic events have been broadcast on WLS over the last century , but for some of us , those halcyon days of the Big 89 will always remain our favorite .