Rock Radio Scrapbook


AIRCHECK OF THE WEEK
For week of September 4, 2016
Edition #901

Now in both Real Audio and MP3

Talent: J.J. JEFFREY
Station: WLS Chicago
Date: September 8, 1975
Time: 55:43 (unscoped)
         22:37 (scoped)    

The call letters of Chicago's WLS officially stood for World's Largest Store. But they could have almost stood for World's Largest Signal.

At 50,000 watts non-directional in America's heartland, WLS had a massive signal. It was heard in at least 40 states and Canada and reception reports have come from as far away as South Africa. WLS jocks sometimes got phone calls from listeners in Los Angeles requesting songs. It was a "superstation" before the term was invented.

WLS officially went on the air April 12, 1924, essentially as a service to farmers (its slogan was Bringing the World to the Farm). It got its call letters World's Largest Store from its original owner, the retailer Sears Roebuck. The station was sold in 1928 to Prairie Farmer Magazine, which continued the focus on country music and farm programming with shows like National Barn Dance.

WLS switched to rock 'n' roll in 1960, with an on-air lineup featuring the legendary Dick Biondi. It remained one of the leading Top 40 stations in the U.S. until the '80s, when talk shows began to be introduced to the lineup. WLS switched fully to a news-talk format in 1989 and the station has continued as a major news-talk outlet.

J.J. Jeffrey was on WLS from 1971 to 1975. Prior to WLS, he jocked at WMEX (as Melvin X. Melvin) and WRKO Boston in addition to WFIL Philadelphia. He went into radio ownership in 1975 as co-owner of Fuller-Jeffrey Broadcasting. After selling Fuller-Jeffrey Broadcasting in 1999, he continued in the field as owner of Atlantic Coast Radio, which has three stations in the Portland, Me., market.

Hear J.J. Jeffrey on WLS (UNSCOPED) here.

Hear J.J. Jeffrey on WLS (UNSCOPED) here.


Hear J.J. Jeffrey on WLS (SCOPED) here.

Hear J.J. Jeffrey on WLS (SCOPED) here.


(The Don Shuttleworth Collection)

 

More 1975 airchecks here!


 




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