I ’ ve written a new book called The Loop Files : An Oral History of the Most Outrageous Radio Station Ever . The book comes out officially at the end of this month , but this month ’ s media column is a free preview . ll the biggest stars who helped make the Loop ( FM 98 ) so memorable tell the radio
Astation ’ s history in their own words . In the late 70s , Mitch Michaels and GarryMeier were two of those stars .
MITCH MICHAELS
From the moment we started , the atmosphere was all about forwardthinking . Right out of the box , we wanted to be more than just a radio station , we wanted to be a movement , and we were . The Loop was an attitude ; it was a cool friend . It was the thing every teenager and twenty-something wanted to connect with . On air we were much more upbeat , much more
Steve and Garry in your face than any other station ever had been . It didn ’ t matter if it was a wet t-shirt night at a bar or a Van Halen concert at The Aragon , we were there .
GARRY MEIER
The moment I knew we had really started clicking was when we started that anti-disco thing . We had a membership card you had to get to become an official member of the anti-disco army . I ' ll never forget this . One day sacks and sacks and sacks of mail were brought into this conference room . Every card or letter was asking to become a member of the antidisco army . It was akin to that scene in Miracle on 34th Street where they brought sacks of mail in for Kris Kringle . That ' s what it reminded me of . We had tapped into something there with the kids of Chicago . After Steve and Garry were fired , the station went through some dark days . The person they brought in to rescue the Loop was not exactly welcomed with open arms …
JONATHON BRANDMEIER
I went into “ Keep the Fire Burning ” by Kenny Loggins as my first song , that ’ s after 55 minutes of heavy metal . Well , what do you think they ' re gonna say to me ? They ' re not gonna give me a chance . I ' m already dead . You know , the story of the first call – “ Hello , the Loop .” “ Fuck you , go home .” Just four years later , Brandmeier ruled Chicago . The Loop bought an AM station ( AM 1000 ), and for the next 10 years , The Loop AM / FM might have been the most culturally significant radio station in Chicago history .
By Rick Kaempfer
THE LOOP FILES : AN ORAL HISTORY
KEVIN MATTHEWS
AM 1000 was more than just a radio station . It was this ball of culture . People listened day and night . If you wanted to hear and know what was happening in Chicago , you had to listen to AM 1000 . We even carried the Chicago Bulls , with this new kid called Michael Jordan . The ’ 85 Bears – they were on this station — all the time . There was so much happening in advertising , the economy , and the birth of the internet and the ’ 80s , and it was this ball of energy . This volcano of talent and fun . It was a perfect storm . That ’ s what AM 1000 was ; it was a perfect storm that happens once in a lifetime .
BOB STROUD
If I could use one word to describe what it was like to work there in those days , it would be : Dangerous . At any given moment , anything at all could happen . One day , Chicago Bears Tom Thayer and Steve McMichael came into the studio and ducttaped Kevin Matthews to a chair . While Thayer rolled Kevin down Michigan Avenue , McMichael literally took over the show . Stuff like that happened all the time .
DANNY BONADUCE
I remember I was with Jonathan Brandmeier on one of my first days on the radio , and we had a broadcast . We were out at some bar or some such thing . People just came up and kept giving me drugs all night , and I kept taking them . Brandmeier goes , “ Are you gonna die ?” I said , “ Not tonight !” It was my first real radio gig , and I was getting promoted , not fired , for my behavior . One day , I fell asleep at the control board on a TON of drugs . Somebody noticed there were no sounds coming out of the radio , so they sent an ambulance for me . I figured , “ That ' s it . I ' m fired .” Larry Wert came in the studio . " So , you ’ re the man who passed out on drugs on the radio ? Okay , try nottodothatanymore ."
CHET COPPOCK
I think it took a lot of years away from The Loop before we realized that , you know , son of a gun … we really were gosh darn unique . I remember seeing Steve Dahl in a Blackhawks screening . It might have been 2015 . I was in a screening for the Blackhawks Stanley Cup Championship video . And Steve and I began talking about the station . He said , “ You know , we might have been the best station in America .” And there is a lot of merit to that because , again , we spawned so many imitators . But nobody , and I mean nobody , could do it because nobody had the lineup of talent The Loop enjoyed .
For that period of time when all the stars aligned , when rock and roll and comedy and radio were all simultaneously kings ( 1977-1998 ) when the 1927 Yankees of Radio all gathered in the same hallway at the same time , the Loop created something that will never be forgotten .
14 illinoisentertainer . com november 2023