V
ery few rock and roll stations on the Chicago radio dial have not had the voice of Mitch Michaels pumping through their airwaves. The list of stations is impressive: WGLD( now V-103), WDAI( now WLS-FM), WXRT, WKQX( now Q-101), WLUP( now K- Love), WCKG( now the FM simulcast of WBBM News Radio), and The River. So it wasn’ t a major surprise when the Illinois Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced it would be inducting Mitch into the hall. That happened on stage on September 14, 2025.
I asked Mitch what being a Hall of Famer meant to him.“ Well, it ' s funny,” he said.“ I don ' t think anytime you make a choice of a career, you think your objective is to be a Hall of Famer. As for what it means, what really comes to mind the most is just all the incredible and amazing experiences I ' ve had, the people that I ' ve met, the people I ' ve worked with, the incredible music I ' ve witnessed over such a long period of time. I look back when radio was really the only place you could get any information, find out about new music, or when a great concert was coming to town. Being part of that magical time, as opposed to today, where there ' s, you know, 10 million platforms and 10 million different choices, it ' s a very gratifying thing. And I’ m so grateful for the listeners, the people who called up, who I met at remotes or concerts, and that just listened at home. We have a bond. We loved music, and we loved seeing live music and experiencing it. That stuff was basically woven into the fabric of our lives. From Woodstock on and even before that, the Beatles and everything. So, I sit back, and my mind gets cluttered with so many different memories.”
It seemed only appropriate that he was inducted on the same day as one of those radio stations that employed him. Q-101 was also inducted.“ That’ s true. I was the first voice ever heard on Q-101, although we didn ' t call it Q-101 back then; it was WKQX. I will never forget that moment. I came on and talked about this new thing we were going to do. We weren ' t going to have any commercials for a while, and I said, We hope you ' ll join us. Then we played the first song, which was Emerson, Lake, and Palmer.‘ Welcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends.’( Karn Evil # 9) Amazing. A whole bunch of us, Bob Pittman( now CEO of iHeart Media), Bob King, Bob Heymann, and Lorna Ozmon, were standing in front of this huge rack of reel-to-reels.
By Rick Kaempfer
MITCH MICHAELS: HALL OF FAME
Mitch Michaels, 2025
Because everything was on tape. We recorded everything ahead of time. We ' re standing there drinking champagne because we knew we had created something special.”
It might have been special, but it wasn’ t the station that Mitch is most associated with all these years later. Talk to anyone who was around in the late ' 70s and mention the name Mitch Michaels. They will all say the same station they heard him on: The Loop. Mitch was a key part of the team that created radio magic.“ Nothing will ever top that,” he says.“ I remember the biggest moment for me. I was living in Oak Park in those days, and I would drive in. I was doing two to six in the afternoon, and I would drive in. I remember being near Buckingham Fountain at the red light. It was probably early May, and I turned my radio
Mitch Michaels, 1979
down and opened my window. The guy on my right was listening to the Loop, the guy on my left was listening to the Loop. There was a group of kids crossing the street towards the fountain, all wearing Loop shirts. Everywhere you went, people had Loop shirts. It was just amazing. I ' ve never seen anything like that. People were hungry for something different, and we were giving it to them.”
One of the hardest things about getting into the Hall of Fame is remembering all the people to thank.“ There are actually so many,” Mitch agreed.“ Bob Pittman at WKQX. Les Elias and Jeff Schwartz at the Loop. Jeff Schwartz has been a friend of mine for 50 years, and the guy is probably the most amazing promotional mind of all time. He ' s the guy who basically came up with Disco Demolition and all kinds of other stuff. Another person I worked with who meant a great deal to me and is still a good friend of mine is Tim Sabean, who hired me at WCKG. But, you know, there are so many people that have crossed my path, or I ' ve crossed their path, and I appreciate each and every one of them.”
And what did Mitch want to say to the fans?“ Thank you. Thank you for enjoying what I was enjoying because I was having a great time. And thank you for enjoying the music and enjoying the lifestyle that we led for quite a while. Everybody was always so upbeat when I met them. So nice. I had very few bad confrontations over the years, so I would just say thanks. Thank you to everyone who bought and read my book, Doin ' the Cruise "( Eckhartz Press, 2018). And most importantly, don ' t stop rocking, because it keeps you young.” october 2025 illinoisentertainer. com 19